Get ‘UP’ and go for breakfast

UP Box, which stands for Urban Picnic is an exciting new environmentally friendly upmarket take out concept, recently launched in Ludgate Circus. The stylish City shop launched in May and has proved a hit with locals for its delicious, well-balanced offering and a great alternative to the usual gluten and carbohydrate-heavy high street lunch options.

Taking inspiration from global cuisine, UP Box offers five healthy, weekly changing seasonal bento-style options for lunch. UP Box is now open for breakfast too. Fairtrade Union coffee and tea from The Rare Tea Company are offered alongside homemade granola, yoghurts and fresh fruit compotes, while croissants and pastries are supplied by The Bread Factory (Baker and Spice).

For lunch, the bento-style meals are themed on twelve different countries, from Italy and France, to Thailand, Morocco and Turkey. Each freshly prepared Urban Picnic box contains a main course, salad and a healthy dessert. Sample boxes include the Lebanese: Peppers stuffed with nuts, rice raisins and herbs; Aubergines with tomatoes and chickpeas; Beetroot with green tahini sauce; Grated cucumber and mint salad, White chocolate cranberry cookie and the Thai: Seared tuna with Thai pepper crust; Green mango salad with mint and coriander; Glass noodles with Asian herbs, crispy shallots and chilli lime dressing.

There is also a healthy weekly Feel Good box which might contain Trout wrapped with courgette and lemon; Quinoa and red camargue rice with orange; Raw rhubarb and cucumber salad; French bean & mange tout salad with toasted sunflower seeds; Summer fruit tartlet.

The UP Box team uses seasonal ingredients, sourced in Britain whenever possible to keep the carbon footprint low. All meat is free range, traceable and naturally reared, all fish sustainable, vegetables and salads are GM free. UP Box uses fully degradable, recyclable unbleached cardboard boxes while knives and forks are made from wood and are again fully biodegradable. Even the bags are made from degradable plastic and incentives will be offered to encourage customers to reuse the bags as often as possible.

The UP Box concept has been developed by Nick and Ines Alfille, both committed foodies who also run Up and Out, a catering company. Having once worked as a partner in an international law firm in the City, Nick saw the opportunity to expand their catering business by providing something different at lunchtime for busy City workers to have at their desk or on the move. Ines’s background is in catering - she worked as a chef in a gastro pub and at an upmarket delicatessen in Notting Hill prior to setting up Up and Out. Following the opening of the first UP Box in the City, the couple plan to roll the concept out but with an element of individuality to the design of each new outlet.

Will White Design Consultants (Gimpel Fils Gallery in Mayfair, England Gallery in Westbourne Grove) designed the Ludgate Circus shop creating a light and airy, sleek modern interior using natural materials such as smoked oak end grain flooring, white, curved walls and atmospheric lighting. As a contrast, the counter is covered in vibrant Yves Klein blue panels.

Up Box is located at 7 Ludgate Circus, EC4M 7LF

For more information, visit up-box.co.uk.