The verdict on London's very first gourmet raw restaurant

The London branch of Chad Sarno's Saf restaurant, located in the Shoreditch area to the east of the capital, has been open for just under a month. As UK raw food fans flock to Curtain Road to experience it, and others even fly in from abroad to do so, we have been busy collecting verdicts. And we can report that across the board Saf is getting top marks for food, drinks, service, ambience and venue.

Saf restaurant is backed by a company named The LifeCo, headed up by Turkish entrepreneur Ersin Parmuksuzer. Parmuksuzer started The LifeCo after being so impressed with the results of his first ever raw detox that he decided he wanted to share the benefits with others.

His vision for the group's restaurants (the London venue is number four after two openings in Istanbul and a third in Munich) is that they deliver pure, healthy food in a way that makes customers feel they are not missing out on anything - and that means not just that the food tastes great, but that the ambience is just so too.

The London restaurant is the group's flagship so top architects were brought in a year ago to design the space and number 152-154 Curtain Road was built from the ground up on the site of an old, disused car park. These pictures tell you more about the result than words could.      

One of the comments we've heard most often from raw food fans who have dined there is what a great place it is to take people who are not into raw food! And that is the beauty of Saf. It is a place you can go with anyone, whether they're a plant eater or a meat eater, and whether they are interested in eating healthily or simply want to eat well.

Although the menu is 100% plant-based, it is a million miles away from what most people think of when they think of vegan food. There are cooked choices for those who would baulk at eating all raw, and an impressive drinks list for those for whom dinner out is not complete without a great bottle of wine.