As a hardened herbivore, I had been desperate to eat at Ceremony, the acclaimed vegetarian restaurant in Tufnell Park, ever since I first walked past its trendy lilac shopfront on my way to the tube station.
Since it is slightly out of our usual price range, my girlfriend Cat and I decided to go in celebration of my 23rd birthday. She booked, and I waited patiently for April to arrive, occasionally checking Instagram to drool over the latest menu additions.
You can imagine my distress, then, when, last week, the co-owners of this self-proclaimed “modern vegetarian” eatery announced that the business would be closing at the end of March.
“We’d love to say we’re those people who can juggle it all,” Ali Dedianko, the proprietor of the restaurant said.
“But we’d rather not juggle at the expense of our family.”
It has ultimately proved too difficult for the restaurateurs to look after their six-month-old twins, on top of running two businesses (Dedianko’s partner Joe Stokoe also runs the event management company Heads, Hearts, and Tails).
Hopefully, it’s not goodbye forever, just “ta ta for now,” assures Stokoe, although I was not willing to take that risk.
Thus, my birthday celebrations were jolted forward, and we booked into the high-ceilinged ex-curry house on Fortess Road while we still could.
Previous critics were incredulous to have been “won over” by a vegetarian restaurant.
Giles Coren even added a good six paragraphs to the start of his review in The Times to make clear how much he despises vegetarianism, before admitting that Ceremony is “outstanding”, in what I can only imagine being the same tone used by people who say things like “you’re good, for a girl.”
While not generally in favour of holding vegetarian food up to meat-eaters’ standards, I can now delightedly confirm that Ceremony is a triumph in the eyes of vegetarians, too.
While initially, I found the venue to be a tad drafty, once the food was in front of me I no longer cared: it was quite simply glorious.
To start
We tucked into the signature “crispy duck egg”, a breaded Scotch egg-esque delight that oozes golden yolk onto a smooth bed of truffle and polenta. Faultless.
For mains
Cat had an exquisite bean broth with pillow-like dumplings, while I enjoyed four artichoke-filled balls of tortellini, topped with artichoke crisps.
Having eaten many a pathetic bowl of vegetable pasta – it is often the sole vegetarian option – eating a pasta dish where such thought had gone into both flavour and texture was novel, and delicious at that. I could have eaten at least four more platefuls.
To finish
I devoured a flourless chocolate cake, switching the accompanying Chantilly cream for salted caramel ice cream, locally sourced from Ruby Violet just across the road.
The cake was good, admittedly a little lacking in texture, but it was the ice cream that really stole the show.
Thank goodness Ruby Violet is remaining open for the foreseeable future.
Cat had the black rice pudding, which uses coconut milk to make it completely vegan.
For those who prefer something slightly less sweet, this dessert offers a depth of flavour without cloying sugariness.
All the dishes we tried tended to be rich and creamy: comforting flavours, rather than arresting. Personally, I might have enjoyed a little kick of spice here and there, but that could well have been my fault in the choosing.
With its chilled and stylish atmosphere, genuinely lovely staff, and incredible food, Ceremony was, for me, the perfect birthday treat.
I shall be crossing everything in hope that this closure will not be permanent. In the meantime: book while the duck-eggs are hot.
Three-course meal for two, including a bottle of wine: £95
