Baboo Ji Review: Southampton's most sustainable restaurant?

We went to Baboo Ji a few years back, you may remember our original post on them. Everyone we've spoken to about them has said nothing but good things. So when they invited me back down I jumped at the chance.

Baboo Ji is an entirely vegetarian/vegan restaurant in Portswood, who have a seriously strong business ethic. Direct from their website: We source small businesses’ for all our supplies. Always opting for green, sustainable products (even our restaurant was built from re-purposed timber). All our cleaning products are green products. All our takeaway bags, cartons etc are compostable and we will never provide single use plastic. We work alongside Ecologi to both, plant trees and reduce our CO2 output every month.

Upon entering Baboo Ji feels cozy, a friendly and welcoming vibe that welcomes you in. There's a large mural of a Baboo (Babu) Ji (wise village elder) on the wall that is stylistic and gives it a large personality, without feeling forced (even the walls in the bathrooms are covered with artwork!)

As for the food and drink, we started with a few small plates, including samosas and their Bengaluru wings. The samosas were fresh, steaming as we bit into them, very clearly just made and stuffed with a delicious spice mix. The Bengaluru wings (cauliflower) were well coated, presented really nicely and so tasty. Perfect mix of spicy and sweet.

Fresh Samosas

As for drinks, I'm not a beer fan but I had to try their CHAI-PA, Baboo Ji's own West Coast style IPA infused with chai. A great refreshing drink that pairs well with the dishes, again from a non beer drinker it was a really nice drink!

Bengaluru wings

For mains we got Paneer Makhani, Pindi Chana and a Masala Dosa (and of course some pilau rice and garlic naan). The paneer was exceptional. If you’ve had paneer before, you’ll know the texture can make or break a dish, but this was spot on. Soft without falling apart, holding its shape properly, and sitting in a sauce that was creamy and well spiced. Really delicious.

The pindi chana wasn't really for me, but that's more personal taste than anything. It's not a dish I would usually order anyway, but being said it had a good spice to it and I can see why people would like it.

Pindi Chana

Finally dessert, we ordered the sizzling brownie, and it was exactly what you want it to be. Hot, indulgent, a bit over the top in the best way, and the kind of thing you end up talking about more than you expect to. It came out in a (very) hot cast iron pan, chocolate sauce bubbling away. The brownie was delicious, the sizzling aspect may be seen by some as a gimmick, but to me it seemed to really develop the flavour. It even left nice crispy bits on the bottom which gave a greatcontrast in textures. Definitely one of the highlights.

Sizzling Brownie

Price-wise, it sits in a pretty accessible range. Starters around the £6 mark, mains roughly £10 to £11, desserts about £6. For what you’re getting, it feels fair, especially given the quality and the overall experience.

Sustainability is clearly something they care about, but it doesn’t feel like it’s being forced into the experience. It just sits in the background as part of what they do, which is probably the best way to handle it.

Overall, Baboo Ji feels like a place that knows exactly what it is. Friendly, comforting, and confident in its identity. It’s not trying to be the flashiest restaurant in the city, and it doesn’t need to be.

It just does what it does well.

If you’re still someone who thinks a fully vegetarian Indian menu might be lacking something, Baboo Ji is a pretty good example of why that’s not really the case anymore.

Baboo Ji have also graciously offered Southampton Food fans a 20% discount code on vouchers using code BABOO20

This post covers a PR/invite event, but in line with our ethos, all reviews are honest. If a visit doesn’t meet our standards, we either provide constructive feedback to the venue or don’t post at all.