Mangosteen, Portsmouth

Mangosteen is a lovely vegan restaurant in Portsmouth. Despite being very busy and the restaurant located a bit far from where we were staying, we’ve been there twice. Both times we went for a few starters to share and desserts. The restaurant is vegetarian, but the vegan dishes are clearly marked and there are plenty of vegan options. The decor is lovely and the staff was so friendly and nice. They are closed on Monday and open the rest of the days for dinner and for lunch and dinner during the weekend. The restaurant is at 91 Palmerston Rd, Southsea. Here is their website for more details.

Crispy Chilli Mushrooms, made with oyster mushrooms and served with garlic mayonnaise. We were both very excited about this dish as we both love mushrooms. It was really good, we’ve had it twice.

Tempura vegetables with a light batter. This one was served with garlic mayonnaise as well. There was a mix of veggies: pea, mushroom, carrot, courgette, sweet potato, and parsnip. We had this twice.

Krab spring rolls with a chilli dipping sauce. The sauce was not too spicy, which was great. I liked the rolls, but we only had this once. We wanted to try another dish on the second time we went there.

Bang bang broccoli was served with hot sriracha mayonnaise. We were thinking that it might be too spicy. It wasn’t. The dish was very good. I’d gladly have this again.

This was a highlight for me. My husband was less sure about it. This is the Miso Braised Hispi. It is a cabbage baked in miso, on a bed of parsnip puree. The only comment I would make is that this is a big portion. As a starter it feels a bit too much. We had a few starters to share, so it was ok for us, but I wouldn’t want to have this as a starter and a main because it feels a bit too much. It was delicious though.

They have cocktails and blooming tea and also lovely non-alcoholic drinks.

I picked Sticky Apple Toffee Pudding and it was fantastic. I enjoyed it very much and on the second visit I had this again.

The same can be said about my husband’s choice of desserts. We shared them the first time, but each enjoyed our own dessert on the second time. He picked the Passionfruit Martini Cheesecake, both times.