10 amazing sustainable restaurants to visit in London in 2020

1 – 3 signs of a sustainable restaurant

2 – Cub

3 – Feng Sushi

4 – Farmacy

5 – Silo

6 – Waterhouse

7 – Spring

8 – Unity Diner

9 – Temakinho

10 – The Rosemary

11 – Clerkenwell Kitchen

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It’s 2020, and luckily, sustainability is a thing now. That’s amazing because the planet really needs it. It’s time to fight overconsumption and start making greener choices (like getting rid of paper receipts, for example. Did you know that they are not recyclable?) One of the greener options everybody can do is choosing to eat in a sustainable restaurant. In this post, we wanted to share with you 10 amazing sustainable restaurants to visit in London this year (in 2020).

But first, let’s discuss what a sustainable restaurant is.

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3 signs of a sustainable restaurant 

A sustainable restaurant often has seasonal menus

Having seasonal menus might require a bit of creativity from the chef, however, it helps to use locally sourced products that are in season and avoid importing products from abroad. While it might be cheaper to import ingredients from abroad, it’s certainly not sustainable, due to long-haul carbon emissions.

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A sustainable restaurant serves organic food

Another sign of a sustainable restaurant is that they often use organic food that is free of harmful pesticides. In the case of meat, organic farms usually care a lot about animal welfare standards; they are many times higher at the organic farms compared to the mass-production farms.

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A sustainable restaurant fights the food waste

Did you know that almost ⅓ of all the food produced globally is wasted? In order to reduce food waste, sustainable restaurants use advanced inventory tracking systems and generally don’t buy too many ingredients with a short expiration date. It’s better to run out of some dishes in the menu than throw away kilos of fish. Some sustainable restaurants take it to the next level and donate all the remaining ingredients or pre-cooked food to charity, give it for free on the apps like Olio or sell it on the apps like Too Good To Go.

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Alright, now you know some of the signs of a sustainable restaurant. There are more signs, but we wanted to keep this post short and sweet. Without further ado, let’s get started with the best sustainable restaurants to visit in London in 2020.

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10 sustainable restaurants to visit in London this year

Cub

Address: 153 Hoxton St, Hoxton, London

Cub is a collaboration project between the sustainable cocktail guru Lyan Chetiyawardana, the zero waste pioneer Doug McMaster and amazing brands like LVMH, Krug Champagne and Belvedere. Cub takes sustainability to the next level: the only option from the menu that you can choose is a 10-course set menu, where all the ingredients are seasonal. Moreover, if you go to Cub, you can see our TableYeti payment device in action – it replaces all the non-recyclable and toxic BPA-coated paper bills with e-receipts.

Read more about Cub or book a table online here. 

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Feng Sushi

Multiple addresses

If you want to find a restaurant that genuinely cares about their fish and sustainable farming, head to Feng Sushi. Feng Sushi has over 8 branches in London and it also offers a lot of vegan and vegetarian dishes in their menu.

Read more about Feng Sushi here.

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Farmacy

74-76 Westbourne Grove, London

Dining in Farmacy in Notting Hill is all about conscious eating that doesn’t harm the environment. All the ingredients come from organic and biodynamic farms.  How more sustainable can a restaurant be? Moreover, their dishes are amazing and very creative. 

Read more about Farmacy here 

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Silo

CRATE Bar, Queen’s Yard, London

Silo is the world’s first zero-waste restaurant located in trendy Hackney. It was first opened in Brighton in 2014, however, later, it was moved to London. Silo team works with the local farmers and uses sustainable reusable packaging to get food delivered to the restaurant. The furniture in Silo is made from upcycled plastic, recycled leather and repurposed wine bottles. Moreover, Silo is famous for using a pre-industrial food system. Intrigued about how it works? Head to Silo and try their set menus and brunches!

Read more about Silo here.

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Waterhouse 

10 Orsman Rd

Waterhouse cafe & restaurant was founded by a charity organisation called Shoreditch Trust and since then, only serves sustainable seasonal products from their menu. Waterhouse also supports the local community and provides jobs to young people, who have been through some difficulties. 

Waterhouse is open for lunch and breakfast from Monday to Friday. 

Read more about Waterhouse here. 

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Spring

Somerset House, Lancaster Pl

Spring is another of London’s 10 sustainable restaurants to try in 2020. The concept is unique and pretty amazing – between 5.30 pm and 6.30 pm they serve the Scratch menu, for example, all the dishes are made of ingredients that otherwise would have been thrown away from the previous lunch service. In order to cook the dishes for the Scratch menu, the chefs only use food items that most other restaurants would throw away. Spring is also the first restaurant in the world to abolish the use of single-use plastics.

Read more about Spring here.

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Unity Diner

60 Wentworth St, Spitalfields

Unity Diner is another one of TableYeti early adopters and it’s a place we love so much! Unity Diner serves only vegan fast-food (and customers often call it the best vegan fast-food in London), donates a lot of money to animal charities, only uses biodegradable and plastic-free takeout containers and straws and gives all the suitable food waste to animals in need. 

Read more about the Unity Diner here.

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Temakinho 

Multiple locations in London

Temakinho is an amazing mix between Japanese and Brazilian cuisines and luckily, it’s also a sustainable chain. Temakinho was the first chain to be awarded Friend of the Sea certification and also lists all its fish suppliers on their sustainability page. Temakinho also is involved in various philanthropic initiatives and donates money for good causes. 

Read more about Temakinho here >>>

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The Rosemary

178 New Cross Rd, London

The Rosemary is an organic Hungarian restaurant located in New Cross Gate. Not only do they serve organic sustainable homemade dishes and make all the dishes themselves (from sauces to butter), but they also employ people from the local community, which is amazing. If you haven’t tried Hungarian food before, it’s an amazing reason to head to The Rosemary!

Read more about the Rosemary or book a table here >>>

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Clerkenwell Kitchen

31 Clerkenwell Close, Farringdon, London

The Clerkenwell Kitchen is a charming organic and sustainable cafe that uses local produce and is open for breakfast, lunch and Afternoon Tea only on workdays. However, if you finish working early, you can still catch them open, as they normally close at 4:30 pm from Monday to Thursday. 

Read more about the Clerkenwell Kitchen here.

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Check out our Restaurant Owners’ Blog or learn more about TableYeti here!