London's best alfresco dining
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By Time Out Editors
Posted: Tue Jun 16 2009
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Brew House
Kenwood, Hampstead Lane, Hampstead, NW3 7JR
Grab your coronation chicken sarnie or quiche - or maybe, if you can get to Hampstead Heath early, one of the legendary cooked breakfasts (fabulous sausages, lush grilled mushrooms, roast tomatoes, creamy scrambled eggs, toast) - and potter around three levels of seating until you find the right combination of parasol shade and sunshine at one of the tables above Kenwood House’s sweeping lawn. At peak times, all 250-odd places will be occupied - and the Old Kitchen function room can only accommodate half that number in the event of sudden rain - but the staff are well-equipped to deal with the place’s endless popularity. The package deals on soup (we enjoyed the white bean and tomato) with bread, apple and a piece of cheese are good value, and a sugar rush is supplied by pastries, sherry trifle or nursery puddings like rhubarb fool. Read more
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El Parador
245 Eversholt Street, Camden, NW1 1BA
The wonderfully secluded back garden at this excellent, family-run tapas restaurant isn’t exactly a secret any more, but it certainly feels like one. Groups of four or more can reserve one of eight larger tables, but couples who hope to stare into each other’s eyes among the flowers will have to get here early to secure one of four smaller tables. There are sunshades, but no heaters or rainproofing - the owners keep an eye on the weather when taking bookings for the garden, but if things go wrong can usually accommodate diners in the rather characterless downstairs room. The tapas, demonstrating an occasional Moorish accent, might include cordero a la plancha - grilled lamb marinated with cumin, rosemary and olive oil - and chargrilled artichoke hearts served with broad beans and punchy harissa oil. Don’t neglect the seafood: plump scallops in a rich olive tapenade and the tiger prawns accompanied by sea-salty samphire, a wild plant collected from British shores, were highlights of a recent visit. Read more
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Engineer
65 Gloucester Avenue, Camden, NW1 8JH
It’s reassuringly easy to forget you’re in celeb-central Primrose Hill when you venture into The Engineer’s walled garden. The pub itself is a retro-flavoured gastro, but the cheerful walled garden is the draw come summer. Some of the tables are shaded by canopies, but moveable umbrellas are brought out if the sun is fierce; if it isn’t, there are heaters and - should you have an outside reservation when things turn really bleak - you can usually be accommodated in the upstairs function room. For lunch and dinner the menu is small but enticing, with a mixture of influences from Mediterranean to Asian: beetroot and watercress salad with a pistachio relish, perhaps, or miso-marinated seabass, bok choi and mash. Read more
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The Fellow
24 York Way, King's Cross, N1 9AA
A victim of its own success, The Fellow is just too right for its King’s Cross location. So time your visit carefully if you want to take advantage of its expanded - but still rather small, with only a dozen tables - roof terrace: just after work is prime-time. An awning stretches over half of the terrace for shade from the sun (if we’re lucky), and is heated when the evenings get chilly. We weren’t especially excited by the menu, once we’d been informed that all the most enticing items were no longer available (wood pigeon, braised cuttlefish, confit rabbit leg), but the unappealingly presented salad of honey-roast parsnips, poached pear and black pudding tasted super-delicious. The rest of the food impressed less, but staff are diligent and efficient, even when the punters are crammed in. The beer, wine list and cocktails all hit the spot. Read more
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Pavilion Café
Highgate Woods, Muswell Hill Road, Highgate, N10 3JN
Beautifully set amid wisteria and roses in the middle of Highgate Wood, the Pavilion has a covered veranda of eight heated tables, then another 30 open to the sky on a paved area in front of the café. Weather permitting, a Cuban band will be playing outside every Friday from 5.45pm to 8.30pm through the summer - with jazz on Wednesdays. Food comprises regularly changing specials (risotto and green curry, lamb stew and lasagne) along with dips, big portions of pasta, salads and, of course, plenty for pudding: wheat-free lemon and polenta cake, a big dark chocolate brownie crowned with a huge scoop of ice-cream. Organic drinks come soft - from Whole Earth - and hard - from Pitfield Brewery (which makes delicious cask-conditioned ales). Even as the family hordes swirl about in an attempt to secure some shade, the friendly staff manage to keep everyone happy. Beside the café proper, a kiosk serves ice-creams and drinks - at a safe remove from the bustle indoors. Read more
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Sardo Canale
42 Gloucester Avenue Primrose Hill , London, Chalk Farm, NW1 8JD
Understandably, Sardo Canale doesn’t take bookings for the seven tables in its walled garden beside the Regent’s Canal. After all, who would choose not to sit beneath the boughs of a 150-year-old olive tree, imported - we were assured - from Sardinia. On a warm night arrive between 6pm and 7.30pm to have any chance at all of scooping one of 28 coveted places. The sustenance is of similar Italian provenance, from an exemplary Sardinian wine list, with many fine bottles around the £20 mark, to dishes that include specialities such as malloreddus alla campidanese (a Sardinian durum wheat pasta, served with sausage and tomato sauce), fregola ai frutti di mare (couscous-like pasta with prawns, mussels and courgettes), the classic spaghetti with bottarga (dried grey mullet roe) and olive oil, or perhaps the salsiccia sarda (home-made aromatic sausage, charcoal-grilled and served with potatoes and leeks). Read more
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4 comments
Yep...interesting places but far from best alfresco fine dining...
I'd suggest Coq D'Argent (Bank tube) - amazing beautiful terrace and great food...Check out 'In the Park' - lovey there! (St James) ....The Salt House (Abbey Road)...+ many more
NW - NW- NW- NW
Wow, Glad that North London is getting typical comprehensive coverage...
Good Job to be honest,
But I am pretty sure that N4, N16 and N5 exist.... but not in the ultra cool world of Timeout...
Just how do you get a job as a Timeout reviewer?
I'm sure I could do it, as long as I had my imagination removed.
I also do not see the RIBA restaurant and cafe's gorgeous terrace on the list. I was there yesterday and it is like a grand oasis on a hot day.
I can't believe you've overlooked the Tree House in your dining outside piece. It's easily the best food in easily the best setting.
Please send someone and do a proper review if you don't believe me.