Sustainable restaurant EDIT to launch in Hackney

Called EDIT, the ‘veg forward’ restaurant is so named because it will ‘edit out the intensively produced, unnecessary waste, homogeneous varieties and the single use mindset, replacing them with the regenerative, the harmless, the natural and the wild, restoring a sense of connection with our food sources’, according to the restaurant.

The 30-cover restaurant is being launched by former architect-turned-restaurateur Elly Ward with the kitchen to be lead by chefs Fabrice Jacquet and Beth Olivier. The menu will feature a concise list of modern British plant-based dishes and an accompanying selection of low intervention wines, local beers and ciders. Ingredients will be sourced from small-scale farms, foragers and independent producers using regenerative and minimal intervention methods.

Dishes on the launch menu will include small plates such as roasted salsify with smoked aioli; crispy kalettes with purple potato mash; and beetroot à trois, followed by larger plates of wild mushroom fricassée with creamed barley and wilted chard; salt baked turnip with lentil ragu; and seaweed-cured celeriac with oyster leaf and radish.

The dessert menu will feature traditional puddings combined with seasonal fruits, with homemade chaga ice cream and blood orange granita, as well as a plant-based cheese board.

The restaurant will also serve the ‘Daily Edit’, a six-course tasting menu paired with natural wines and ciders.

“I’m so excited to take my team with me on this next stage of our journey,” says Ward. “With EDIT we plan to take our hyper-seasonal and low waste approach to the next level, putting amazing local produce where it belongs, at centre stage; celebrating those farmers and growers that share our ethos, and ultimately creating delicious, sustainable food and a fine dining experience’.

The dining room will have a stripped back aesthetic with bare brick walls and original cast iron columns of the former factory building, with reclaimed furniture and tables made from recycled wood waste. It will have a 12-cover private dining room available for hire, and a plant filled internal courtyard seating area for warmer months.

EDIT will open on Hackney’s Mare Street in January.