Will Devlin takes his farm to a Covent Garden rooftop
Nettle opened on the fifth floor of The Conduit on 22 September, with a charcoal grill, a Kent supply chain and a menu that changes with what the farm sends up.
Nettle, the rooftop restaurant from Kent chef Will Devlin, opened on 22 September on the fifth floor of The Conduit at 6 Langley Street, Covent Garden.
Devlin runs the Acre group, which includes The Small Holding, the Kent restaurant that has held a Michelin Green Star for five consecutive years. Nettle is his first solo London site and his second at The Conduit, following Birchwood, the ground-floor restaurant he opened there in June.
A custom-built charcoal grill and cooking rig, made by British Metal Crafts, sits at the centre of the room. Meat and fish come largely from Devlin's own farm and butchery in Kent, with additional produce from growers in Kent and Suffolk; a rooftop garden supplies herbs and vegetables picked to order.
At Nettle, we celebrate the people from near and far who grow and produce our food.
Head chef Miguel Maragno Roma joins from Silo, where he was senior sous chef; his background also includes Manteca and Grace and Savour at Hampton Manor. The menu runs snacks, small plates, larger plates, sharing dishes and sides, and changes with the seasons rather than sitting fixed.
What lands on the grill
Opening dishes include pork scratchings with blackened apple sauce, hake croquettes, fennel salami and beef bresaola to start; wild rabbit skewer with fermented chilli and St Austell mussel skewers with kelp dashi among the small plates; and wild venison with nasturtium and shiso, Kent lamb with house togarashi, and grilled day-boat whole fish among the larger dishes. Dessert closes with Pump Street chocolate and cep mushroom.
“At Nettle, we celebrate the people from near and far who grow and produce our food, and hero the stories that inspire us,” Devlin said of the opening.
A members' club that seats walk-ins
The Conduit is a members' club built around sustainability and social impact, but Nettle and Birchwood are both open to non-members for dining, a structure Levy, The Conduit's hospitality partner, has used to bring outside diners into the building. London has added several rooftop and members'-adjacent openings this year, part of a wider push by operators to put dining rooms above street level in the capital.
Prices were not published at launch. The restaurant is booking for dinner service, with covered rooftop seating meant to keep it running through autumn and winter rather than as a summer-only draw.
