London’s best sustainable restaurants: Hām, West Hampstead

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Lizzie Rivera10 July 2018

Hām, the old English word for “home”, is everything you would want in a local neighbourhood restaurant, offering personal, friendly service in a relaxed environment. Combine this with a highly-seasonal British menu that has a touch of Australian and Asian influence thrown in and it’s practically guaranteed to keep the regulars interested. It also makes it worth a trip for those of us who aren’t lucky enough to call West Hampstead hām... or home, as we say these days.

Menu

Originally from Melbourne, head chef Matt Osbourne fuses thoroughly British ingredients with international flavours; Devon crab comes with macadamia nuts, raw beef is served alongside wasabi mayonnaise and Angus beef is seasoned with black sesame and soy but served alongside sprouting broccoli and turnips.

It's little surprise as Osbourne earnt his stripes working in a kitchen that had a separate Japanese section to the kitchen and huge south-east Asian influence.

He says: “I really enjoyed being in a big kitchen and working with lots of interesting flavours and the same principles apply over here. English beef goes really well with soy because it has the same intensity as Wagyu beef.”

Definitely opt for the almond gazpacho to start if it’s still on the menu – or the mackerel tartare, which is served with ajo blanco and mint.

When it comes to dessert, the buttermilk pannacotta, pear and walnuts is a worthy contestant to its rich chocolatey competitors.

Fresh: 'The reason I use the ingredients I do is because they taste better than any other' says head Chef Matt Osbourne

Atmosphere

Chef Osbourne, formerly of the The Ledbury, Terroirs, Salon in Brixton and ToastED in East Dulwich, presides over the restaurant from his elevated kitchen on the first-floor that offers a clear view of the diners below – and gives guests a glimpse into the creativity above.

Exposed brick walls, sea-green leather banquette seating and accents of antique brass are designed to make you feel like you are in someone’s living room and that’s exactly what the overall effect achieves.  
 
The restaurant is constantly busy. Mid-week the clientele is a local, more mature crowd. At the weekend the queues for brunch out the door from 10:30am and the restaurant is packed until about 4pm, with the local young professionals. Could there be a much better hangover cure than the Hām breakfast of fried eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, avocado and toast?

London's best sustainable restaurants

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Ethics and sustainability credentials

A lot of the meat comes from the very highly-regarded The Butchery in Bermondsey. Owner Nathan Mills typically buys whole animal carcasses for more sustainable nose-to-tail butchering (although they largely butcher for chefs, but you can buy directly from them on Saturdays).

The chicken is from Fosse Meadows, who grow their chickens for 81-days – about double what';s typically found in a supermarket. The ham (pork) is also slow-growing, from the Trumper family farm in Wales, while the lamb from The Manor Farm in Dorset “is hands-down the best husbandry” Mills has ever seen.

Osbourne says: “The reason I use the ingredients I do is because they taste better than any other ingredients and that’s a direct result of the way they’ve been farmed.”

When it comes to fish, this is mainly sourced from the highly regarded Kerno Sashimi, who only use small day boats and sustainable fishing methods.

“The fish is so fresh it was swimming in the sea this time yesterday morning,” says Osbourne.

The wine list was created in collaboration with Les Caves de Pyrene, so is predominantly low intervention, and there are some top options.

Good for: Meat-eaters and vegetarians

Cost: £££

Food sustainability rating: 4/5

Lizzie Rivera is the founder of London’s ethical lifestyle website: bicbim.co.uk

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