Hilton London Bankside, the design-led hotel and a Hilton flagship, is launching a sustainable kitchen garden, to enhance its F&B offering with homegrown vegetables and herbs.

Located on the fourth-floor rooftop next to Hilton London Bankside’s beehives, the outdoor kitchen garden grows a variety of fresh herbs and vegetables. These include rosemary, mint, thyme, coriander, basil, tomatoes, beetroot, broad beans, peppers and courgettes, which will be used in a variety of ways from garnishes for canapés and salads to craft cocktails.

The produce will be used in menus for the hotel’s events and at its 168-cover restaurant, Oxbo Bankside and gin and cocktail bar, The Distillery Bankside. As the harvest permits, special dishes will be created, which will be centred around the seasonal produce. The team will also incorporate the ingredients in its range of bespoke dishes curated for catered events and meetings in the hotel.

The Kitchen Garden is the brainchild of Hilton London Bankside’s F&B team, led by Executive Chef Ollie Couillaud. It has been created as part of the hotel’s commitment to sustainability and, as well as providing fresh produce, it will combat food waste. The team regularly visit to pick the ingredients they need as and when required, which will also reduce the carbon footprint and food miles.

Furthermore, ingredients grow in garden boxes have been painted by the maintenance team in eye-catching colours to attract the bees from the hives.

When dining, guests will be encouraged to ask about the homegrown ingredients used within the dishes. The hotel will create small re-useable tent style cards, which will sit alongside some plates on the buffet table during breakfast and its weekend brunch in its restaurant to showcase what ingredients have been handpicked by Couillaud and his team.

“As a hotel committed to sustainability, we’re proud to be launching our own Kitchen Garden,” says Ollie Couillaud, Executive Chef at Hilton London Bankside. “This will offer fresh vegetables and herbs, grown on our rooftop, to our F&B outlets. Guests will be able to find these ingredients in our dishes and cocktails and enjoy the great taste of our unbeatably fresh, homegrown produce.”