Diners can eat their greens ‘on the farm’ just a minute from Tottenham Court Road station, at a new restaurant with an on-site vertical hydroponic kitchen garden. The Orangery has more than 35,000 plants growing on-site – said to be equivalent to an acre of traditional farmland.
Operated by Square Mile Farms, the operation is billed as “the West End’s first indoor hydroponic production farm“, providing “ultra-fresh, pesticide-free produce“.
Open all day from breakfast, its all-day menu features signature dishes with key home-grown ingredients grown on site: market fish is served with their own chard; leek tart with their own cavolo nero and herb oil; Hereford hanger steak with their own herb salad, and pasta with pesto made from their own herbs mixed with chia seeds grown in Essex.
Likewise, cocktails with or without alcohol feature home-grown herbs, including a sage and tequila mule, a parsley Collins and and basil gimlet.
The Orangery seeks to demonstrate a “sustainable, scalable model for the future of global farming”, especially in cities. There is also a chef’s table on the ground floor, where diners can eat surrounded by growing plants.
