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The inSpiral Lounge was the trading name of Ekopia Ltd, a vegetarian restaurant, cafe and events venue in Camden Lock, Camden, London, England, overlooking the Regent's Canal and Camden Market.
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History
The inSpiral Lounge was founded by Dominik Schnell, plus a team of investors, and opened on 16 December 2007. Since day one the organisation had clear policies on nutrition, environment, music and art. It aimed to promote mindful choices and community spirit.
In the evening the venue hosted performances and poetry along with DJs known in ambient electronica circles. The venue regularly hosted displays and exhibitions of artwork from local artists. The premises were shared with Walkers Quay, which organises regular boat trips and dinners along the Regent's Canal to Little Venice.
inSpiral Lounge evolved from a previous organization, IDSpiral, which ran an organic cafe and a replenishing chill out area, complete with nature inspired sculptures, at festivals such as Glastonbury and The Glade.
inSpiral Lounge permanently closed to the public on 6 January 2016
Food and drink
The menu was vegetarian, but also served vegan cuisine and included a raw bar. Where possible, food was organic, natural, seasonal and locally sourced. The menu included maca, mesquite, purple corn, agave and yacon syrup, acai and goji berries which were also sold in store. The inSpiral Lounge also operated its own bakery, online shop and wholesale business selling raw chocolate, cakes, raw food, ambient and electronic music CDs.
The restaurant served a range of organic wines, spirits and cocktails and was among the first establishments in London to provide such an offering. They additionally served a variety of fresh juices, teas, coffee and chai with the option of soya milk or rice milk along with vegan ice cream alternatives in the Summer.
Music
The venue had a built in DJ booth and hosted live music with open mic nights and notable DJs and performances by artists such as Gaudi, Dreadzone Sound System, Banco de Gaia, Alex Patterson from The Orb, Ott, System 7, Eat Static, Astralasia, Mixmaster Morris, Matt Black from Coldcut and The Dub Pistols.
Festivals and outdoor catering
The inSpiral Lounge provided catering, music stages and cafes at several notable events and festivals including The Glade Festival, Glastonbury Festival, Festival of Life, Camden Green Fair, Secret Garden Party amongst others.
Awards
In 2009 it won the Archant Food and Drink Awards for the best Theme restaurant and best Take-out in London. It was also voted one of the top ten vegetarian restaurants in 2009 by the Vegetarian Society and was nominated as Finalist in the Archant Environmental Awards as the most environmental small business category.
Capital Growth roof garden
The inSpiral Lounge was involved with London's Capital Growth Project, an initiative run in partnership with the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, London Food Link and the Big Lottery's Local Food Fund aiming to create 2012 new community food growing spaces across London by the end of 2012. inSpiral is growing space number 93 and is in the process of building a roof garden where food for the restaurant can be grown locally rather than flown in from abroad. Further to the involvement with Capital Growth, in March 2009 The inSpiral Lounge approached Boris Johnson and Camden Council directly, requesting the use of land near Hawley Wharf for development into a growing space. The request was turned down by the owner, a large Brewery and the land next to Hawley Wharf remains a derelict eyesore to this day.