I recently attended the launch of the new Saf Restaurant in High Street Kensington – serving only natural vegan raw foods. The original Saf restaurant in London is in Shoreditch, but this new branch can be found on the top floor of Wholefoods in the area of the Food Hall previously taken up by the ‘home’ store (where you used to find everything from picture frames to hemp bags to hand-made cushions). Obviously Wholefoods’ non-foods weren’t selling that well…

Anyway, back to the launch. I can’t say I was overly enthused by the raw canapés. They looked fabulous on the tray but none of them made me gush with that kind of immediate, mouth-still-full-of-food, “oh-my-goonesh-thish-ish-soooo-good” kind of way. But it was still good to try something different, and we did enjoy the non-alcoholic ginger spiced cocktails and the asian green seasoned popcorn at the bar (very more-ish). Plus I discovered that cashew paste really does a good job masquerading as cream cheese. Who knew?

I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get a taste of Saf’s signature beetroot ravioli (pictured) but then again, that’s one way to entice us curious foodies back for at least a second visit. Having browsed their interesting lunch and dinner menus, and as a frequent Wholefoods shopper, I know I’ll be trying a proper meal there soon. For one, I’m intrigued by the concept of a raw risotto…

Chiara Priorelli, Publicity & Online Marketing Manager (and resident foodie)