Called Kindle, it is the latest venture from Phill and Deb Lewis, the couple behind Dusty’s, a mini chain of Neapolitan pizzerias in South Wales, and neighbourhood bistro Nook, also in Cardiff.
Following a successful Kickstarter campaign which raised an initial £43,000 back in 2019, and with more than £350,000 of further investment from the founders, the couple have now completed the first phase transformation of the run-down, former warden’s cottage in Sophia Gardens.
The kitchen will be led by head chef Tom Powell, formerly of The Walnut Tree, and will serve a menu of dishes cooked over flame made using ingredients grown in the restaurant’s kitchen garden and greenhouse.
Kindle will have a strong sustainable focus using materials with high recycled content, such as wall tiles made from 90% recycled glass and bricks removed from the external walls to create new door openings have been reused in the garden. A high proportion of the materials are reclaimed, including all internal doors, and the flagstones, railways sleepers and scaffold boards used to create the garden and planting beds.
“Our vision was to create a restaurant which gives back more than it takes from the environment, and to challenge what it really means to create a sustainable hospitality business from scratch,” says Phill Lewis.
The restaurant build will be two phases; the first focusing on outdoor dining, with the bar area, kitchen and toilets all based within the original building. The second phase of the build will take place up to two years later and will involve a glass-fronted extension, reusing every element of the current build in the final iteration.
Kindle will open on 2 September.
