Knowing precisely which field the vegetable you’re forking up grew in or where the steak you’re slicing originally grazed is increasingly something diners want to know. If you’re looking for a London meal that not only cuts down on food miles but actually traces back the food to its own fields, farm or greenhouse, there are now a fair few places to choose from. Here’s our pick of the city’s restaurants where the chefs and owners grow their own.
The Gladwins
Rabbit, Shed, Sussex, The Black Lamb, The Pig’s Ear
All three Gladwin brothers grew up on the family vineyard and farm in West Sussex, which has very much informed how they operate their restaurant group in London. As far as they're concerned, “what grows together, goes together,” and that means everything from what ends up on the menu to the wines paired with it. Much of the high-welfare meat you eat here comes from their own farm, and you'll also find their wine on the lists too.
Speedboat Bar and Plaza Khao Gaeng
Soho and Covent Garden/Tottenham Court Road/Borough Yards
A self-styled herbs and chilli addict, chef Luke Ferrell used his family greenhouses in Dorset to start his Ryewater Nursery business. It now supplies Thai herbs to not only his own restaurants but also top London spots like Kiln and Som Saa. A trip home might mean gathering makrut lime leaves, papaya, gourds and galangals to bring back to his kitchen teams in town.
Public House Group
The Pelican, The Hero, The Hart, The Horses, The Fat Badger
Ten miles from their Cotswolds pub, The Bull, is where you'll find Buern Farm, where the Public House Group’s market garden is based. Over the year, it provides everything from edible flowers to brassicas and fruit for their pubs across London. And it's this seasonal calendar that their chefs are very much encouraged to tap into, not least because it means produce can be harvested and in the kitchen on the same day.
Origin City
Smithfield - 12 W Smithfield, London EC1A 9JR
Situated just yards away from London's historic meat market, this Smithfield restaurant prides itself on being very much a pasture-to-plate kind of place. That's helped by the fact that the family behind it not only have a 600-acre organic farm in Scotland but also own Loch Fyne oysters and a Provencal vineyard. The farms adhere to a sustainable and organic farming philosophy. Start your meal here with their oysters, move on to organic steak and enjoy a glass of wine; everything you’ve enjoyed will be from their own estate.
Rotunda
King’s Cross - 90 York Wy, London N1 9AG
Tucked in beside King's Cross, Rotunda may be every inch an urban restaurant, but it also has its own farm up in Northumberland where they breed Limousin X cows and Texel lambs. Once those arrive in London, the meat can be hung in their own hanging rooms on site; the restaurant even has its own butcher on site so that nothing is wasted. And if you want to try one dish that sums up this ethos, it's their lamb mixed grill. That features a Barnsley chop, merguez sausage made in-house, and even a kidney.
Aulis
Soho - 16 St Anne's Ct, London W1F 0BF
Simon Rogan's London restaurant has, as its secret weapon, access to Rogan's impressive regenerative farm up in the Lake District. Our Farm, as it’s known, is located just down the road from Rogan's three Michelin-starred restaurant L'enclume. But it also supplies the kitchen here in London. The produce is very restaurant-specific, so you might find Japanese wineberries, perilla leaves, comfrey and sweet cicely alongside seasonal veg and microgreens if you went up for a farm tour.
Ormer
Mayfair - Flemings Mayfair, 7-12 Half Moon St, 7-12 Half Moon St, London W1J 7BH
Executive Chef Sofian Msetfi was the man responsible for setting up a kitchen garden at the hotel's sister property, Down Hall, in Essex. On the restaurant's two-acre site, his team grows everything from seasonal fruits and herbs to salad greens and veg. They also have more than 10,000 bees in various hives, taking the honey and honeycomb to use in the Michelin-starred restaurant's dishes and desserts.
The Ox
Clapham - 50 Clapham High St, London SW4 7UL
The Ox (and sibling Clapham gastropub Rose & Crown) is very much a carnivore's paradise. Whether you're popping in for a Sunday roast or one of their popular butcher's nights, much of the beef comes from their own Kedzlie Farm in the Scottish Borders. It's a farm that specialises in Charolais, Limousin and native Luing cattle. There’s a clear respect for the whole beast that comes through in those butchery evenings where every bit is used with nothing left to waste, from sausage rolls and tartare to unusual steak cuts and more.
Nettle
Covent Garden - 6 Langley St, London WC2H 9JA
Nettle's owner Will Devlin is both a chef and a farmer, and he's brought that farm-to-table ethos to the centre of London with his latest restaurant. Much of what you'll eat here comes directly from his butchery and the fields of his smallholding on the Spratsbourne Estate in Goudhurst, Kent. Here he raises Gloucester Old Spot pigs, heritage cattle and more. The farm practices low-intervention, organic farming methods and no-dig growing practices. And if that piques your interest, they run courses to get your hands dirty. In London, menus might include house-made charcuterie alongside lion's mane skewers and Kentish strawberry tarts.
Harwood Arms & The Ledbury
Fulham and Notting Hill
Whether you're eating at chef Brett Graham's Michelin-starred pub or three Michelin-starred restaurant, there's a good chance you'll find venison on the menu. That'll be down to Capability Graham, Brett's food company. It has partnerships with some of the country's finest landed estates to run deer parks on their land. They've even started breeding Iberian pigs here in Britain on a farm in Shropshire, which also produces the rapeseed oil used by both kitchens.
Also see
Aki London has 80 micro-farms in its own kitchen growing rare Japanese herbs, microgreens and seaweeds.
Fallow has a smallholding in Esher and they also grow their own mushrooms in the restaurant too.
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