Hello,
I'm Gillian.

I've spent most of my working life writing about food — what it does to us, what it does for us, and why so much of what we're sold as healthy isn't. You Are What You Eat came out in 2004 and turned into a series: the cookbook, the shopping guide, the food bible. Nine books in all, translated into more languages than I can keep track of, and a steady postbag from readers who wanted the same simple thing — to eat well, every day, without it becoming a project.

The Restaurant Guide started because the books could only take people so far. You can fill your kitchen with vegetables, pulses, grains and good oils — but the moment you sit down in a restaurant, the standard slips. Menus default to cheap ingredients, lots of sugar and shortcuts. Vegetables turn up as a side, an apology, a garnish. If you ask for something gentler, you get a confused waiter and a plate of steamed broccoli.

That isn't good enough. There are restaurants — more every year — that treat plants as the headline, source ingredients with real care, and cook them properly. Plant-forward, not preachy. Open to everyone. This guide exists to find them, to write about them honestly, and to put them on a map you can actually use.

Every entry is read, edited, and judged against the same benchmark: purity, wholesomeness, organic where possible, and an abundance of fresh fruits, vegetables, pulses, grains, beans, seeds and nuts. Restaurants don't pay to be listed, and they don't pay to be a Gillian's Pick. That part is non-negotiable.

"Healthy consciousness is the standard."

— Gillian McKeith