As we’re coming to the end of Summer it’s easy to slip back into old habits and forget about healthy eating. Most restaurants these days don’t really cater to healthy eating and I think there’s a huge niche in the market for alcohol free bars that are fun to meet friends at without having to drink.
Redemption are a new pop-up bar movement created by ex Virgin brand director Catherine Salway that focuses on super healthy food and delicious alcohol free cocktails. For the past 5 Sunday’s they have been based in Netil House at Bethnal Green but are now making a move to the opposite side of London to Notting Hill where they will set up permanent residency, running 7 days a week.
Myself and my friend Tara popped along on their final Saturday to sample some of their food and drink and to see if it filled the much needed healthy eatery hole in our lives.
After being greeted by the uber friendly staff we were told to pick a bean bag and soak in the atmosphere whilst we waited for our menus. Redemption is the perfect Sunday hangout as it has an incredibly relaxed vibe and wonderfully attentive staff.
Redemption have a zero waste policy- all of their food is naturally sourced, their plates are made from banana leaves and their glasses recycled.
We started with some mocktails, I tried the blueberry coco-tini , which contained cocnut water so incredibly hydrating and and Tara had the pomms. These were seriously delicious, fresh cocktails, it’s just a shame that they’re so small.
For our mains I ordered the Tokyo Salad, which was a beautifully presented dish of healthy brown rice, avocado, cucumber, radish, pea shoots and hijiki seaweed with citrus miso dressing topped with a pretty little flower. This is a dish I could eat everyday for lunch, it was deliciously filling and satisfying.
Tara went for the Taquito, which was two tortillas filled with spicy black beans, guacamole, and sour cream with shredded red caggage and tomato salsa. Again this was lovely but I preferred my dish as I felt it was a little more interesting and different to anything I’ve order in other restaurants.
Next we moved onto desert, which in my opinion was the best part of the meal. We had an antioxidant cacao indulgence, which was an incredible walnut and medjool date cacoa truffle cake served with a superberry compote. This was out of this world, I’m not normally a massive sweet person as I’m left felt sicky and bloated but this blew my socks off- it was deliciously rich whilst not being overpowering. I’d go back just for this.
We also ordered the English Summer Cheesecake, which again was superbly rich without being sickly. 10/10 for deserts.
To finish our lovely meal I ordered another blueberry coco-tini and inspired by my last mocktail Tara tried a cherry coco-tini, which wasn’t as good as mine.
I really think Catherine Salway has hit the nail on the head here- a perfect sleepy Sunday concept with incredible healthy food whipped up by the talented head chef Jayne Totty and mocktails made by the friendly bar staff.
Redemption will be opening their permanent residency on the 8th September at Goldfinger Factor, Ladbroke Grove so keep on eye out as you’ll definitely want to pencil a Sunday visit in!
And if you can’t wait that long they also have a stall at Notting Hill Carnival this weekend!
