These restaurants are carving out a greener future for the industry
A restaurant traditionalist may hear the term ‘sustainable restaurants’ and start walking the other way. The potential for sanctimony and a pretty joyless experience is palpable. But, in recent years, eco-minded restaurants have been cropping up more and more – and there are serious gems among them. The fact that the planet is at extreme risk of dying is causing reflection and revelations within many industries. Restaurants are under pressure to consider the farming practices of their suppliers, with agriculture accountable for 5.79 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions every year according to a report by The Eco Experts, not to mention their own piles of waste (food and otherwise) that are generated each year.
More than just a persistent buzzword, ‘sustainability’ has infiltrated the restaurant world – in a good way, of course. In 2017, the SDG2 Advocacy Hub created the Chefs’ Manifesto, a project that brings together more than a thousand chefs across the world to explore how they can deliver a sustainable food system. And in 2020, Michelin introduced their Green Star to celebrate the restaurants in its guide that are at the “forefront of a more sustainable gastronomy.” It takes a lot of imagination, creativity, hard work and – crucially – hopefulness to bring an eco restaurant together. When things seem all too inevitable, these restaurateurs are trying to make a difference. And if there is a future for restaurants in a climate crisis-stricken world, this lot are carving it. That’s not to say that some joints won’t adopt the concept in a more cynical way (buzzword = attention = money), but those are usually relatively easy to weed out. You won’t find any of them here, this is a list only of the city’s best sustainable restaurants where the cooking is every bit as good as the intentions.
The Orangery
New restaurant The Orangery on Tottenham Court Road is taking the farm-to-table concept to the limit as it’s got London’s largest on-site hydroponic farm on the floor below. The vertical farm, which also takes up wall space in the main dining area, is run in partnership with Square Mile Farms and is equivalent to a 1.1-acre traditional farm, though it uses 90% less water and can grow produce 365 days a year. 70% of the produce, including chard, kale, pak choi, lettuce, basil and thyme, the farm grows is used across The Orangery’s modern British menu, with the remainder being donated to local KS1 schools, communities and charities across Camden.
81 New Oxford St, London WC1A 1DG
orangerytcr.com
Apricity
Chantelle Nicholson’s Mayfair restaurant Apricity is set up to operate in an as circular and sustainable way as possible, and it’s been awarded a Michelin Green Star and three stars as part of the Sustainable Restaurant Association’s Food Made Good Standard for its efforts. As well as working with a low-waste food philosophy, repurposing leftover food in staff meals, in syrups for cocktails, and in new dishes for the menu, the bar also uses pickling juice in place of citrus as it doesn’t tend to grow in the UK. Aside from the food and drinks being produced in a sustainable way, deliveries are made using reusable crates; paper is saved through the use of digital menus; no clingfilm is used in the kitchen; and the restaurant was fitted out using as much existing material as possible, with everything designed so that it can be taken apart, recycled, reused or donated at the end of its life.
68 Duke Street, Mayfair, London W1K 6JU
apricityrestaurant.com
Flat Earth Pizzas
Flat Earth Pizzas in Bethnal Green is not your average pizza place as founders Sarah Brading and Rich Baker have gone the extra mile to make the operation as sustainable as possible. All the elements of the pizzas are made in house, using Wildfarmed and Gilchester’s Organic heritage grain flour for the base, and well-sourced ingredients for the creative toppings; they serve organic wine on tap; and they send zero waste to landfill. The veggie and vegan pizzas, like the Kimchi Margarita and Hackney Hot, also happen to be award-winning, so these are slices that taste good as well as do good
288 Cambridge Heath Rd, London E2 9DA
flatearthpizzas.com
The Culpeper
The Culpeper in Spitalfields isn’t your average boozer. There’s a heavy focus on sustainability and great care is taken when it comes to sourcing ingredients for both the downstairs pub and the first floor bistro. They support growers who prioritise soil health and farm regeneratively, work with fishermen who catch sustainably, and source native breed meat from farmers – they even grow their own produce on the pub’s rooftop and on its mini farm in Deptford.
40 Commercial St, London E1 6TB
theculpeper.com
Silo
Michelin Green-starred joint Silo in Hackney Wick is so low waste that they don’t even have bins – any food that isn’t consumed is fed into an aerobic digester which can create 60kg of compost in 24 hours. Everything here is made from scratch, from milling the flower to churning butter, which reduces food miles and unnecessary processes. And all deliveries to the restaurant come in reusable crates or other containers, completely eliminating packaging waste, and the furniture and fittings are all upcycled. The menu changes regularly but you’re always going to start with slices of bread, “the Siloaf”, and aged butter. Other highlights include a dish of smoked mackerel with sea buckthorn (one of the few non-veggie dishes), the king oyster mushroom with koji, and the smoked potatoes with brown butter hollandaise.
The White Building, Queen’s Yard, Hackney Wick, London E9 5EN
silolondon.com
Eleven98
With super low food miles, a practically non-existent carbon footprint and a low-waste mentality, Eleven98 is an uber-eco social dining experience. Every Friday, they welcome up to 12 guests to the chef’s table where they’re served up a nine-course feast of dishes made with produce exclusively grown in Hackney. Every vegetable, herb and piece of fruit on the menu has either been harvested by Eleven98’s Chef Patron Aidan Brooks at his personal veg garden in London Fields, foraged in the area or sourced from the Growing Communities garden and the St. Mary’s Secret Garden. The evenings are interactive, so while you tuck in, you’ll get to learn about the ideas behind the dishes and where they came from.
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