The Open Guide to London: the free London guide - Differences between Version 7 and Version 6 of Alara Wholefoods, WC1N 1AB

• Phone: 020 7837 1172
• Address: 58 Marchmont Street, London WC1N 1AB
• Locale: Bloomsbury / St Pancras
• Nearby Tube Stops: Russell Square Station
• Opening hours: Open late (till 7pm) on Thursdays

This is a wholefood shop/cafe which does a wide selection of pre-made vegetarian and vegan sandwiches, pasties and other portable lunchstuffs. It's also a good source of packaged health foods like V8, Green & Black chocolate, gluten-free foods, grains, pulses and breads. There's a fridge out the back that has vegan and vegetarian cheeses, spreads, sausages, etc, and a freezer with various ready-meals and things.

From lunchtime, there is a serve-yourself buffet, with hot foods such as vegetable curry, dhal, lasagne, vegetable chilli, stuffed mushrooms and cold salads such as vegan coleslaw, beetroot salad, spinach salad, chickpea salad, wild rice salad. Some people consider the salads to be at the extreme end of healthy, and rather flavour impaired as a result, but this really does depend on how much you like the taste of vegetables; and there are bottles of salad dressing provided at the end of the counter if you want a bit more oomph. The buffet is priced by weight, currently 85p per 100g (prices at 2003-01-20).

They also do home-made soup and a selection of rather nice freshly-squeezed juices. There are a few tables inside and a few more outside if you want to eat there rather than doing takeaway.