Vegetarian/Vegan on the Best of London Tour

I've taken 9 Rick tours and found that vegetarian options often varied by country. London has so many Asian restaurants that I'm sure you'll find plenty of places to eat outside the tour. Be sure you let your guide know your dietary restrictions at the first night's meeting. When you sign up there will also be a place to state any dietary restrictions, but it helps to let the guide know to be sure. My favorite tour was Ireland as I was told the Republic of Ireland requires if you serve food there be a vegetarian option and I loved not having to worry about it. One of the Italy tours I went on included a vegan and the guide went out of his way to be sure she had options.

I haven't been on this tour but I've done 5 RS tours and there has been at least one vegetarian on every tour. Even in meat heavy countries there was an option. A recent discussion in another thread mentioned that on their tour the vegetarian main was almost always some kind of omelet. Vegan may be more difficult but they will make an effort. There are some vegan forum members hopefully they'll weigh in too.

For the food tour, you'd probably need to ask the tour office. Based on the tour itinerary they mention Indian food and fish and chips, the latter not likely easily vegetarian-ized but some chippys offer a veg friendly option. No way to know though unless you call to ask where they go.

There is always at least one vegetarian and frequently a vegan option in London: a relatively high percentage of Brits are veggies and the restaurants cater for them.

I’ve not done this RS tour although I’ve done the Best of England which ends in London for a couple of nights. On all my RS tours (11 of them) I’ve had various levels of accommodation for vegan choices. England was the easiest. Some areas were harder either because of the country or the guide.

I usually have back up food on my room.

My guess on the food tour is no, they will not be able to accommodate vegan. Might do vegetarian. Go for the information and social aspect, be prepared to do your own food before and after.

There were several vegetarians on my Best of London tour last October. For both the welcome and farewell dinners we chose from a set menu, and I remember both restaurants had vegetarian options. The East End Food Tour stopped at five local restaurants in and around Spitalfields Market. We did not have full meals at any of the stops; it was more a sample of different ethnic cuisines. There was fish & chips, Indian curry, a salt beef bagel, an apple crumble, and a charcuterie tray to share. As I recall the Indian restaurant had vegetarian options, and the crumble shop (Humble Crumble) may have had a vegetarian option as well. The other meal we had together as a group was Afternoon Tea at the Montague Hotel near the British Museum. You can Google the menu to see what's offered. It was lovely.

In the UK you would be very unlucky to have a menu without vegetarian options. It would be almost unheard of. Vegan options are also increasingly common. Both should be clearly labelled on the menu. The range of options has also greatly increased over the years. You will still see a lot of mushrooms and goats cheese but chefs are definitely getting more creative and adventurous.

A possible exception is fish and chips where there aren’t many vegetarian options. I have seen battered mushrooms on a menu but I am struggling to think of other options. That said, it is perfectly acceptable to just order the chips. You just need to check what oil they are cooked in. Beef dripping is not unusual but again I would expect a decent flash and chip shop to also offer chips fried in vegetable oil.

Most fish and chip shops do a battered veggie sausage. Increasingly you see things like mozzarella or halloumi bites as well.

To our UK forum friends, the OP asked about the meals included with a Rick Steves group tour. The tour doesn't always have meals at places with a wide variety of choices, but they do know about dietary restrictions of tour members and try to accommodate. You're all correct they should have no troubles finding options while eating on their own, I saw plenty of amazing options on my recent visit there.

Emma and Helen,

The problem with eating the chips is that they are often cooked in the same oil as the fish. Many vegetarians do not want to eat food that has been "contaminated"; my husband will not eat a veggie burger if it is cooked on the same grill as meat. This can make finding a suitable restaurant challenging, to say the least.