Mexican cuisine was vegan before it was anything else. Three thousand years before the Spanish brought pork and dairy, the cooks of Tenochtitlán were already working with beans, corn, squash, nopales, avocado, tomatoes, chillies and chocolate. The vegan menu at Frida Camden isn't an adaptation — it's a return.
Here is what plant-based dining looks like at Frida, dish by dish, and where we draw the line between "vegan-friendly" and "vegan, properly."
The plant kitchen Mexico already had
Pre-Columbian Mexico didn't keep livestock. There were no cows, no pigs, no sheep, no chickens. The agricultural system was built around three plants — corn, beans and squash — grown together in a single field, in a method the Aztecs called milpa. The corn pulled nitrogen from the soil; the beans put it back; the squash spread along the ground and kept moisture in. A small piece of Mexico fed itself for centuries on that trio.
The trio is also a complete protein. Corn alone lacks two essential amino acids; beans alone lack one. Together they cover everything a human body needs. Modern nutritional science worked this out in the 1960s. Mesoamerican farmers had been planting it for forty centuries by then.
Add avocado, tomato, several dozen varieties of chilli, squash blossoms, cactus paddles, chia, amaranth, vanilla, cacao, agave — and that's the kitchen the Spanish encountered in 1519. Largely vegan, accidentally complete, deeply seasonal. The food we still recognise as Mexican today is built on those foundations. The meat and dairy came later.
Starters: where most of our vegan options live
The starters menu is the easiest place to eat vegan at Frida. Four of our extras are vegan without modification:
- Tortilla Chips (£2.95) — corn tortillas, oil, salt. The bowl that starts most tables. Vegan, gluten-free.
- Salsa (£1.95) — tomato, onion, coriander, lime, jalapeño. The taquería classic. Vegan, gluten-free.
- Tortilla Bread (4 pieces, £2.00) — flour tortillas, warm. The starter for any dipping plate. Vegan.
- Guacamole (£3.95 side, £8.95 as part of Salsa & Guacamole Dips) — avocado, lime, salt, coriander, salsa de molcajete. Vegan, gluten-free.
If you order a chips-salsa-guacamole table at Frida, you've ordered an entirely vegan starter spread. No substitutions; no asterisks; no kitchen workarounds. That's how the kitchen has always done it.
Mains: every signature dish has a vegan version
Every plate on our Signature Mexican Dishes menu has a vegan variant. Same dish, same plate, different protein build. The kitchen swaps the meat for a base of black beans, refried beans, grilled bell peppers, mushrooms, courgette and onion — finished with the same salsas, the same rice, the same warm tortillas.
- Taco Grande Vegan — four crispy shells, vegetable filling, lettuce, Pico de Gallo, salsa.
- Burritos Vegan — 12-inch tortilla, rice, beans, grilled vegetables, salsa, side guacamole.
- Quesadilla Grande Vegan — grilled tortilla, vegan filling, onion, Pico de Gallo, chips, side guacamole. Cheese skipped or vegan substitute on request.
- Enchiladas Vegan — rolled tortillas, vegetables, salsa, rice and pinto beans.
- Chimi Changas Vegan — deep-fried tortilla pocket, vegan filling, refried beans, sour cream substitute.
- Famous Mexican Fajitas — Vegan (£16.95) — sizzling on smoked onions and peppers, served with rice, beans, salsa, guacamole. The drama at the table is identical; only the protein changes.
The Fajitas vegan is the one we send out most often. The sizzle is the same. The flavour reads the same. The plate looks the same. A table can order three meat fajitas and one vegan fajita and nobody around it gets a different experience.
Weekend brunch: the vegan plate
Saturday and Sunday brunch is where the vegan menu does its most interesting work. The vegan brunch plate is grilled nopales (cactus paddles, lightly charred until tender), refried black beans cooked with onion and epazote, scrambled tofu seasoned with turmeric and salt, warm corn tortillas, and a wedge of avocado.
This isn't a "vegan version" of anything; it's a plate built from the start for a plant-based table. The nopales come on once a week from a Mexican-import supplier in north London; we char them on the plancha, slice them, dress them with lime and a pinch of salt. They taste a little like green beans and a little like asparagus — vegetal, fresh, faintly tart.
Pair it with a glass of agua de jamaica or sandía and a side of salsa. For the longer story on brunch in general, see our piece on Mexican brunch culture. The vegan plate is the one we'd order off our own menu on a slow Sunday.
Drinks and dessert: the vegan side of the bar
The drinks list has more vegan options than most Mexican restaurants do. The three classic agua frescas — jamaica (hibiscus), sandía (watermelon) and pepino-limón (cucumber-lime) — are fully vegan, gluten-free, and frequently the answer for anyone who wants something other than a cocktail or a soft drink. We covered them in our summer drinks piece last week.
The four smoothies on the menu — Berry Love, Groovy Green, Tropical Crush and Sunrise — are vegan by default. Fruit, fruit juice, occasionally avocado or spinach. No dairy, no honey.
For dessert, the Churros (£5.95) are the easy choice. Our dough has no eggs or dairy; the dipping chocolate is dark chocolate melted with plant milk on request. Two of the three other dessert options can be made vegan with notice — ask the kitchen when you order.
"If a kitchen needs to apologise for its vegan options, it's started in the wrong place. Mexican kitchens don't have to."
What we don't compromise on
Three quiet rules separate "vegan-friendly" from "vegan, properly." We hold all three.
No lard in vegan dishes. Traditional refried beans are cooked in lard; ours, on the vegan plate, are cooked in rapeseed oil with cumin and onion. The flavour is different but the texture is the same. We don't claim our standard refried beans are vegan; the vegan version is a separate pot, made on a separate day.
Separate prep stations during service. The plancha for vegan plates is wiped down between meat and vegan orders. The cutting board for vegetables stays vegetable-only. The deep fryer for vegan Chimi Changas runs a separate oil rotation from the meat fryer. These are kitchen-management decisions, not marketing ones — but they're the difference between "we have a vegan menu" and "we cook vegan food properly."
Cross-contamination care, not cross-contamination promises. Frida is not a vegan-only kitchen. We can't make zero-contamination guarantees the way Club Mexicana can. What we can do is reduce contact to as close to nothing as a mixed kitchen allows. We tell vegan diners exactly where the limits are when they ask.
Vegan in Camden: where Frida fits
Camden has a small but specific vegan-Mexican scene. Club Mexicana (Camden Stables Market) is the dedicated vegan option — entirely plant-based, very good at it. They're the right choice if you want a fully vegan environment, no compromises on contamination, and a menu built end-to-end without meat as a reference point.
Frida Camden sits in a different spot. We're a mixed kitchen with a strong vegan menu — the right choice if your table is half vegan and half not, or if you want the broader Mexican menu (mole, the full grills selection, the cocktail bar) and the vegan path is a parallel option rather than the only one. We're not trying to be Club Mexicana. They're already excellent at being Club Mexicana.
For groups with mixed dietary tables, Frida is usually the easier booking. For vegan-only dining where the entire experience is plant-based, Camden has better choices than us. Both can be true.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mexican food really vegan-friendly by tradition?
Yes, by accident more than by design. Pre-Columbian Mexico didn't keep livestock — no cows, no pigs, no chickens — so the cuisine was built around corn, beans, squash, nopales, avocado, tomatoes and chillies. Spanish colonisation introduced lard, cheese and meat, and these became central to many dishes. But the underlying plant kitchen never went away. Most regional Mexican menus still have a substantial vegan core; you just need a kitchen that knows it.
Can every Mexican dish on your menu be made vegan?
Almost. The Signature Mexican Dishes section (Tacos, Burritos, Quesadillas, Enchiladas, Chimichangas, Fajitas) all have vegan variants on request. The Brunch menu has a dedicated vegan plate. Most Starters are already vegan. Where we can't go fully vegan is in dishes built around dairy or meat as the central technique — chiles rellenos with cheese, mole poblano (which contains lard traditionally), Honey BBQ Smoked Ribs for obvious reasons. Roughly 70% of the menu is either vegan by default or vegan on request.
Do you use lard in your vegan dishes?
No. Our standard refried beans are cooked in lard (Mexican tradition); the vegan refried beans are a separate batch cooked in rapeseed oil with cumin and onion. We don't pretend they're the same recipe — the lard version has a richer mouthfeel — but the vegan version is genuinely good on its own terms. Same goes for any other dish: if a vegan diner asks, we confirm what's used and where.
What's the vegan option at brunch?
A dedicated vegan brunch plate: grilled nopales (cactus paddles), refried black beans with epazote, scrambled tofu, warm corn tortillas, sliced avocado. Pair it with an agua fresca (jamaica, sandía or pepino-limón) for the full plant-based brunch experience. Saturdays and Sundays 11am–4pm. The nopales come in fresh weekly from a north London Mexican supplier.
How does Frida compare to Camden's other vegan-friendly Mexican spots?
Camden's vegan-Mexican landscape has two notable spots: Club Mexicana (Camden Stables, entirely vegan) and Frida Camden (mixed kitchen with strong vegan menu). Club Mexicana is the better choice for fully vegan tables and zero-contamination needs. Frida is the better choice for mixed dietary tables, full Mexican menu access (cocktails, grills, mole), and the broader Camden Mexican experience. Both are excellent for what they are.
Save your table
Frida Camden, 40 Camden High Street, London NW1 0JH. Between Mornington Crescent and Camden Town tube. Open Sun–Thu 10:30–22:00 (last food orders 21:30), Fri–Sat 10:00–23:00 (last food orders 22:30). Vegan brunch is served Saturdays and Sundays 11am–4pm. Book a table online or call us on +44 207 383 3733. ¡Buen provecho, vegano y omnívoro!
