Adam Handling to relaunch Ugly Butterfly in Cornwall

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Photo credit: Hazel Thompson

Chef Adam Handling is to relocate his sustainably-focused restaurant concept Ugly Butterfly to Cornwall, launching at the Carbis Bay Estate in Saint Ives in early August.

The 65-cover restaurant will offer an all-day dining experience that uses ingredients 'carefully sourced' from in and around Cornwall. 

Trims and offcuts from ingredients used in the restaurant will be repurposed to create drinks and snacks for the bar area, which holds a further 65 covers, in a bid to illustrate 'there is no such thing as food waste'.

“Everything we do at our restaurants and bars is based on the location and surroundings," says Handling, who opened sustainability-focused pub The Loch & The Tyne in Windsor last month.

"It’s super important to me to support the local suppliers and Carbis Bay has a beautiful seaside and rural setting, so we’ll be using more of the seafood and foraged ingredients that the area is well-known for.”

Handling originally launched Ugly Butterfly on Chelsea’s King's Road back in late 2019, billing it as a ‘sustainable casual’ restaurant and champagne bar that sought to ‘demonstrate that zero-waste can be luxurious’.

The restaurant was subsequently closed by Handling in March last year as a result of the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, alongside The Frog Hoxton. 

Handling has appointed Jamie Park, previously head chef at Frog by Adam Handling in Covent Garden, to oversee the new Ugly Butterfly kitchen.

The menu's focus will be on 'hyper-local' ingredients, featuring fish sourced from Harlyn Bay; Portilly Oysters; razor clams from the Hale Estuary; Cornish sea buckthorn; Cornish Gouda; and Saint Ewe eggs.

"Jamie is hugely passionate about sustainability, in all forms, and this is the perfect place for him to explore every possibility to create great food, whilst getting us closer to our ultimate goal of 100% zero food waste,” adds Handling.

Adam Handling's restaurant empire is primarily concentrated in London and includes Frog by Adam Handling, Eve Bar, and Adam Handling Chelsea.