Restaurant review: Acorn House - a taste of things to come

Having read Giles Coren's outstanding review, I was hugely excited about my visit to Acorn House, the first restaurant in the UK to be conceived with environmental sustainability at its core, and is being hailed as 'the most important restaurant to open in London in the past 200 years'. This was to be no ordinary lunch break; I was going to experience the cutting edge of catering!

From the outside, Acorn House is an unassuming but smart modern restaurant, sitting smack-bang in the middle of Grays Inn Road, one of London's busiets and most polluted thoroughfairs. But the contrast on entering is striking: everything about this place is green, from the food to the very materials it's built from. And on closer inspection, they've got all bases covered, with eco lighting from EcoTricity, all bottled water coming from British sources, sustainable Norwegian wood tables and only seasonal food on the menu, which changes every month.

Restaurants don't usually come in for much criticism over their green credentials, but one thing Acorn House teaches us is that they should do. Seen by many as a luxury, they have traditionally generated a lot of waste and pollution - the ease of going out for a meal has long been at the cost of the environment. It's not only the food and cooking methods that create all this mess, but many of the practices commonly employed by staff working to make food to satisfy our cosmopolitan tastes: Acorn house's chefs told me that it's quite usual in many restaurant kitchens to leave taps running all day long and vast amounts of food thrown away, and these are the sort of practices they want to change, leading by example in their own kitchen.
It seems that the way forward for restaurants lies in training and re-learning habits, so it's good to hear that founders Arthur Potts Dawson and Jamie Granger Smith have set up a trust to educate restauranteurs on eco catering, a discipline that looks likely to become very much part of the restaurant trade. They are also working on a consultancy project to audit other establishments and give advice on how to make them greener.

But the question most people are asking is a more basic concern: what's the food like? Most reviews have glossed over this detail, which could make or break a business that's breaking into new ground. Fortunately, it's every bit as impressive as the credentials that Acorn House is built on, and provides great value for money. It's not just for vegetarians (as many have assumed) but as a veggie myself I was well catered for. I particularly like the seasonally changing menu, as not eating meat can often mean having the same limited veggie options over and over again at favourite eateries meaning vegetarians don't become repeat customers, a scenario unlikely to occur here. Having weathered the winter months, Acorn House have proven that seasonal does not have to mean boring, and there are plenty of dishes they can offer all year round, such as cheeses and cured meats. These arrive 'on the boat' from a supplier in Italy, so do not clock up many carbon miles.
On the March menu, there was a good choice of dishes including artichoke and parsley risotto, pan fried organic salmon fillett with borlotti beans, spinach, curly kale and goats cheese frittata - and a wealth of interesting salads. They do take-away too, with various mouth-watering sandwiches and soups.

Another cool innovation that will suit many diners is the option to pick your portion size. This will suit those who like variety, but feel bad about leaving food on the plate. I've not been to another restaurant that will do this, although it seems like an obvious and simple solution to reducing waste. I seized the opportunity to order a 'very tiny watercress soup' to go with my spring herb ravioli, and was delighted when it arrived perfectly formed in a dinky expresso cup.

So Acorn House looks set to blaze a trail in sustainable eating, that is bound to have major implications on the industry as a whole. Will I be going back? You betcha. And this time, I'll be having one of the rhubarb bellinis!

Book a table to avoid disappointment. Reservations on 0207 812 1842, or email bookings@acornhouserestaurant.com