There's almost not a speck of green space to be seen around Commercial Street, unless you know where to look. And that’s on the roof at much-loved pub The Culpeper, where it grows as many herbs and vegetables for its menu as it possibly can, alongside its greenhouse dining room and its wood-fired grill. And what can you grow in the depths of the city, do you ask? We’ve spotted courgettes, radishes and radishes. And if you’re green-fingered yourself, you can take part in gardening workshops up here, too.
'Fera' is the Latin word for wild. Fitting, really, given that Simon Rogan's restaurant in Claridges is all about reaping what we can from the earth. Under the eagle eye of head chef Dan Cox, it dishes up famously light meals that leverage natural flavours to the max. Most of the produce is sourced from Rogan's farm in Cumbria, but it's also taken from the secret 'Mayfair meadow', a bijou veg garden Rogan planted to recreate his infamous L'Enclume that yields things like rosemary, sunflowers and bay trees.
Stevie Parle's Greenwich-based second site is, as the name suggests, all about crafting its own ingredients to achieve a superior final product. Over its three Tom Dixon-designed levels, it's home to beehives, a kitchen garden where the results are used both in cooking and at the bar, and even got its own orchard which has been planted with rare and forgotten apple species, the first harvest of which should be happening right about.
Dalston's FARM:shop has a pretty good chance of claiming the title of freshest salads and sandwiches in London – a large proportion of its produce is grown right there at the café. All the lettuce and most of the herbs are grown on site using hydroponics, while an aquaponic system enables the café to farm tilapia fish and grow courgettes, chillies and flowers. It incubates mushrooms in its warm room, and grows vegetables in its 12m2 outdoor space. The team even looks after two chickens, which supply the café with up to 300 eggs a year.
If you've been to The Dairy which sits on The Pavement overlooking Clapham Common, you probably won't have noticed any sort of garden. That's because it's all tucked away on the roof, where chef and co-owner Robin Gill and his team grow veg, herbs and keep bees to supply the restaurant. Alas its infamous deli, located next door, is no longer running, but it's evolved into something just as tasty – it's now known as Counter Culture, serving Basque-style tapas dishes that leverage the homegrown produce to maximum effect and serving as an incubator for The Dairy's vaunted tasting menu.
