Tucked underneath Richmond Bridge inside converted arches, the main attraction of this vegetarian café is its location and river views. Food is ordered at the counter and eaten outside on a huge sandy terrace overlooking the Thames ferry dock. There are a large number of pastry dishes, such as spicy Mexican bean roll, and a spiral filo pie stuffed with spinach and ricotta. Also on the menu are lively salads made livelier with pickled red chillies; baked potatoes; standard international fare such as chickpea curry and falafel wraps; and a lot of cakes. Visit on a hot weekend and make a day of it with a riverside walk, a boat ride, a visit to nearby Duck Pond food market, and Hollyhock Café down the road that’s owned by the same people.

A sister café to Tide Tables nearby, this cosy venue serves an abridged version of the same vegetarian menu, but it’s worth visiting because of its idyllic location. Perched on a small grassy mound in the Terrace Gardens on Petersham Road, and decked out with twinkling lights, it looks like a fairy tale wooden cabin. It’s easy to while away a leisurely afternoon on its curved wooden terrace overlooking the flower garden. Hot food such as deep-dish butternut squash pie is very good, but go for the cakes after eating at the Tide Tables: date and pecan, and raspberry and coconut, are particularly lovely.

What would London’s vegetarian dining scene be like if it had been the Indian-Iraqi Jewish brothers Adrian and Michael Daniel who had landed the Guardian vegetarian column? After all, the founders of The Gate — now a three-strong chain — had been serving zhug and tagine, and scattering pomegranate seeds and crumbled feta on their dishes for decades before Yotam Ottolenghi came along. The chain is famous for fungi dishes such as wild mushroom risotto cake in creamy cep sauce, dense and earthy as the forest floor; and there are now more Asian influences on the menu. Try delicate, tempura-like courgette flower if it’s available: stuffed with own-made ricotta and perched on a hillock of beluga lentils, it is exquisite.

Though Bubala’s food is largely Sephardic Jewish, its range of technique — particularly at its newer Soho restaurant — demonstrates skill in hummus making, Japanese grilling, and salsa macha blending. That qualifies it for this guide, which is a boon for vegetarians everywhere, given the sheer quality of the food coming from Helen Graham and Marc Summers’s kitchens.

Climb a wide wooden staircase in a plant-filled room like a green-fingered celebrity to get to this airy, high-ceilinged vegetarian café that sits majestically on top of the Camden Garden Centre. The centre is part of a community enterprise for disadvantaged young people; and so is the café. High-quality suppliers are at the heart of its philosophy, including Oliveology, Seven Seeded bakery, Workshop Coffee and Postcard Teas. The menu is mostly made up of things on toast, either with eggs or without. An over-enthusiastic use of dried oregano peps up an otherwise straightforward Cretan salad of dakos (barley rusks), multi-coloured cherry tomatoes, red onions, and capers. A deep smokiness underscores strapatsada, a mushy, grainy scramble of eggs with tomatoes, peppers, and feta. Even simple, very thick-cut marmalade on sourdough toast is beautifully rustic; and there’s no holding back on olive oil and butter in the cooking here.

A little too ramshackle and homely to be properly trendy, this small café on Holloway Road is part of a rising number of new vegetarian and vegan venues focussed on good coffee. Cold brew in a glass tumbler clinking with ice cubes is a must on a hot day, particularly when paired with stunningly delicious, feather-soft, dairy-free banana and walnut cake. Main course dishes include a slender, cheesy quesadilla stuffed with thinly sliced roasted peppers and onions, topped with a poached egg, with freshly made guacamole and salsa on the side. There are a few other mains, grilled sandwiches, breakfast items, and baked goods cooked on-site — but really, it’s all about the coffee and the cakes.

The first thing to be said about this Shoreditch venue is that, although it is vegetarian, it uses some cheeses with animal rennet, including Parmesan — chef-proprietor Emerson Amélio de Oliveira strongly believes these have a superior flavour. That said, the eco-friendly venue, with sustainability at its heart, has by far the most inventive vegetarian menu in London. Oliveira comes from a Brazilian-Italian background; and this is reflected in dishes such as hand-made pastas and risottos, alongside the use of Amazonian fruit and veg. There are plenty of dishes with breadfruit and jackfruit sourced from Tooting market; and speciality items such as dende oil, phytoplankton, and vegan faux gras. Some of the over-ambitious dishes don’t quite come off, but “‘nduja sausage” made from jackfruit seeds and flesh, cassava, and smoked paprika impresses with its subtle spiciness, and a trio of Amazonian fruit sorbets made from açai, cupuaçu and pitaya taste like frozen nail polish — in the nicest possible way.

This newest branch of the popular vegetarian mini-chain is located in large, bright Dalston Square just behind the Dalston Junction train station. The menu travels the globe, and the cooking at this branch is particularly vibrant. Stand-out dishes include wood-roasted cauliflower with charred leeks, skordalia and turmeric almonds; and substantial, spicy-sweet jerk tofu with rum guava glaze, coconut rice and peas, mango slaw and fried plantains. Fans of the Polish beetroot and white bean burger with pickled red cabbage and gherkins — it’s back on the menu, though it’s now served in a brioche bun so tastes a bit different.