LIFESTYLE – A NEW SUSTAINABLE ROOFTOP RETREAT FOR LONDON

Posted by Editor on March 16, 2024 in Lifestyle | Leave a comment

The relaxed rooftop retreat will take diners on a culinary journey with its open kitchen, which offers a selection of dishes influenced by Northern Italian cuisine for guests to indulge in. Alongside luscious outdoor space to dine alfresco, whatever the weather.

Rucola is the brainchild of The Conduit’s Food & Beverage Director, Henry Rich. The intimate eatery boasts an eco-conscious menu of delicious dishes which follows in the footsteps of its namesake restaurant, Rucola, located in the Boerum Hill neighbourhood of Brooklyn. Trailblazing the latest innovations in sustainable dining, he’s created a welcoming neighbourhood restaurant which works to reduce carbon emissions through thoughtful sourcing. 

Menu highlights include the Fisherman’s Stew, Roasted Cauliflower Panzanella and Balsamic & Globe Artichoke Pansotti. Diners can expect freshly made dishes such as Purple Aubergine with oat milk ricotta and fregola, Barolo-braised pork cheeks and a selection of pizzas, risottos, and homemade pastas.

Taking a holistic approach to sustainability, Rucola will represent The Conduit’s quest for a more eco-conscious world. With a focus on zero waste, net carbon neutrality and a plant-forward menu, the restaurant is set to become one of the capital’s most sustainable restaurants. Diners will see a menu full of quality, low carbon emission ingredients fromangel suppliers which share Rucola’s ethos of fixing the food system. 

Whilst dining at Rucola, visitors to The Conduit will see and learn about the provenance of ingredients across the menu, including cheeses from Neal’s Yard’s Dairy, fresh fish from Cornish sustainable fish supplier, South Coast Fisheries, and grass-fed beef from Lake District Farmers in Cumbria.

The fruit and vegetables on the menu will be sourced from Natoora and The Angry Monk who fight climate change by rescuing surplus and irregular produce already imported from overseas. Spices will be supplied from The Ujamaa Spice Company, a business which works to fix the supply chain, reversing the colonial impression left by the spice trade.

Guests can select from an impressive list of 100 wines, of which 50% are natural, ensuring that both the food and beverages originate from a robust ecosystem. The cocktail offering is also rooted in sustainability, with recipes designed around reusing and repurposing ingredients, ensuring that nothing is wasted which has value.

Henry Rich, Food & Beverage Director at Rucola says, “Rucola was founded on the basis of providing a relaxed neighbourhood restaurant, where the menu is ingredient driven, plant-forward and nutrient dense, showing guests just how delicious low-carbon dining can be. Offering delicious yet sophisticated food for the eco-conscious, diners can expect well-balanced dishes with vegetables, grains, and pulses, as well as high quality and sustainably and ethically sourced meat, fish and dairy. In keeping with our mission to avoid waste, there is no single use plastic in use, and the menu has been carefully considered with everything is made to order.”

Available to members, The Conduit is pioneering impact programming to drive positive changes in food systems and hospitality under its new event series ‘Fix Food, Fix The Planet’. As well as enjoying delicious food, guests can join educational events to be involved in solving complex topics including UPFs, food waste and the hospitality’s responsibility to combat the carbon crisis.

Opening from the 15th March, Rucola will also run a range of food-related interactive workshops every Saturday, kicking off with a kombucha masterclass, organic flour pizza making and natural wine tastings – available to non-members too.

Paul van Zyl, Co-Founder of The Conduit says, “The opening of Rucola is central to The Conduit’s aim of doing good through impact-led dining. It’s a physical manifestation of our mission to change hospitality for the better through a diverse membership community passionate about social and environmental change. From pioneering events to carefully selected suppliers and partnerships, we hope to shape hospitality and some of the world’s greatest challenges for the better. Together, The Conduit and Rucola can use the medium of food to make the world a more sustainable and just place.”