Best organic restaurants in London

Garden focused plates at Oliviera Kitchen

I’m not sure there’s ever been a time when society has collectively wanted to be as healthy as we do today. Perhaps behind the raw liver shots or snail secretion face masks, what we’re really craving is going back to basics. The time when toxic chemicals - fertilisers, pesticides, additives, hormones and solvents - weren’t liberally entwined within everything we put into our mouths. 

The organic movement is not a new one. Pretty much as soon as farming began scaling up en masse during the first half of the twentieth century, we’ve known these chemicals are harmful to both the environment and our own health. Despite knowledge of the importance of a sustainable food industry at an all time high, how this translates into what’s on the plates in front of us is a different story. 

To help, here we share our top organic restaurant picks in London - whose old-style farming commitments ensure some of the finest quality produce around.

Petersham Nurseries Richmond 

Foliage enriched dining at Petersham Nurseries

If you fancy dining out in a fairyland-like greenhouse, Petersham Nurseries, overlooking the Thames in the heart of elegant Richmond offers just that. Amidst an ethereal, verdant haven, you might plod across soiled ground to get to your unclothed wooden table - more the markers of a visit to a friend’s countryside backyard than a fine dining establishment - but the food and setting is so exquisite, that for the last four years running the restaurant has been planted with a Michelin Green star.

The “green” part is down to the organic and seasonal plates, with sourcing focused on quality ingredients from small, local farms that eschew pesticides and harmful chemicals. On their family farm in Devon, the restaurant practices regenerative, holistic farming, which means undertaking methods such as rotational grazing where fields are allowed to breathe and rejuvenate. 

Once in the kitchen, the chef’s ethos is simple, slow cooking, that lets the flavours of whole ingredients emerge rather than overwhelming them through too much seasoning or sauce. It may be a rarity to dine amidst flowers and trees in London, but this restaurant is about so much more than its magical atmosphere. Petersham Nurseries does well to ensure what lands on your table has a minimal impact on the very environment guests get to enjoy.

Duke of Cambridge, Islington 

A corner of Islington hosts a pub with a (vegetable) plot twist

As Britain’s first organic pub, our list wouldn’t be complete without The Duke of Cambridge (also known as The Duke Organic) nestled in the leafy suburbia of Islington. Whether served at the bar or on the table, there’s not a pesticide in sight.

The pub’s original founder is so into organic she even married the founder of Riverford farm box scheme whose slogan is “live life on the veg”. Two peas in a pod, we could say, ten years ago the pair brought their businesses together to serve up N1 with Riverford’s farm produce. 

Now, the place is owned by The Culpepper Group (responsible for the Shoreditch Culpepper rooftop with its own veg garden), still serving up small sharing plates tasting of summer gardens. 

The pub is light, airy and relaxed, with large wooden sharing tables fit for communal feasting. There’s a twice daily rotating blackboard to reflect the seasonal produce on hand, and for those that want something fleshier with their veg - meat and seafood are served and ethically sourced too. It’s worth keeping an eye out for their supper clubs too, where you can get a taste of the field in a fun, convivial setting. 

Oliviera Kitchen, Shoreditch

Interiors enjoy a taste of the garden too

Oliviera Kitchen is a vegetarian and vegan restaurant in Shoreditch which puts healthy, sustainable food at the centre of its cooking. Wines are natural and biodynamic, dishes are organic and prepared from scratch by artisan chefs and fake meats and ultra-processed ingredients are avoided - which as a largely plant-based restaurant is no mean feat.   

All this effort makes for a unique and modern menu which uses seasonal and locally sourced ingredients where possible - think sea buckthorn ‘caviar’ with ceviche of açaí hearts, a vegan ‘cheese’ board, and a Peruvian chocolate dessert with vanilla and salted caramel.   

As a testament to its hipster East London surroundings, the industrial restaurant which describes itself as “bold bohemian” is slicked up with a deep scarlet red ceiling, warm low-hanging lamps and a sleekly clean and minimal feel. The pristine surroundings are a fitting place to sample food that forgets the fluff and goes back to basics with its farming - all to create beautifully satisfying and nourishing meals at the same time.

While many restaurants aren’t yet on the freshly-gardened wagon, there are increasingly more players who are upping their produce standards. We’re keeping our eyes firmly peeled for these trailblazers, so if you want to hear about them directly to your inbox - sign up to Taste In Green’s newsletter below!