Feelgood: Eating for a Good Cause

Eating out is damn great but it can taste even better if you know that your money is going to a good cause. Here are five feel-good spots where you know your cash is paying for more than just filling your belly.

1. Dishoom

Tucking into the delicious Bombay-inspired breakfast at any of Dishoom’s five London spots is always a deeply pleasurable experience, but it’s even more enjoyable if you know what amazing charity work they get up to. During Ramadan in 2015, they teamed up with charities Magic Breakfast in the UK and The Akshaya Patra Foundation in India to donate a meal to a hungry child in India for every breakfast that they sold in the restaurant (with no extra cost to the punter). And during Diwali this year, they decided it make this project permanent and have so far fed over 5 million children! If you needed an excuse to drop by for a bacon naan roll, this is it.

2. Imad’s Syrian Kitchen

 Photo credit: Help Refugees

Chef Imad Alarnab owned two restaurants in Damascus which were bombed and destroyed during the war. He left Syria in 2015 to find a safer life for himself and his family and after a long arduous journey, he settled in London. After working as a car salesman, thanks to the support of several charities including Help Refugees, he was able to start cooking again and now he hosts delicious pop-up meals and supper clubs serving up incredible Syrian food, with all profits going to the Hope Hospital in Aleppo. Keep an eye on his Instagram for his next tasty project and be sure to book in for a memorable evening. 

3. Second Shot

Next time you’re after a cup of Joe in Bethnal Green, head straight to Second Shot where you’ll be getting far more than just a caffeine hit. The coffee bar train up people who’ve been affected by homeless to help them get full time employment. And as well as your coffee funding that important training programme, but you can also ‘Pay it Forward’ ie pre-pay for items for hungry people who need them. So far they’ve given over 5,500 coffees and 2,500 meals so drop by to help them to boost those numbers even further.

4. Dusty Knuckle

Not only does The Dusty Knuckle make ridiculously good sourdough bread and yummy sarnies, they also have some great stuff going on behind the scenes. The owners are passionate about giving struggling young people training and employment, offering work experience, jobs and education in schools and youth clubs – and you can taste the love in every delicious carby bite. So next time you’re hungry in Dalston, make sure this is your chosen breakfast or lunch destination.

5. E5 Bakehouse

We all know that e5 Bakehouse make wonderfully delicious coffee, cakes and bread (the Hackney Wild loaf is our fave), but did you know they also do great charity work? Last year they invited a group of eight refugee women in for a unique therapeutic bread-making course as part of the Just Bread program. They later opened a new roasthouse in a community arts centre in Poplar and where they have employed some of the women on the course to make the delicious sourdough flatbreads that they sell. Go down and try one next time you’re in the area as 30% of profits from e5 Roasthouse go to refugee organisations.

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