Eclectic vegan spot with moments of magic will fly if it's braver and bolder

THERE isn't room here to fully do justice to cauliflower's dramatic recent turnaround in fortunes. What once was generally staid albino broccoli is now every restaurant chef's endlessly adaptable lodestar and obsession.

- Jimi Famurewa

It is deep-fried or slow-roasted whole to buttery softness; it is cut into steaks, carefully seared, and anointed with frothing butter like a porterhouse; it is probably close to being so ubiquitous as to be boring in an entirely new way.

However, at Tendril, a largely plant-based restaurant just off Regent Street, chef Rishim Sachveda does something truly memorable and novel with it.

Here, it is roasted to smoky, yielding succulence, surrounded by a creamy moat of delicately spiced coconut milk moilee, and set aboard a hidden sweet potato fritter that provides a face-flushing surge of chilli warmth.

I mention this dish right at the start firstly because it is one of the foremost reasons to visit Sachveda's largely meatfree kitchen residency, which recently was extended until at least February.

But also because it was a clarifying rarity: a stray moment of genius that highlighted some of the dynamism that was absent elsewhere during my meal.