New Deal, new meal

My review of regeneration agency the Shoreditch Trust's eco restaurant the Water House is unashamedly more positive than that of the Sunday Times' AA Gill (surprise, surprise - read this for a taster: "I approached [the Water House] with a certain grim scepticism, not least because it’s on the dark side of Hoxton. Trying to find anything up there is a misery of light-industrial grot and video artists who lie in the gutter like run-over badgers." Hmmm).

Anyway, at the kind invite of the Shoreditch Trust's PR team, I made the intrepid journey from Hammersmith to the Kingsland Road in Hackney (no mean feat for those of you not familiar with London geography), trekked along the industrial wasteland that lines the Regent's Canal and finally arrived at the Water House. It certainly doesn't look much from the outside - not least because you have to wind your way down a gritty-looking cobbled alley lined with grafitti-smeared, semi-derelict warehouses - but once you enter the restaurant it's very pleasant indeed - light and modern decor and situated right on the canal.

The restaurant was set up in 2008 - one of the many social enterprises created by the Shoreditch Trust as part of its New Deal for Communities succession strategy. It was designed to be almost entirely environmentally-friendly, with on-site waste management technology, solar panels for hot water, hydro-electric power for electricity and hydro-carbon fridges. Staff are people from the local area who are taking part in the trust's worklessness and training scheme, and much of the salad and vegetables are grown, by the team, in a patch on the roof of the restaurant. What's more, Water House produces its own filtered bottled water on-site, (although sadly I didn't get to try any - it was tap water in a jar for me).

The food was pretty good, too - I clearly don't have such discerning taste as Gill and thoroughly enjoyed my pumpkin, ricotta and spinach ravioli, with lots of chopped nuts and olive oil, followed by a scoop of apricot sorbet and fresh mint tea - it was certainly a refreshing change from eating sandwiches at my desk .... All in all, much recommended and a great example of solid, post-NDC social enterpreneurism.

Photo: Duncan Kendall for Shoreditch Trust