Best Vegan Restaurant Shoreditch During FIFA World Cup 2026
With the FIFA World Cup 2026 filling calendars across the summer, more diners than ever are searching for the best vegan restaurant shoreditch has to offer before settling on where to book, and City Spice keeps coming up for good reason. Sitting at 138 Brick Lane since 1984, it built a plant-based menu that treats vegan food as a genuine specialty rather than a token addition, which is exactly what a mixed group needs when everyone is trying to agree on one place to watch the match together.
The Story Behind the Menu
What sets this apart from a lot of vegan add-ons at other curry houses is who actually built it. City Spice developed its vegan menu in collaboration with Michelin-starred chef Rupert Rowley and Chef Niaz, pairing fine-dining technique with the kind of spice knowledge that only comes from decades running a Brick Lane kitchen. That partnership shows in the results — dishes with real depth and layered spicing rather than meat dishes with the protein simply removed, which is a shortcut plenty of restaurants take and diners can usually taste immediately.
Why Shoreditch Diners Are Paying Attention
Shoreditch has never been short of places to eat, but a genuinely well-executed vegan curry menu is still harder to find than it should be. City Spice’s location helps close that gap for the neighbourhood, sitting close enough to Liverpool Street Station, Truman Brewery and Simmons bars that it works as a natural stop whether you are coming from work, from the markets, or straight off a train before kickoff. It means vegan diners in Shoreditch no longer have to travel across London or settle for a side salad while their friends order properly.
For the Rest of the Table Who Aren’t Going Vegan
Not everyone at a World Cup gathering is going to order plant-based, and City Spice doesn’t expect them to. For anyone whose usual order leans toward something like chicken pathia, or whoever turns up searching for the best jalfrezi curry near me, the Sylhet Jalfrezi and Chicken/Lamb Passanda cover that same fiery, tomato-rich territory without anyone needing to leave the menu they already know. The Chicken Tikka Masala, the dish Chef Niaz explained on Channel 5, remains an easy order too, meaning a table can genuinely split between vegan and meat dishes without either side feeling like an afterthought.
A Menu Built for Sharing, Not Just Ordering
Because the vegan dishes sit within the same kitchen and the same thali culture as everything else, sharing across a mixed table works naturally rather than awkwardly. The Vegetarian Thali gives non-vegan guests a taste of similar flavours, while the wider à la carte menu, including the Geeza Naan and various starters like Onion Bhaji and Shingara, gives the whole table something to pass around before mains arrive. Every dish, vegan or otherwise, can be adjusted to individual spice preference, so heat levels never become the reason someone at the table has a worse meal than everyone else.
Part of a Bigger Brick Lane Story
City Spice’s vegan menu did not appear in isolation — it grew out of a restaurant with four decades of history among the Curry Houses on Brick Lane, featured on BBC, ITV and Channel 5, and visited over the years by celebrity guests including Matt Smith, Lily Jones and Michael Bisping. That track record matters when you are trying a vegan curry for the first time, because it means the kitchen behind it already has the technical grounding to make plant-based food taste like more than a compromise.
A Foundation Behind the Food
There is also a wider purpose running through City Spice’s kitchen that goes beyond any single menu. The restaurant operates its own “Food for a Better Future” social responsibility foundation, and a serious plant-based menu fits naturally into that outlook rather than sitting apart from it. It is a small detail most diners will not think about while ordering, but it says something about a kitchen when the effort put into a vegan curry is matched by the values behind the business serving it, and it tends to be the kind of thing regulars notice over repeated visits rather than a single meal.
Booking Around the Tournament
City Spice is open every day of the week from 12:00 to 23:30, which gives World Cup groups flexibility whatever time their match kicks off this summer. The private floor seats up to 105 guests, useful for anything from a small vegan-curious dinner to a full group booking, and it already handles corporate clients such as Deloitte, the Bank of England and Barclays alongside university society bookings through a discount programme. Calling 020 7646 2053 or emailing reservations@city-spice.london ahead of a big match day is worth doing given how busy Brick Lane gets once a tournament is properly underway.
Final Thoughts
Finding a proper vegan restaurant shoreditch diners can rely on for a big group during a tournament summer shouldn’t take much effort, and City Spice makes the search short. Between the Michelin-backed vegan menu, the flexible spice levels for meat-eaters at the same table, and four decades of Brick Lane experience, it covers every base a World Cup gathering needs.
FAQs
Who developed City Spice’s vegan menu?
It was created in collaboration with Michelin-starred chef Rupert Rowley and Chef Niaz, built specifically around plant-based cooking rather than adapted from existing meat dishes.
Can non-vegan diners still find familiar dishes on the same visit?
Yes, dishes such as the Sylhet Jalfrezi, Chicken/Lamb Passanda and Chicken Tikka Masala remain on the à la carte menu alongside the vegan offering.
Is City Spice easy to reach from central Shoreditch?
Yes, it sits at 138 Brick Lane, within easy walking distance of Liverpool Street Station, Truman Brewery and Simmons bars.
Does the vegan menu run at all opening hours?
Yes, City Spice is open seven days a week from 12:00 to 23:30, and the vegan menu is available throughout that time.
Can spice levels be adjusted on vegan dishes too?
Yes, every dish, vegan included, can be adjusted to individual spice preference on request.
