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InterContinental London – The O2 Takes Local Food Sourcing to New Heights with Rooftop Kitchen Garden

InterContinental London – The O2 Takes Local Food Sourcing to New Heights with Rooftop Kitchen Garden
Written by Amy

InterContinental London – The O2 has introduced a rooftop kitchen garden to supply its lively Market Brasserie restaurant with fresh British produce grown on the premises.

Following the Market Brasserie’s recent initiatives to redefine and enhance the restaurant experience with a strong emphasis on locally sourced British produce, the rooftop garden will allow the hotel to take food souring to a whole new level and aid the restaurant in continuing to cut CO2 emissions from food transportation.

The rooftop garden occupies the 2,000sqm roof space above the hotel’s Arora Ballroom. The neighbouring Arora Towers building gives the garden protection from the wind and its south-facing aspect provides plenty of sun.

During the trial stages of the garden, the hotel experimented with growing organic fruit and vegetables including strawberries; tomatoes; French beans; runner beans; pumpkins; cabbage; beetroot; cauliflower; carrots; lettuce and rocket. The produce grown so far has been incorporated into the daily specials menu at the Market Brasserie, with dishes including pumpkin salad with Shropshire blue, pumpkin seeds and caramelised walnuts; gin cured Scottish salmon with pickled beetroot; cauliflower veloute with mujol and basil and heritage tomato and burrata salad. The hotel is also planning to introduce a beehive to the garden with a view to producing their own honey in the future.

Chef Johan Rox, Executive Chef at Market Brasserie commented: “We’re delighted to introduce this new food souring venture to Market Brasserie. The rooftop kitchen garden allows us to experiment with the use of our very own produce in our menus to create delicious fresh dishes for guests. Our goal is to transform the space into a fully functioning kitchen garden with a continuous supply of fresh organic fruits and vegetables, which will positively enhance Market Brasserie’s sustainability efforts.”

InterContinental London – The O2 boasts 453 guestrooms, a luxury spa with 17m swimming pool and eight treatment rooms, as well as a collection of London’s finest destination inspired restaurants and bars, including the 3 AA Rosette Peninsula Restaurant, the lively, interactive Market Brasserie, the unique Clipper Bar with its own exclusive Clipper Gin, the rooftop Eighteen Sky Bar and the Meridian Lounge with a riverside terrace.

InterContinental London – The O2 is managed and operated by The Arora Group under a franchise agreement with InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG®).

www.iclondon-theo2.com – @InterConTheO2

About the author

Amy