The best farm to table eating in London
Oooh, that's fresh
It's the newest culinary obsession, we're just desperate to get some livestock or a turnip out of the field and on to our plate in as few moves as possible.
This is an area to which we've given quite a bit of thought, ourselves... if we had a farm out in the provinces we'd connect our restaurant wi-fi ordering system direct to the largest of our farm catapults and fire the beef or leeks or brassicas direct from source to your plate.
That's patent pending, so keep your mitts off.
For everyone else, in the real world... try these:
Great, unfussy, well-sourced food and fantastic beer.
The Candlemaker
136 Battersea High Street SW11 3JR
Pubs
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At this Battersea pub the stocks and sauces are made from scratch, food is sourced from nearby farms and producers and Chef Michele Cremona grows her own herbs. It's a cause close to Michele's heart, as she's even running a campaign to encourage locals to do their weekly shop from the high street's market rather than the big supermarkets.
If you can't escape to the country, then a meal at The Dairy is the next best thing. They make their own breads, charcuterie, preserves and even honey thanks to the beehives on their rooftop garden. At The Delicatessen next door you can buy their homemade products.
Being owned by three brothers who are a farmer, a chef and a restaurateur means The Shed has a wealth of experience when it comes to running a restaurant, as well as great produce from the family farm in West Sussex. With their pick of ingredients they put their own twist on dishes like crumbed chorizo with labneh and caramelised kale.
At the back of Bubbledogs - the champagne and hot dog restaurant - is Kitchen Table, a dining room for 19 seated around the chef's kitchen. No menus are printed, instead a different 12 - 14 course meal is available each night depending on what suppliers say is the best produce of the day.
Clarke's
122-124 Kensington Church Street W8 4BH
Clarke's is a restaurant, shop and bakery. The menu in the restaurant changes each day, using only British produce. They also pride themselves on not adding any additives to their products.
At this Islington pub everything served is organic or from wild ingredients, and since 2014 they've been sourcing produce from Riverford farms. The menu changes on a daily basis, but sample dishes include whole mackerel with potatoes Lyonnais and tapenade, and roast shoulder of pork with couscous.
As befits a Nordic-inspired restaurant, there's plenty of pickling and curing going on behind the scenes, using locally sourced produce of course. For one particular recipe the chef salts his own cod as well as dehydrating and smoking tomatoes. Little surprise then that they need 72 hours notice for the tasting menu.
