It’s fast food, Jim, but not as we know it

By Lauren Moore

Forget everything you know about McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC and all the other obesity farms, fast food just got a whole lot better (for your heart and your soul).

Otarian, a low-energy vegetarian restaurant has opened its doors in London. The restaurant, on Wardour Street in Soho is part of a boutique fast food chain belonging to Radhika Oswal.

Although the store is laid out like a typical fast food restaurant, it couldn’t be more different. The interior is made entirely of recycled materials, with the floor tiles made from recycled glass, the ceiling decorated with recycled aluminium and the tables and chairs made from sustainable plastic and bamboo. The restaurant is also powered by green energy.

The menu contains only vegetarian items, such as a field mushroom burger, tacos, coconut curry and roasted vegetable lasagne, as well as a variety of other choices, but this is by no means the rabbit food a vegetarian diet can be perceived to offer.

The idea behind Otarian is to empower us to choose sustainable food here in the UK. It’s an idea that came to Radhika and husband Pankaj after visiting London previously and finding that there was not a lot on offer for vegetarians outside of a cheese pizza or a salad. “I was a hungry and grumpy vegetarian” says Radhika.

As well as using recycled materials to build the restaurant, 98 per cent of waste produced in the restaurant is recyclable or compostable. All of which goes to achieving Radhika’s dream of Otarian being the most environmentally-friendly restaurant on the planet.

Yum yum!

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