Petersham Nurseries

Church Lane, Off Petersham Road, Richmond, Surrey TW10 7AG
020 8940 5230
Nothing says I love you better than flowers and my dear mum adores them! As a (very) belated Mother’s Day present we tottered down to Petersham Nurseries for a slice of city-fied country life. The green pastures of Richmond and Petersham’s well nursed blooms were a welcome sight.

We leisurely paced from pansy pot to herb patch, cooing over Mother Nature’s finest, but glimpses of dishes exiting the kitchen, speckled with puy lentils and wedges of buffalo tomatoes, effortlessly won my undivided attention. As a contrary Mary I do enjoy blue bells in a row but am far more taken by what Skye Gyngell has lined up on the pass. After weaving through the al fresco diners and the glass menagerie of antique artefacts we arrived at our table nestled by a young lemon tree and an intricate Persian rug.

The menu seemed quite familiar, pan fried squid with spring greens and chilli, slow roasted lamb shank, reminiscent of dishes I attempt to rustle up at home. But this is Michelin star cooking and easily recognisably so even before you set eyes on the plates, the mouth-watering wafts give it away. We decided on sharing a starter of the said squid with new season peas and sage, and despite probably having very little else in this dish apart from the trio mentioned the flavours seemed complex and popped in our mouths with unbelievable sweet freshness.

I snapped up the last of the lamb shanks which was slow roasted to perfection with chickpeas, peppered with marjoram and an array of just picked herbs. So glad I did as it was flawless, the meat draped effortlessly off the bone, the vegetables caramelised whilst the juices picked up the subtleties equally as well as the  punch of the flavours making it splendid to slurp down merrily on its own and to add a clean bite to the dish some garden leaves.  Opposite me my mum was delighted at the well seasoned halibut fillets in front of her, accompanied by classic roasted fennel and roseval potatoes all brought together with lemon mayonnaise.

Neither the lure of the chocolate mousse and ginger caramel nor the turron and raisin ice cream was enough for the baked goods that the al fresco cafe diners were devouring. So we headed for the tea shed to order, unfortunately it was nearing the end of the afternoon and almost everything had too rightly sold out, though there was enough for a scone cream tea and slice of carrot cake. Both as they should be fluffiness protected by the single-crunch shell for the scone and dense and nutty carrot cake.

We soaked up the rest of the glorious rays, gazing at the bountiful flora, coffee cup in hand and revelling in that feeling of a perfect meal.  Till the very last sip, there was nothing I could possibly fault about the entire experience, the service was unnoticeable in a good way, our needs were pandered to in an unobtrusive manner, food seemed simple but showed skill beyond measure, harnessing freshness and in turn optimising each ingredients full potential and the setting for it all was simply idyllic. Well worth our journey north to south.