Native to open restaurant with rooms in former Pensons site

Further details have been revealed of plans to reopen Native, the sustainability-focused restaurant concept created by chef Ivan Tisdall-Downes and business partner Imogen Davis, in the former home of Pensons on the Netherwood Estate.

Native has been at the forefront of zero-waste cooking and sustainable and seasonal sourcing since it opened in Neal’s Yard in Covent Garden in 2016.

Davis previously told The Caterer: "For us, it’s about being conscious about things. At the end of every day, on the whole, we need to be happy and content with every choice we’ve made and where our produce comes from, and that we’ve treated it with the most respect for the people who have come in to dine."

Native moved to Borough Market in 2018. It relocated to Osea Island on the Essex coast during the pandemic and then opened at Browns boutique store in Mayfair in spring 2021.

Davis and Tisdall-Downes were forced to close Native at Browns in September 2023 after struggling with an "array of challenges", including rising energy prices and unexpected rent increases.

The pair will relaunch the concept, which champions foraged and wild ingredients, as Native at Pensons on 22 May. It will take the space previously occupied by the Michelin-starred Pensons restaurant, which closed at the end of 2023,

Today’s announcement comes after it was revealed Native would be among the first concepts to be backed by a new £50m hospitality investment fund, Hestia Hospitality. The fund is led by Andrew Fishwick, previously of the Truscott Arms gastropub, and has the support of high-net-worth investors including Justin King, the former chief executive of Sainsbury’s.

Native at Pensons will feature two boutique bedrooms in the main building, as well as access to additional accommodation on the surrounding Netherwood Estate on the Worcestershire/Herefordshire border.

The restaurant will use ingredients from the surrounding estate, which is tended by a team of gardeners, farmers and foragers. The 32-cover restaurant with rooms will feature an additional 14-seat private dining room and offer three menus: four courses priced at £65, seven courses for £105 and a three-course Sunday lunch at £45.

Tisdall-Downes is a predominantly self-trained chef who has worked at River Cottage in Devon and staged at Blue Hill Farm at Stone Barns in New York. He appeared on Great British Menu in 2020.

Dishes will include nasturtium taco (lamb tartar and oyster leaf); regeneration risotto (heritage grains, cover crops and Lincolnshire poacher); the oak pool (chalk stream trout, lapsang dashi, tempura, crayfish) and Herdwick lamb (Wye Valley asparagus and black garlic).

Desserts include rhubarb and rosemary trifle (meadowsweet custard and freeze-dried raspberries) as well as artichoke mille-feuille (Jerusalem artichoke ice cream and white chocolate).

The restaurant’s wine and cocktail lists will echo the ethos of the food menus, with a focus on organic, biodynamic, natural and low-intervention wines. Native at Pensons will also offer kombuchas and foraged teas alongside Butty Batch beer from Wye Valley Brewery.

Cocktails will include the Native Negroni and Meadowsweet Sour.

Guests will be welcome to wander through the restaurant’s courtyard, kitchen gardens and greenhouses.

Davis and Tisdall-Downes have also partnered with Restaurant Associates to provide consulting services to help further its green efforts across its venues and events.