Birmingham · England
Healthy food in Birmingham: where to eat well.
Written by Gillian McKeith
If you want healthy food in Birmingham you can eat properly here, and people are always surprised to hear it. This is a city that has fed itself properly for generations, and its plant cooking now stands comparison with anywhere outside London. You simply have to know which doors to walk through.
Start with Land in the Great Western Arcade, a plant-based kitchen with a Michelin Plate and the discipline to earn it. Then there is BA-HA Vegan in Digbeth's Custard Factory, independent and unpretentious. OMNOM brings sattvic Indian cooking, vegetarian and vegan, to a proper dining room, which is the sort of food I have recommended for thirty years. And Wok2Vegan fills a gap I did not expect Birmingham to fill so well: fully vegan Chinese, done without a scrap of animal produce.
The newest name on my list is Tropea in Harborne. It is not a vegetarian restaurant and I am not pretending otherwise, but the vegetables there are the point of the plate rather than the apology beside it, and the produce is handled by people who clearly care where it came from. Ask for the vegetable dishes and the pulses and you will eat very well indeed.
I judge every one of them the way I judge my own kitchen: purity, wholesomeness, organic wherever the chef can manage it, and an abundance of fresh vegetables, pulses, grains and seeds. No restaurant on this page has paid me a penny to be recommended.
8 restaurants in Birmingham
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Eating well in Birmingham: your questions
- Where can I get healthy food in Birmingham?
- Land in the Great Western Arcade for the best cooking, OMNOM for sattvic Indian food, BA-HA Vegan in the Custard Factory for something relaxed, Wok2Vegan for fully vegan Chinese, and Tropea in Harborne if you are eating with meat eaters. All five are in this guide with my notes on each.
- Where should I eat well in Birmingham without spending a fortune?
- BA-HA Vegan and Wok2Vegan will both feed you well for the price of a mediocre sandwich and a bag of crisps. Eating well is not a luxury, and I will not pretend otherwise.
- What is the best vegan restaurant in Birmingham?
- Land, in the Great Western Arcade, is my first recommendation. It is fully plant-based, holds a Michelin Plate and cooks vegetables with the seriousness most kitchens reserve for meat. If you want something more relaxed, BA-HA Vegan in the Custard Factory is the one I send people to.
- Where can I eat healthily in Birmingham city centre?
- The city centre is well served. Land sits inside the Great Western Arcade a two-minute walk from Snow Hill, and OMNOM serves sattvic Indian cooking, vegetarian and vegan, in a proper dining room. Both are easy to reach without a car.
- Are there vegan Indian restaurants in Birmingham?
- Yes, and Birmingham does this better than most British cities. OMNOM cooks sattvic Indian food, which is vegetarian by tradition with a great many vegan dishes, using no onion or garlic. It is light, clean cooking of the sort I have recommended for thirty years.
- Do I need to be vegan to enjoy these restaurants?
- Not at all. This guide is plant-forward, not plant-only. Some kitchens on the page are entirely vegan, others simply cook vegetables properly and source well. You are welcome whatever you eat.
- How do restaurants get onto this Birmingham list?
- I choose them. I look at purity, wholesomeness, organic sourcing where the chef can manage it, and an abundance of fresh vegetables, pulses, grains and seeds. No restaurant pays to appear here, and none ever will.
Every Birmingham restaurant in the Gillian McKeith Restaurant Guide
Every Birmingham kitchen in the guide, with my notes on each.
- BA-HA Vegan
- Barsana
- BRIG Cafe at the Warehouse
- Land
- Mowgli Street Food Birmingham
- OMNOM Birmingham
- Tropea
- Wok2Vegan
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About the author
Written by Gillian McKeith
I'm Gillian McKeith: television presenter, creator of the global hit show You Are What You Eat, writer, nutritionist, and the editor behind this guide. Every Birmingham entry here is chosen and written by me. I judge kitchens on the things that actually matter: real ingredients, honest sourcing, vegetables cooked with care, and food you feel better for eating.
Nothing on this page is a paid placement. Restaurants cannot buy a recommendation, and any listing marked as sponsored is labelled as such. If a kitchen slips, it comes out of the guide.
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