Best newcomer (judges' award)

At the heart of the restaurant that has won our coveted newcomer of the year award is a load of old rubbish. 'That was the first thing I thought about when I saw this site,' says chef Arthur Potts. 'How can we deal with the rubbish? I've recycled and re-used all my life but, for the 19 years I've been working as a chef, I'd not been able to carry that over into the kitchen. I was becoming offended by the amount of waste we produced.' He was determined to do something about it. Working with his business partner, Jamie Grainger-Smith, who oversees front of house, he has. The result is Acorn House in London's King's Cross, a restaurant that does much more than just mouth platitudes about seasonality and locality on its menu. Everything here, from the bulbs that light it to the paint on the walls, from the oil in the deep-fat fryer to the ink in the waiters' pens, is designed to ensure that the business makes the smallest impact on the environment possible.

This in itself is not entirely original. Other restaurants have tried something similar. But Acorn House is head and shoulders above the rest. First, it has taken the project further than anyone has ever attempted. And second - and this easily gets forgotten in the pursuit of principles - the food is really, really good. Arthur and Jamie, both 36, first met a decade ago, while working at the River Café. Both also worked at Jamie Oliver's 15, and Potts has experience with the French godfathers of British gastronomy, Albert and Michel Roux, and Pierre Koffman.

But at Acorn House it is simplicity that rules. 'We were always clear that, for this place to work, people would have to come for the food and service before they were drawn in by the green principles,' Arthur says. And come they have, for a regularly changing menu of Jerusalem artichoke and chestnut soup, or pheasant salad with dandelion; for rich-tasting roasted mutton with rosemary and quince; or chargrilled pork chop with honey and thyme. They are open for breakfasts of croissant or granola or the full cooked English with black pudding and sausages of impeccable provenance, and at lunchtime the food bar is weighed down by charcuterie and breads and salads of wild mushrooms or roast-onion squash with pumpkin seeds, or grilled celeriac with salsify. 'I'm not working by the seasons here,' says Potts. 'I'm working by the week. I'm trying to uncomplicate food.'

The idea for the project began with a coming together of the Shoreditch Trust, a regeneration agency for an inner-London district with some of the highest levels of deprivation in Western Europe, and the Terrence Higgins Trust, the charity founded to help people infected with HIV and Aids. The THT was about to move into a new building, the former headquarters of the National Union of Journalists, called Acorn House, and started talking to the Shoreditch Trust about funding for a staff canteen which would also have a training element, to benefit the community.

The two organisations in turn approached Arthur and Jamie who, with their experience at Oliver's 15, knew the territory. 'Originally the idea was for a staff canteen,' says Jamie. 'But when I saw the site,' says Arthur, 'I reckoned it could be so much more.' The Shoreditch Trust guaranteed the six-figure loan required to get the business up and running. THT provided the ground-floor space rent-free, in a grimy office block which nobody will ever call handsome. In return, Acorn House - in a business built on recycling, the name seemed too good to discard - provides lunch at less than fiver for all THT staff (who have their own entrance from within the building).

Now Jamie and Arthur set to work, gutting the building to produce a light, airy space with a food bar for lunch sales by the entrance and, at the other end, an open kitchen. The cooks are encouraged to bring dishes to the tables when waiters are busy, lending a relaxed air to the place. Along one wall are wide wooden shelves (from sustainable Norwegian forests) where the day's fruit and vegetables are stored. 'Here are my pears and apples,' says Arthur, indicating big baskets of fruit. 'Here are the carrots and the potatoes: we get them when we need them. Sometimes we have to ask customers to pass things over to us.' Above those are shelves of quality ingredients, which double both as dry stores and shop. The bottles of sun-dried tomatoes and chutneys don't just get used in the kitchen. You can buy them, too.

The paint on the walls has a low chemical content, and the light bulbs are energy-efficient; electricity comes from a renewable source. If you want mineral water you can have it, though it comes from Belu, a not-for-profit organisation built on environmental principles. Otherwise they offer (and would prefer to give you) jugs of treated London tap. But what really separates this place from others is in the kitchen: it produces just half a bag of general rubbish a day.

All vegetable peelings and waste food goes into a big sack which, in turn, is being composted, in large beds on a flat office roof next door. 'Eventually I want to start growing stuff in these,' Arthur says, running his fingers through the black compost made from his kitchen's leavings. 'Not least because I want my staff to understand the importance of the seasons.' Naturally, all bottles, paper and tin are recycled. 'Better than recycling though, is reusing. We try to do as much of that as possible.' The vegetable oil from the deep-fat fryer is sent to a company that turns it into bio-diesel and, in time, they are going to have their own van running on this fuel.

As to those suppliers, it reads like a roster of previous OFM award winners: there's Secretts Farm for most of the vegetables, fruit and salad leaves; there's La Fromagerie for cheese; and the Ginger Pig for all their meats. 'We won't buy from just anyone,' Arthur says. 'They have to be willing to fit in with what we are doing here. If the product isn't compostable, recyclable or reusable we won't have it.' Not that he sees any of this as difficult. 'We shouldn't be some oddity. We should be the way all restaurants are run. It's really not difficult to do.'

The next stage is the implementation of the training scheme, for which they need to find funding, but they have no doubt it will happen. They have a three-year plan in place, which, they hope, will produce some seriously qualified restaurant professionals. But they want it to go much further. 'I'd like there to be five Acorn Houses scattered around London,' says Jamie. Arthur grins. 'Why stop at five? I want 32: one in every London borough.' These boys are clearly on a mission. And it starts with lunch.

Beetroot soup

Fully traceable English beetroot from Sunny Fields organic farm, less than 70 miles away, in season now. Like all their vegetables, it's delivered by Andreas Georgiou in a hybrid car and all packaging is reused. Sour cream from Normandy, road-freighted to UK. Organic vodka by UK5 in Surrey. Unbleached recycled biodegradeable paper napkin under bowl.

Filtered tap water

Produces less carbon emissions as there is no need for delivery trucks to drop off bottled water. Filtered by a four stage process. If you ask for it, you can have Belu bottled mineral water which is sold in compostable plastic bottles.

Oak table

Made with oak sustainably grown in Norway. The lighting is from energy efficient bulbs running on electricity from a renewable source. Walls are painted with low-chemical paints.

Rhubarb, sable stars and custard

Made with English rhubarb (in season now), fair-trade sugar, fair-trade vanilla, and organic English cream and eggs.

Chapel Down white wine

Made in Kent, road-freighted 60 miles.

Wood pigeon, spring greens, pancetta and honey English pigeon from Norfolk via Ginger Pig butchers at Borough Market in London. Greens from Secretts Farm, Surrey (in season October-May). Local London honey produced three miles away, via Alexandra Palace farmers market. Pancetta and prosciutto road-freighted from Italy. Thyme from England delivered by hybrid car.

As much kitchen waste as possible is composted on the roof of an office block next door. Only half a bag of rubbish is generated by the kitchen each day.