New York food waste pop-up WastED to launch at Selfridges

From the 24 of the month, WastED London will take up residence on the store’s rooftop for one month, seeking to champion the art of creating good food from “ignored or un-coveted” ingredients, which are often seen as food waste.

From the team behind the New York City Greenwich Village restaurant group, Blue Hill, the pop-up comes from chef Dan Barber, alongside co-founders David and Laureen Barber, in the chef’s first appearance for the public in London.

The site will collaborate with UK and European farmers and producers, to support those already working to limit their environmental impact. Partners already include the Beavertown Brewery, e5 Bakehouse, Neals Yard Dairy, and Selfridges Food Hall.

The small plates sharing menu – developed by Dan Barber with Adam Kaye, culinary director of Blue Hill and London-based chefs Ian Scaramuzza and Jonny Bone ‒ is set to include ingredients such as cabbage cores, waste-fed pigs, and cover crop sprouts, with each dish costing a flat £15.

There will also be traditional cocktails from Iain Griffiths, of London brand Mr. Lyan.

There will also be tea and pastries in an afternoon tea style, in collaboration with pastry chefs, plus Henrietta Lovell from the Rare Tea Company.

Design will aim to create a rooftop English garden feel, helping to highlight the stories behind the ingredients, sources and processes featured on the menu, and will come from architectural designers Garrett Ricciardi and Julian Rose of Formlessfinder, and furniture designers including Jonas Edvard and Nikolaj Steenfatt, Spyros Kizis of Kizis Studio, and Jan Swinkels and Aanyoung Yeh of Wonderwall Studios.

Selfridges regularly features pop-ups on its rooftop, with notable sites in recent years including the Forest Restaurant & Bar, On The Roof with Q, Vintage Salt, and alpine-themed Le Chalet.