Must Try Vegan in London: Temple of Seitan

Ya’ll, I’m still dreaming of Temple of Seitan aka vegan chicken heaven.

There are so many vegan restaurants in London it was a little overwhelming deciding where to go while we were there, but I knew I wanted to go to Temple after seeing London folks post photos of their chicken on social media and getting a recommendation from Luna Lovecow.

We decided to go to their Temple of Camden location one evening after spending the day trying vegan food and vintage shopping in Camden Lock. It was about a 15 minute walk from where we were–within minutes we escaped the hoards of people at the market and walked along Regent’s Canal Towpath most of the way, passing by lots of graffiti and only a few people. Eventually we saw the sign: Temple of Camden. Fryin’ Daily. Hail Seitan. 100% Vegan.

When we saw the menu, we wanted to try everything. Fried chicken sandwiches, wings, burgers, popcorn chicken, mac and cheese, fries–it all sounded incredible. I asked the person working at the register what their favorite wing flavors were, and they suggested hot and bbq. I ordered both (gluten free) with fries, and Lucas restrained himself and only ordered a Temple burger and regular Buffalo wings.

Y’all, the wings were so. damn. good. In order to understand how much I loved them, you need to know some history.

Most vegan chicken is made from seitan (wheat gluten), which has a delicious realistic chicken texture, but I have a gluten sensitivity, so I can’t have it. I’ve spent many nights enviously watching Lucas eat Gardein Crispy Tenders. I watch as my friends order chicken and waffles at brunch while I order tofu scramble again.  Don’t get me wrong, I love tofu scramble, but sometimes I want fried chicken or wings too.

I’m from Texas, and before I went vegan, fried chicken and hot wings were some of my favorite comfort foods. There are some vegan/gluten free chicken options I’ve tried from the grocery store, but as far as actual fried chicken or wings at a restaurant…that’s not usually an option.

So when I bit into the deliciousness of Temple’s gluten free wings…it was, in a word, exquisite. I’m actually stealing that from Lucas because that’s how he described Temple’s chicken, but it’s true. He also said his Temple burger and wings were some of the best vegan chicken he’s had, and he’s tried a lot more vegan chicken than me since he’s not gluten free.

It seems like lots of Londoners love Temple as much as we did as well–when we got there there were only a handful of people, but by the time we left, there were so many people in the small restaurant that we could barely get out of the door. Though we made a good dent, we couldn’t finish everything we ordered, so we took it along with us on the Tube back to our hotel because there’s no way we’d waste an ounce of that chicken gold.

One of the few regrets I have about our London trip is that we didn’t go back to Temple. I wanted to try their buffalo flavor wings (I thought the hot would be like hot buffalo, but they were actually more of a dry rub Cajun style), and I’m still thinking about it…I guess we’ll have to go back to London again soon!

Have you been to Temple of Seitan? What’s your favorite vegan chicken? Let me know in the comments!