Former the Dairy chef Rishim Sachdeva launches first solo restaurant

Former Fat Duck and the Dairy chef Rishim Sachdeva has launched his first solo restaurant residency in London, which he hopes to translate into a permanent site.

Sachdeva opened Tendril as a six-month pop-up at the Sun and 13 Cantons pub in Soho on 19 May after its initial opening was delayed from 2020.

It serves a largely vegan menu reflecting the chef’s journey from a "hardcore carnivore" to adopting a plant-based diet in 2019.

Sachdeva grew up in New Delhi, India, and moved to the UK in 2003 to study hospitality and tourism at Oxford Brookes university. He went on to hold senior sous chef roles at Heston Blumenthal’s three-Michelin-starred Fat Duck in Bray and at London’s Chiltern Firehouse under Nuno Mendes, and was part of the senior chef opening team at the Dairy in London’s Clapham.

Tendril’s dishes are priced from £9 for small plates and £14 for mains, and include grilled squash, red pepper paste, crackers and summer slaw; chipotle- grilled oyster mushroom, smoked leek and peanut sauce; and ratatouille basil purée, ras el hanout and herb crumb.

A set menu including a snack, two small plates, one main and a desert is priced at £29 a head.

Sachdeva said: “At the end of the day, it’s just really tasty and wholesome food. It just happens to be made using only plant-based ingredients. I’ve worked hard as a chef for the last 17 years, learning from everyone around me, and found what I liked and now I want to build the Tendril brand around that."

The Sun and 13 Cantons has previously hosted residencies from chefs including Asma Khan of Darjeeling Express, Sambal Shiok’s Mandy Lim and Budgie Montoya from Sarap.

Sachdeva is aiming to open Tendril as a standalone restaurant once the six-month residency is over.