CookDaily's Vegan "High Grade" Is the Hemp-Inspired Sweet & Sour

From the gourmet goodies of Borough Market to the fusion culinary experiences on offer in the West End (not to mention the myriad of food stalls that fill-up corners of the multicultural capital), London’s food scene is more varied than ever. Leading its vegan category is King’s CookDaily, located in East London’s shipping container-turned-pop-up mall, Boxpark.

Self-confessed as once an “angry chef,” entrepreneur and head chef King became vegan when he started meditating to combat the stress he faced working in several Michelin-starred restaurants. Mediation empowered him to cook and eat purposefully, turning his lifestyle around and joining London’s meatless counterculture, eventually launching the city’s first fast food vegan joint. With his family hailing from Laos, as a youth King learnt to mix Asian and British cooking styles by assisting his father in the kitchen. Having honed his craft, King opened CookDaily to bring a new variant to the table. With the intention to “not be just another juice bar,” CookDaily is a reflection of King’s creative interests and is as much an ethical hub for healthy eating as it is a hangout for graffiti writers, DJs and meat eaters. His usual customers include Shoreditch’s local creative community to closer friends and leaders of UK’s grime scene — think JME, Boy Better Know, Tempa T and Logan Sama.

For our latest HYPEBEAST Eats, King catches up with World Freerunning Champion and Disclosure-collaborator Tim Shieff, who proudly says his vegan diet provides the foundation needed for him to compete. The two satisfy their appetite over one of CookDaily’s most popular dishes, the “High Grade,” a stir-fry, herb-filled rice bowl seasoned with a secret hemp sauce. Follow King on Instagram to stay updated with CookDaily.