Vegan food is fast gaining popularity for ethical and healthy reasons, not to mention trend-conscious ones. But many still believe vegan means no taste, and that's before we even get started on raw food. The key is to add plenty of herbs, dried fruits and seasoning.
This is exactly what they do at Rawligion. Courgettes are ribboned into noodles and cooked in a rich marinara-style tomato sauce. It's flavoured with sumac, a citrusy Middle Eastern spice, along with miso, dates, maitake mushrooms and lots of herbs: oregano, thyme and rosemary all make contributions. The spicy Thai bowl is a fiery version of coleslaw with shredded cabbage, courgettes and carrots, again there are heaps of ingredients to add depth, including limes, ginger, chilli, tamarind and kelp.
There's a dill-flavoured green salad with a cashew dressing, and their take on sushi wraps nori seaweed around cauliflower, rice and alfalfa sprouts. Our highlight are the kelp noodles, served in a creamy pesto sauce made with nutritional yeast - the vegan's go-to staple that emulates cheese.
Desserts include a rich "chi lime pie" made with lime cream and coconut sugar, and raw rum chocolate truffles prepared with a mixture of seeds, cacao, raisins and rum extract. They also do a fine range of healthy juices - we try a zesty drink with Persian dried limes, pomegranate juice infused with rosewater, and a milky drink you'd never guess was made from walnuts.
You'll find this little cafe nestled on the quiet Tottenham Street, very close to Goodge Street station.