The stately interior of St Ermin’s Hotel’s Caxton Grill is the perfect place for thoughtfully sourced, beautifully prepared fine dining. The Grill grows as many items as possible in their rooftop garden, including lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, spring onions and chillies, which are used in their salads and sauces or as garnishes for drinks. The restaurant’s desserts are made with honey from the hotel’s urban bee colony, home to 350,000 bees. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough room for livestock on the roof of the hotel, but all of the meat and seafood is sourced responsibly. Gemma Wren, Catering Sales Manager at Caxton Grill, says “Using produce direct from the garden means no food waste or air miles and fresh and innovative dishes.”
Address: 2 Caxton St, Westminster, SW1H 0QW
Opening hours: Lunch Mon-Fri 12 pm to 2:30 pm, dinner seven days a week from 6 pm to 10:30 pm.
Website: https://www.caxtongrill.co.uk
Price range: £££
Clapham-based pizza joint Eco certainly aren’t newcomers to the environmental movement: they’ve been serving tasty, sustainable pizzas for over 20 years. Their homemade sourdough bases are topped with a traditional sauce, a touch of garlic oil, fior di latte mozzarella, and topped with a sprig of fresh basil. Their menu includes plenty of vegetarian options and even vegan cheese for those looking to cut down on animal products. On the weekends, Eco serves a brunch including a range of classic egg dishes and frittatas. While you’re in the area, you can check out our Clapham coffee recommendations, too.
Address: 162 Clapham High St, Clapham Town, SW4 7UG
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 12 pm to 10:30 pm, Saturday 9 am to 11:30 pm, Sunday 9 am to 10:30 pm.
Website: https://ecorestaurants.com/
Price range: £
Anyone looking for eco-friendly restaurants in London must go to Silo, the world’s first zero-waste restaurant. It has its own flour mill and brewery, and the team churn their own butter, makes oat milk and rolls their own oats. The restaurant also has a ‘nose to tail’ policy, meaning that it (respectfully) uses a whole animal and the restaurant has also been decorated and built with up-cycled materials. Plus, any food that isn’t used is fed to an aerobic digester that generates up to 60kg of compost every day.
Address: The White Building 1st Floor, Unit 7 c/o CRATE Bar, Queen's Yard, London E9 5EN
Opening hours: Tues-Fri 6 pm to 10pm, Sat 11am to 3pm and 6pm to 10pm, Sun 11am to 3pm. Closed on Monday.
Website: https://silolondon.com
Price range: ££
CUB serves up exciting, environmentally focused experimental cuisine – making it one of the more unique eco-friendly restaurants in London. Co-founded by Doug McMaster, the mind behind Silo, this venture had green credentials from the beginning. Only at CUB can you enjoy ingredients like water jelly and hay smoke from the comfort of a retro, orange diner booth. Don’t forget about their equally creative cocktail menu, which has the bartenders working with ingredients such as pine bitters and aged beeswax.
Address: 153 Hoxton St, Hoxton, N1 6PJ
Opening hours: Wed-Sat 6 pm to 12 am. Closed Sun-Tue.
Website: https://www.lyancub.com/
Price range: £££
If you’re yearning for some traditional gastropub staples but don’t want to tarnish your environmental credentials, check out The Three Stags in Lambeth. Conveniently located just a few minutes from London Waterloo, this unassuming pub is one of London’s best environmentally friendly restaurants. Enjoy traditional English fare like Shepperd’s Pie or branch out for a Quinoa salad – it’s all green and all delicious. The Three Stags is dedicated to recycling 100% of its waste, including composting food waste and even keeps bees on the rooftop.
Address: 67-69 Kennington Rd, Bishop's, SE1 7PZ
Opening hours: Monday 12 am to 12 pm, Tue-Sun 12 pm to 11 pm.
Website: https://www.thethreestags.london/
Price range: ££
The Waterhouse is one of the area’s leading eco-friendly restaurants, located on beautiful Regent’s Canal. Nothing on the menu costs more than a tenner, making this the perfect spot to escape the hustle and bustle of the city for an affordable, tranquil and sustainable breakfast or lunch. The restaurant is owned and operated by the East London charity Shoreditch Trust, and a portion of proceeds goes toward helping young people from the area to pursue careers in catering.
Address: 10 Orsman Road, Haggerston, Hackney, N1 5QJ
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 9am to 3pm. Closed on weekends
Website: https://www.waterhouserestaurant.co.uk/
Price range: £
Since 1999, Franklins Restaurant has been serving seasonal classics with a contemporary twist. They work exclusively with farm vegetables from Kent and responsibly reared rare-breed meats. The open kitchen gives you a clear view of the chefs at work, turning fresh ingredients into any number of culinary creations. They offer a vegan menu, too, so check out Franklins for one of the best environmentally friendly restaurants in southeast London.
Address: 157 Lordship Lane, East Dulwich, SE22 8HX
Opening hours: Sun-Fri 12 pm to 11 pm, Saturday 9 am to 12 am.
Website: http://www.franklinsrestaurant.com/
Price range: ££
Simplicity burger was established to push back against the highly processed plant-based burgers that are taking over. They believe that a good veggie burger doesn’t have to undergo complex processing to be delicious. They ferment, pickle, and prepare their locally sourced vegetables on-site to create a burger that’s just as delicious as meat with none of the environmental impact. This delicious, eco-friendly restaurant serves up sustainability with a side of fries.
Address: 202 Brick Lane, Shoreditch, E1 6SA
Opening hours: Tue and Wed 5 pm to 10:30 pm; Thu, Fri and Sat 12 pm to 10:30 pm; Sun 12 pm to 9 pm. Closed on Monday.
Website: https://www.simplicityburger.london/
Price range: £
This Southwark-based eatery made both the prestigious Access Self Storage ‘sustainable restaurant’ list that you’re reading right and the Michelin Guide. The high-end, eco-friendly restaurant gets its name from its focus on produce, game and livestock that are native to the UK. The inventive menu changes with the seasons, but you can rest assured that you’ll be enjoying a unique, environmentally friendly plate all year round.
Address: 32 Southwark St, Southwark, SE1 1TU
Opening hours: Lunch Tue-Sat 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm, Dinner 6 pm to 10:30 pm. Closed on Sunday and Monday.
Website: https://www.eatnative.co.uk/
Price range: £££
The Duke of Cambridge is Britain’s first pub to earn organic certification. They serve modern British dishes with a Mediterranean twist every day at lunch and dinner, made from seasonal ingredients from local organic farmers. They also offer a wide variety of organic ales and lagers and organic wines and spirits, meaning that you can even support the planet while enjoying your drink.
Address: 30 St Peter's St, Islington, N1 8JT
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 12 pm to 11 pm, Sun 12 pm to 10:30 pm.
Website: https://www.dukeorganic.co.uk/
Price range: ££