Restaurants

This café has a site adjacent to Queen Mary’s rose garden, and English cottage-garden surrounds. It’s run by Company of Cooks, who also run celebrated eateries and snack spots at Kenwood , Hyde Park Lido, Royal Festival Hall’s Riverside Terrace, and RHS Garden Wisley. It is a prime location for afternoon tea or, in summer, an early supper. Visitors are corralled in one direction or the other depending on whether they want counter or table service. The proudly British, and occasionally local, menu notes some esteemed suppliers, while the wine list favours France and includes a suitably light provençal rosé for alfresco drinking in hot weather. Baby gem and parmesan salad was a twist on the ubiquitous caesar, with croûtons and a warm, creamy cheese goo dolloped over the crisp leaves – very successful. Our ribeye steak with garlic and herb butter was a fine cut beautifully cooked, accompanied by plentiful (if lukewarm) skin-on fries. Herb roast chicken also impressed, though its accompanying new potatoes were overcooked. Staff are fairly swift (on our visit they seemed ratehr too keen to get home) so you may have time to wolf down a delicious cranachan or gooseberry syllabub before the show starts at the nearby open-air theatre.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2009