Diet Friendly Restaurants - Tibits, London.

There are few phrases that strike fear into the heart of someone in their first week of a diet than 'Let's grab a bite to eat!' Let's face it, the majority of eateries out there are calorific. Or, the only low fat option is a plate of leaves and a little bit of meat, which doesn't do a great job of soaking up half a bottle of white wine.

I asked on Twitter for recommendations for somewhere healthyish to go in London last weekend with a friend, and Harriet suggested Tibits, off Regent Street. It was an EXCELLENT suggestion.

Tibits is, essentially, a big salad bar. There's a huge selection of dishes - all vegetarian - mostly cold, but some hot, and most of it is really healthy, too (I must confess a couple of beer battered onion rings found their way onto my plate). It's measured by weight, so you take what you fancy from the buffet and then take your plate to get weighed and pay. If you want to try a bit of everything, you're looking at around £10-15 a plate, but you can take as little or as much as you want. Here's my plate:





The selection is huge - but my favourites were the butternut squash, green beans, the quinoa and the falafel. Oooh, and the red pepper houmous. And the goats cheese foccacia! My companion also said the curry was excellent.

I can't recommend it enough - it's so rare to find something healthy, filling and yummy and Tibits was all of those things. It's also fast and - crucially for a buffet - fresh, with the dishes replaced regularly, which so many places don't bother with! If you're in London for the day, I highly recommend. They also do takeaway - if I worked nearby I think I'd be in there every lunchtime!

I'm thinking of making Diet Friendly Restaurants a regular feature - I have a few in mind but if you can think of any please do make recommendations in the comments!