I first heard about The Petersham several years ago when a group of girlfriends – the kind who lunch nicely, rather than raucously – gathered at the Covent Garden restaurant to celebrate the imminent arrival of one of the gaggle’s offspring.
Sometime between them sitting down and toasting with the first celebratory glass of fizz, my Instagram account was flooded of pictures of the group, smiling and enshrouded in a background of elegant botany, and I thought, ‘Gosh that place looks nice’. And it is.
A restaurant to go to when you want somewhere wholesome and lovely, The Petersham is a place to take mothers, or a bunch of girlfriends for a celebration if you can tempt them away from getting pissed at the pub and eating every flavour of crisp for dinner.
Related Content: Afternoon Tea Awards: Head To Knightsbridge For The Best In London
Bar a couple of statement pieces of art on the walls, flowers are the hero of the interior scheme, with petite bouquets placed on every table and larger, statement arrangements strategically located about the place. As soon as you enter the gentle-hued restaurant, jasmine scented wafts of air drift across the dining room as well, which is a nice touch.
The botanical loveliness comes as no surprise as the venue is attached to the elegantly rustic Petersham Nurseries over in Richmond. The flowers give the restaurant a slight wedding venue air, that, combined with its general elegance and meticulous consideration to detail - there were plenty of finishing touches to catch your eye.
Our meal was substantially better than crisps, no surprise there. We ordered from the pre-theatre menu – a well-priced, compact selection of three courses designed to get you to the show on time, or so you can hoof and go at early doors. However this aspect was wasted on us as my friend was 45 minutes late.
Dinner was superb, each course well paired to an outstanding wine. The Petersham runs an organic, Italian kitchen, and the dishes were delicate yet earthy and prepared without too much razzle-dazzling of the ingredients.
A bowl of pecorino fondue sounds like a bold move at the start of the meal, however this pool of cheesy soup while rich, was not intense and the sweet, caramelised onion dampened its sharpness. It came with a disc of fried parmesan, which, like all crispy burnt cheese, was the best bit.
The confit rabbit on toast arrived soft and lightly oiled, with splodges of a bright salsa verde on top. While not my thing, because it never was going to be, my friend devoured it.
The mains were just as good as the starters. The flaky hunk of grilled sea bream sat alongside a pile of creamy beans, a pair of mussels with their shells wide open and with threads of ocean-y samphire draped across.
The crumble di mele, while not at all photogenic was a delicious dessert. Better than any apple crumble you could make yourself, it came drenched in a thick caramel-y Disaronno custard, and was light enough yet comforting.
Want the latest features and reviews straight into your inbox? Sign up for The Resident's weekly email newsletter here.
Far more glamorous looking was the scoop of silken olive oil ice cream. It came with an equally lustrous serve of dark chocolate mousse and a sprinkling of honeycomb crumbs to give the velvety concotions a bit of sweetness and crunch.
While in theory, the pre theatre menu at The Petersham should have seen me sated and out the door within an hour-ish, it didn’t. It was too hard to prise myself away from such a consummate evening.
Address: 2 Floral Street, Covent Garden WC2E 9FB
Website: petershamnurseries.com
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here