Eco friendly fare in London

The Waterhouse restaurant couretsy of Shoreditch Trust

London is no stranger to short-lived niche restaurants which often pop up and then slowly dissipate only to be replaced by the next gourmet trend. The metropolis’ culinary connoisseurs are fickle creatures but the recent insurgence of eco-friendly eateries is proving that sustainability and educated patrons could translate to staying power.

Acorn House
69 Swinton Street
London WC1X 9NT
020 7812 1842

Acorn House is one of London’s first eco-friendly eateries and boasts a menu full of sustainable produce. The restaurant opened its doors in 2006 and aims to change the environmentally unfriendly restaurant industry.
The menu changes seasonally with unique items such as milk-roasted shoulder of pork, fennel and bay, roast crown prince squash, feta, chilli and pine nut tart, and dessert items such as sour apple meringue and Somerset cider sorbet with fried apple.
Both Acorn House and its sister eatery, Waterhouse, are committed to waste reduction including the reduction of packaging for meat and poultry and reusing food waste to create fertilizer.

Waterhouse
10 Orsman Road
London, N1 5QJ
020 7033 0123

Owned by the Shoreditch Trust, along with Acorn House, the Waterhouse is idyllically situated next to Regent’s Canal. The restaurant was specifically built to be environmentally conscious.
The water from Regent’s Canal is used as an energy source and cooling sails are utilized to cool down the interior in summer months. The restaurant is also the first of its kind to bottle its own water on site.
The seasonal menu includes delicacies such as crab and tomato risotto with fennel, rabbit roulade with fennel salami, bulgar wheat, butter beans and fair trade coffee and tea.

The Duke of Cambridge
30 St Peter’s Street
London N1
020 8986 5384

The Duke of Cambridge is the UK’s first gastro pub to receive the Soil Association’s organic certification. Since 1998, their business model of ethical and organic food has set a benchmark in London’s green restaurant scene with the food being sourced from local and independent producers.

The eatery has won a series of awards for its ethical practices including the 2010 Sustainable City Award and the 2009 RSPCA Ethical Business Award. The menu items are seasonal and boast gourmet gastro pub fare including potatoes, aubergines, red peppers and feta gratin with watercress pea sprout salad and lemon sole with peas, broad beans, bacon and cider sauce.

The Clerkenwell Kitchen
31 Clerkenwell Close
London EC1R 0AT
07989 304795

Situated in London’s cosy Clerkenwell district, this restaurant serves up ethical dishes in North London.

The eatery is committed to fair trade and uses biodegradable packaging and recycles most of its waste. The meat is ethically sourced and the restaurant only purchases produce from fair trade suppliers which meet their ethical standards.

The eatery, which was named Time Out’s best sustainable restaurant of 2008, serves up a daily changing British menu featuring dishes such as free range Norfolk roast chicken, little gem and green bean salad, with a soft boiled egg.