Perilla Dining
Dylan Lowe rounds up some of the capital’s recent new kids on the block.
Perilla Dining
Once nowhere special except for catching a train, King’s Cross’s redevelopment has transformed it into a bustling retail and dining quarter, complete with Canopy Market - its own popup, offering artisan produce and street food the last weekend of every month.
Canopy Market
Much more than merely a vegetarian and vegan eatery, New Roots Cafe was opened by Highway House to fund its homeless shelters in Tottenham and Islington, as well as creating volunteering and training opportunities for local residents.
Eating and cooking seasonally is the mainstay of Perilla and its daily-changed menu of high welfare meat, line-caught sustainable fish and vegetables at their seasonal best, all with a creative European flair.
“Proudly made in Hackney” has taken its latest residence here at Berstein's: soda-on-tap from Square Root, sourdough from E5 Bakehouse, in-house cured meats. Its Jewish and Levantine fare rounds up the local-centric vibe with bold, faraway flavours.
Selling groceries, produce, honey and household essentials from bulk bins, Bulk Market is making it easier and more convenient for shoppers to stock their shelves without single-use packaging.
Focusing on minimal wastage, Scout produces a daily-changing minimalist menu of cocktails made from ingredients that have been fermented, brewed, distilled or preserved in-house, or foraged from nearby.
Scout
Workspace, incubation hub and laboratory, Green Lab is where initiatives, businesses and community groups design solutions to food sustainability challenges. Not an entrepreneur? They host workshops on anything from backyard hydroponics to fermenting kombucha.
Brought to you by drinks agency Sweet&Chilli, Nine Lives abides by its waste-nothing ethos in every way this cocktail bar operates: from bamboo straws and reclaimed uniforms to its loop cocktails, drinks whose key ingredients are reused.
Nine Lives
Click and collect unpackaged grains, beans, pulses, nuts, dried fruit, flours, pasta, cereals and ethical cleaning products, picking up your order at the pre-arranged time in your own reusable containers. Join the Naked Larder community to have a say in the development of its range and plastic parrying practises.
This community-supported fish box scheme’s fourteen pick-up points include two new hubs south of the river. SoleShare works closely with small-boat fishermen they know and trust. Choose from whole fish or oven-ready options and collect weekly or fortnightly.
Venture all the way to Richmond no more: the legendary garden paradise and greenery-filled, Michelin-starred Petersham Nurseries is opening a central London outpost.
While not exactly a new kid on the block, The Blacksmith and The Toffeemaker's food menu is - this neighbourhood pub has recently gone completely vegan. The team’s dedication to sustainability extends to sending food waste off to make energy.
This London pied-à-terre of a Devon-based wellbeing company, Yeotown Kitchen incorporates not only a café, with a menu including ‘delicious, nutritious’ food, organic coffee and freshly-squeezed juices, but also guided meditation to help with mental wellbeing.
This feature first appeared in The Jellied Eel magazine issue 56, February 2018
London Food Link: London Food Link brings together community food enterprises and projects that are working to make good food accessible to everyone in London to help create a healthy, sustainable and ethical food system for all.
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