Sustainable restaurant Kindle to open in Cardiff with former Walnut Tree chef

A new sustainability-focused independent restaurant will open in Cardiff city centre at the beginning of next month, following a two-year process of fundraising, planning and renovation.

Kindle, opening on 2 September and operating on circular economy principles, will be the latest venture from Phill and Deb Lewis, the couple behind Dusty’s pizzerias in South Wales, and Nook bistro, also in Cardiff.

Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, which raised an initial £43,000 in 2019, and with more than £350,000 of further investment from the founders, the first phase of transformation of the run-down former warden’s cottage in Sophia Gardens is now complete.

Kindle will combine ‘fire food’ with natural wines in an informal setting. The restaurant team will work closely with local farmers, gamekeepers and gardeners to source produce with an emphasis on provenance and sustainability.

Head chef Tom Powell, who formerly headed up the kitchen of the Walnut Tree in Monmouthshire, will lead the kitchen team, creating seasonal menus that will also make the most of the on-site kitchen garden and greenhouse.

Kindle co-owner Phill Lewis said, “Our vision was to create a restaurant that gives back more than it takes from the environment, and to challenge what it really means to create a sustainable hospitality business from scratch.”

The couple have worked with Object Space Place (OSP), an interior architecture and design company with a focus on hospitality, which has made the most of reusing and repurposing almost every element of the original building. A high proportion of the materials are reclaimed, including all internal doors, flagstones, railways sleepers and scaffold boards, used to create the garden and planting beds.

With future extensions and developments in mind, parts of the project have been ‘designed for disassembly’ and the second phase of the build will involve a glass-fronted extension.