Dinner on the Hill: Lewisham’s one-of-a-kind and completely free restaurant
For two years, Dinner on the Hill has been serving a free three-course restaurant experience for families facing food insecurity.
It’s a cold, sunny afternoon at the Hill Station Cafe on Telegraph Hill. Normally, the venue serves up fast, simple meals – toasties, coffees and pastries during the day, casual takeaway pizzas for hungry students in the evenings. Tonight, however, the café has been transformed into restaurant for a private event.
Chefs sweat over prep for a three course menu, while waiters straighten up cheerful gingham tablecloths and arrange gift bags for guests. The catch? Of the fifty-five diners tonight, no one will pay a penny.
The event is called Dinner on the Hill, and it’s a monthly, free, three-course meal for families in Lewisham facing food insecurity. April 1st 2026 was their second anniversary dinner, and marks over 600 meals served.
“I'd done volunteering with food provision and it's always really nice to do that, but also it feels a lot more like necessity over treat,” said founder Rob Harding. “What we try and do is provide a real treat and restaurant experience to families that would be otherwise unable to enjoy those special moments and nights out.”
Rob Harding co-founded Dinner on the Hill with his sister Hannah Meaney, both of whom grew up working in their family-owned park café, Pistachios in the Park, Hilly Fields. Today he runs it along with Hannah and other Lewisham residents Alice Douglas and Mia Wicks.
At first, it was just Rob and Hannah cooking, with sleepless nights of prep in the lead-up to a dinner. Today, Alice runs funding, and Mia runs socials and comms. A group chat of roughly twenty local waiters volunteers to serve guests as well as set up and dismantling for the evening.
Dinner on the Hill is not intended to be an emergency food provision system, of which thankfully several already operate in Lewisham, including Lewisham Foodbank, the Felix Project and a wide variety of grassroots organisations.
Instead, the idea was to provide a relaxed evening for families who might otherwise not dine out.
desert, the team and a young diner's thank you note. Image: Dinner on the Hill
“To us that means restaurant experience, quality ingredients, being waited on and just really delicious food,” said Rob. On the evening of its second anniversary, Dinner on the Hill’s menu started with a trio of bruschetta; whipped ricotta and honey, confit tomato, basil and pesto.
For mains, Dinner for 100, the pizza chefs in-residence at Hill Station Cafe, served up margherita and halal pepperoni pizza. And for dessert, in keeping with the birthday theme, a pillowy sticky toffee pudding with a caramel sauce.
Families are referred to Dinner on the Hill via three organisations which already help local families with food provision: social enterprise Come out of Hiding, John Stainer Community Primary School and St. Peter’s church in Brockley. Dinners are hosted once a month, and are funded by donations through Dinner on the Hill’s GoFundMe Page.
Dinner on the Hill’s menu is themed differently each month, although they always aim for it be a crowd pleaser. The dinners are normally hosted in Pistachio’s in the Park, Hilly Fields, where the limited kitchen capacity means a set menu is important.
Guests have a range of drinks to order from, and can request modifications to dishes or different portions. Rob said that at the start, people who were invited found the idea to be a bit odd. “People were slightly suspicious of it,” he said.
Many of Dinner on the Hill’s guests today are regulars, who say they look forward to the monthly get togethers. “This is such an amazing thing you all do,” one guest said on the night, “I had major surgery six months ago that’s been tough for my girls, we’ve really looked forward to these.”
Rob has worked in the food industry for most of his adult life, working across south east London as a chef and restaurant manager. Prior to Dinner on the Hill, he was already hosting fundraising dinners in Pistachios in the Park, Hilly Fields after-hours for various causes, ranging from Palestinian aid to top surgery for a friend.
The chefs he recruits to volunteer for Dinner on the Hill often come from his previous workplaces, for example the plant-based restaurant En Root. “I can only cook so many days for free all evening,” he grins.
Today Rob also works at charity the Fore, a kind of meta-charity which helps to make smaller charities sustainable. Eventually, he hopes to apply to fund Dinner on the Hill with the Fore.
Going forward, the team hopes to be able to offer Dinner on the Hill more often – demand is high for the evenings. However to do so, they will need more donations, and more chefs willing to volunteer an evening of work.
After the two year anniversary bash, diners left full and satisfied, without the prospect of dishes to wash up afterwards. In the morning, the café will be serving up toasties again, but for the evening, it was the dream restaurant.
To donate to Dinner on The Hill and support future dinners, visit Dinner on the Hill’s GoFundMe page.
To volunteer as a chef or waiter at Dinner on the Hill, email: dinneronthehill@proton.me
Sign-up for our free weekly newsletter - Salamander News in your inbox
