Adam Handling to open zero-waste restaurant

Opening close to Handling’s eponymous restaurant at the Belmond Cadogan Hotel, Ugly Butterfly will seek to ‘demonstrate that zero-waste can be luxurious’.

The restaurant claims to ‘represent the second generation in sustainable hospitality’, with Handling collaborating on the project with Cadogan’s owners, as well as charities The Felix Project and Quintessentially Foundation.

All dishes will be made from waste items predominately sourced from Handling’s Chelsea restaurant, with an emphasis on the four most-wasted foods: bread, milk, eggs and bananas.

Options will include deboned crispy fried chicken feet with caviar; cheese doughnuts made with left-overs from the cheeseboard; and retired dairy cow tartare with crispy potato peelings.

2.5% of the restaurant’s takings will be donated to The Felix Project to support projects aimed at fighting food waste, with two dishes on the menu to include Feast Fairly pullet eggs that are usually disposed of due to their small size.

Ugly Butterfly will also host twice-weekly conversations focused on different sustainability initiatives, with game chef Mike Robinson set to give one of the first talks.

“This is such an exciting collaboration,” says Handling.

“Across my restaurants and bars we have a strong commitment to achieving zero waste and in setting up Ugly Butterfly, we can help to move the sustainability agenda forward even further by bringing together the pioneers in sustainable food and drink, fashion, business, furnishings, technology, arts and crafts and giving them a home for some really interesting discussions. 

“We want everyone to be able to drop in for some really tasty food, and delicious champagne, and to contribute to building awareness of how we can live our lives, every day, on a more sustainable basis.”

Next month Douglas McMaster will also be bringing his own zero waste ethos to London​​ with the launch of Silo Hackney.