12 Health, Food & Drink Eating better


For a new generation of London diners, healthy eating is about flavour, provenance and meals that leave you feeling as good as they taste. Words: Beth Poppy Erskine


Nutrition is everywhere in London — if you know where to look. Te city’s hottest menus often revolve around careful sourcing, fermentation and zero-waste principles, resulting in dishes that are flavour-led and intentional. Trough fibre-rich vegetables, fermented pantry staples and thoughtfully sourced ingredients, dining out can now feel as good for your body as it does for your palate. Tis isn’t a fleeting trend, says


Daniel Watkins, formerly of Acme Fire Cult and now executive chef at Holy Carrot in London’s Notting Hill. For him, the rise of health-conscious dining reflects a deeper cultural change. “Tis is a generation coming through now. Tey’re drinking less, going to the gym more and they’re looking to eat a lot better.”


Conscious dining Tat balance is achieved less through rules than through process at plant- based Holy Carrot. Daniel leans heavily on fermentation — think miso, pickles and vinegars — as a way of building depth and adding umami to otherwise simple dishes.


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Vegetables take centre stage, grilled or dressed. Te health benefits are almost incidental, Daniel says. Tat same thinking can be found


at another restaurant in the city, Jolene, where co-owner David Gingell champions whole foods cooked with care. “If you cook real food, farmed responsibly from scratch, then it’s a health food, or as we like to call it, just food,” he says. From sourdough made with regeneratively farmed grains to gut-friendly kombucha and simple seasonal salads sourced from small growers, every dish reflects intention rather than labels. Gingell’s approach shapes the ethos at Primeur and Westerns Laundry. What begins in kitchens like


Holy Carrot, and in the sourcing and preparation at Jolene, is part of a wider shift across London. Diners are seeking meals that are both nourishing and pleasurable. Nutritionist Emily English has noticed this change first-hand. “People care much more now about how food makes them feel, not just how it looks on a plate,” she explains. Eating out is no longer just about indulgence or convenience; diners


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increasingly want meals that support wellbeing while still tasting delicious. Chefs are also thinking carefully about how dishes flow across a menu, balancing lighter, fresher plates with richer, more indulgent ones.


Guilt-free goodness Tat approach, Emily says, avoids the pitfalls of performative and restrictive health trends. “Tere’s definitely a growing awareness, but sometimes it swings too far into ‘clean eating’ territory, where dishes are technically healthy but not that


delicious,” she notes. Te sweet spot is simpler: cooking seasonally, using great produce and offering a natural balance of flavours. Tis way, health-focused dining feels intuitive, enjoyable and, crucially, something diners want to repeat. “Te goal is to offer choices that feel aligned with their health goals without making them feel they ‘cannot’ have certain things,” says Emily. Bringing her nutrition-led


approach to life, Emily has teamed up with Dinings SW3 in Chelsea to create Jiyo, a limited-edition January


lunch menu designed with chef/ owner Masaki Sugisaki. Te three- course menu leans into seasonal produce, plus high-protein and fibre-rich ingredients, and subtly incorporates gut-friendly elements like seaweed, fermented components and broths, chosen to support wellbeing without compromising on flavour. What was once a niche is now the


norm: for London’s new generation of diners, enjoying their meal, feeling good and getting value are one and the same.


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