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Steven writes:
Just off Tottenham Court Road, about 1/3rd of the way up, near Niko Niko. Thai / Chinese VEGAN buffet All you can eat for a fiver, plus drinks (standard soft drinks and about a dozen different cha) at 1 pounds.50 each There is some interesting background about the place... apparently some Chinese emperor turned Buddhist and the imperial kitchens had to switch to Buddhist food, but still accomodate the tastes of visitors, and so developed meat substitutes using a variety of techniques to emulate different meats, the techniques apparently were saved. However the Buddhist diet is not only meat-free, but spice-free too (not even garlic), which is considered too bland for the english palate, so when they opened this place, they decided to offer both traditional chinese faux-meat Buddhist recipes, but they mixed the techniques with thai cuisine to offer some spicy vegan faux-meat thai dishes to spice (sic) up the menu. Both I (a sort-of vegetarian) and a carnivore who considers salad an invention of Satan had an extremely enjoyable meal. The faux-meat (chicken and beef) is very close indeed (certainly much, much better than any of the quorn-style variants you find in english supermarkets). The look, texture and taste was as close as dammit right. They even do faux-crispy duck pancakes as part of the buffet which were indistingishable from the real thing. I tried the ginseng cha (tea) and it was not only very nice, but came in a pot which held 3 large cups worth, which was actually too much for me alone, and would have been better shared between 2 or 3. The place was running a steady trade, which was about a 50/50 mix of chinese and english, but never got more than 1/4 full (it has a large restaurant floor), but I suspect it will get a lot busier once it becomes well known (I think it is new), plus we were there early (6pm) on a weekday.

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50 yards ENE: Bayley Street, Bloomsbury
100 yards NEbN: Jack Horner
150 yards WbS: Rathbone Street, Fitzrovia
200 yards S: Black Horse
300 yards NWbN: Goodge Street (Northern Line)
300 yards NWbW: Scala Street, Fitzrovia
350 yards SbE: Soho Square, Soho
350 yards SSE: Tottenham Court Road (Central Line, Northern Line)
400 yards EbS: Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury
400 yards SE: Centre Point Sushi Cafe
450 yards SbW: Nellie Dean
450 yards EbN: British Museum
500 yards SbE: Pillars of Hercules
500 yards EbS: Plough
0.3 miles SbE: Garlic and Shots
0.3 miles EbS: Abeno Okonomiyaki
0.3 miles SbW: Hummus Bros
0.4 miles NE: Russell Square (Piccadilly Line)
0.4 miles ENE: Antalya
0.5 miles NNW: Euston Square (Circle Line, Hammersmith & City Line, Metropolitan Line)
0.5 miles NWbN: Warren Street (Northern Line, Victoria Line)
0.6 miles NbW: Euston (British Rail, Northern Line, Victoria Line)
0.7 miles SSE: Charing Cross (Bakerloo Line, British Rail, Northern Line)
0.9 miles NNE: King's Cross St. Pancras (British Rail, Circle Line, Hammersmith & City Line, Metropolitan Line, Northern Line, Piccadilly Line, Victoria Line)
1.0 miles NEbN: King's Cross Thameslink (British Rail)