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No, it’s not a new club night down the Student Union. WastED is a restaurant pop-up on Selfridges’ rooftop focusing on sustainability and waste within the food industry. And it just so happens to have been the most talked-about food pop-up in London this year so far.
Europe’s best chefs and bartenders have been filing in to join the pop-up that’s headed up by Dan Barber, the New York chef bringing a new way of thinking to your plate (food waste + education = WastED, geddit?). As such, it’s been nigh-on impossible to get a table.
Diners who’ve been lucky enough to visit have been treated to a daily-changing menu of captivating dishes – from ‘rescued’ veal nuggets with ash mayonnaise to cod-head kedgeree – which use food byproducts in the most creative ways or turn the more wasteful processes in food production upside down, through close work with farmers and suppliers.
Even the cocktails are cleverly mixed using waste to get stunning results, thought up by former Dandelyan bartender Kelsey Ramage and Mr Lyan's Iain Griffiths who run their own roaming zero-waste bar, Trash Tiki. Drinks include a bloody great bloody mary made from B-grade passata and then clarified.
It’s not just the menu that’s so carefully considered. The theme of sustainability even extends to furniture (tables made from artichoke), crockery (using plates and glasses that are considered flawed in some way) and decorations (beef-dripping candles, lamps made from mushrooms).
As the pop-up draws into its final week (ending on Sunday April 2), foodies who’ve seen it all over Instagram but are yet to get WastED themselves will be pleased to hear that limited places for lunch, afternoon tea and dinner are indeed available (with a bit of perseverance). Call the Selfridges team on 020 7788 6210 and try your luck. Don’t waste this opportunity.
WastED is at Selfridges’ rooftop restaurant, 400 Oxford St, Marylebone, W1A 1AB, until April 2.
In other food news, a second Veggie Pret is opening in Shoreditch next week.