Inside, you’ll find a room of high contrast: a Scandinavian-esque decor of sharp blacks and white brick, marble tabletops and leather seats. Among the booths and tables stand a dozen birch trees – a surprising and striking addition that creates the atmosphere of an upmarket outdoor cafe. It’s a carefully crafted aesthetic that’s contemporary and minimal, with just enough low lighting and colour for warmth.

The food at Ethos is served buffet style. In the evenings, a table service is offered; a server will seat you and bring a menu with additional starters, drinks and desserts. Otherwise, the buffet is spread across three serving areas: cold salads, hot food and desserts. You help yourself and pay at the till; the weight of your plate will determine the cost.

All of the buffet dishes are made on the day and refilled until they run out (sometimes earlier than may be expected). The last top-up is 30 minutes before closing time. As with most buffets, the selections change depending on the time of day. In the evening, you might find Middle Eastern cuisine (baba ganoush, falafel, pitta), Italian (gnocchi, ricotta marinara, arancini), Asian stirfry, Thai corn fritters, sweet potato shepherd’s pie, and an impressive array of spinach dishes. And each week there’s a new ‘chef’s special’.

Breakfast is served on weekdays, brunch on Sunday, and takeaway is available daily. There’s even afternoon tea, with a changing selection of sandwiches, cakes, scones and clotted cream.

Ethos’s particular offering – a variety of healthy, tasty food and sophisticated presentation – has proven to be a popular combination. There’s often a queue, so get in early. It’s worth the wait.

The restaurant first opened in 1985 under the name Bhelpuri House. Inside, the room is divided, with some tables near the buffet and others set up on a lower level. The finer details might escape you at first as your attention will likely be on the restaurant’s defining characteristic: wall to wall posters, newspaper articles, celebrity photos and pseudo-facts (‘carrots keep you younger!’) about the benefits of living a vegetarian lifestyle. It’s well-intentioned and sincere – done, in their words, to ‘inform, amuse and inspire’.

The buffet changes daily, but you’ll usually find a selection of half a dozen hot dishes (vegetable curries, dhal, rice), fried onion snacks, bread, cold salads (onion, carrot, beetroot, red and white cabbage) and fresh pear and mango sides. Staff can answer any questions about the dishes and their ingredients, and point out what meets different dietary requirements (most of the buffet is vegan). A long refrigerator along the wall has a selection of soft drinks. And there’s a table menu with Indian desserts, and dairy or soy lassis.

While the price of the buffet has risen to £7.95 (half price for a takeaway box), Indian Veg remains a reasonably priced option for great-tasting vegetarian and vegan Indian food in London.

Indian Veg offers free food to anyone who is homeless, during normal opening hours.

What this means in practice is a self-service buffet with an abundance of cold fruit and vegetable salads, soups, hot mains and desserts. Food is priced by weight: all dishes cost the same and you only pay for as much as you have on your plate. The price per 100g changes throughout the day, providing more affordable options at lunchtime.

Like any buffet, the dishes – about 40 in total – vary based on the availability of ingredients and the season, but there are cuisines that carry through one day to the next. You might find influences from Asia (noodles, dumplings, stir fry), Italy (gnocchi, lasagna, frittata, risotto), the Middle East or the Americas (guacamole, jalapeño poppers), not to mention a tantalising selection of puddings and cakes. The buffet is topped up regularly and it’s rare to see an empty dish. You can order cocktails, beer and wine at the counter, along with other drinks like cold-pressed juice and coffee.

Tibits say that 80% of their food is vegan and that everything is local and organic where possible. Breakfast is served on weekday and Saturday mornings from 9am to 11.30am. Every Tuesday is ‘Vegan Tuesday’, offering an entirely vegan afternoon and evening buffet. An ingredient guide notes whether each dish contains allergens (eggs, nuts, celery, gluten) and onion or garlic.

The restaurant is large with an additional space downstairs for groups and busy evenings. Tables that seat four or more can be booked in advance. Many tables seat two people, which, when combined with the lighting and warm decor, creates a cosy, intimate setting.

In their words, Tibits have always strived to cater to vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike, and the number of customers bears this out. With a consistently impressive spread of dishes, it’s not hard to see why so many people are drawn here for a delicious meal.