Please note, Rawligion has now closed. Time Out Food editors, September 2018.
Rawligion is the kind of place that begs to be ridiculed by the ‘Get in the Sea’ brigade. Just a glance at the earnest, emoji-strewn picture captions on its Facebook page about falafel boxes or chocolate truffles smothered in ‘activated nut butter’ are enough to send the anti-nonsense police into a froth-mouthed frenzy. (Don’t even get them started on the ‘massaged kale’.) We were prepared to have a similar reaction to the food, given that one of our few encounters with raw chocolate brought to mind chewing on the inside of a Marlboro Light. But boy, were we wrong. The food here is fantastic.
Sushi, artfully garnished with alfalfa sprouts, had all the flavours of the rice-based stuff but was instead made with well-seasoned cauliflower blitzed together with coconut flakes and sesame. A Thai-style slaw made a noble side dish – crunchy, fresh and smothered in an indulgent dressing of almonds, tamari (wheat-free soy sauce), chilli and tamarind. The Lebanese Box was the standout, though, with flavour-packed houmous and falafel so wholesome that we didn’t for a moment mind them not being deep-fried. In fact, we’d give them a heart emoji.
For drinks, we tried a John Dee juice, which looked like watery tar but was actually a tangy lemonade made with grapefruit, charcoal and alkalised water. Best of the dessert selection were a citrusy, featherlight Chi Lime Pie (almonds, coconut, matcha) and a caramel shortcake (containing buckwheat, almond butter and mucuna) that could convince the most gluttonous pud enthusiast there was nothing raw about it. Rawligion? We’re converted.