Glorious view over the river at Richmond

Meeting up with friends S and S at Richmond station, we walk down to the river and along towards Petersham. We’re heading for the Petersham Hotel which sits just south of Richmond on a hill overlooking a curve in the river. It had rained earlier but by the time we arrive the sun is shining and everywhere looks crisp and clean.  We’d asked for a table by the window, so we get the super views down  to the river (though they do claim that you get good views from any table). The restaurant itself is “modern classy” – neither achingly fashionable nor traditionally olde worlde – maybe a 90’s design.

We start with a bottle of South African Viognier (Wide River, Robertson) which at £24.50 is one of the cheapest on the list. And settle down to choose from the Summer set lunch menu (which ends on 16^th October). As we do that we can see the Royal barge Gloriana is heading away down the river. There is a huge boat race on today, with literally hundreds of vessels apparently, so this is a really good spot to watch from (a bit far away perhaps).

For starters we have the cured mackerel and pancetta with a chick pea salad and yoghurt dressing, and calves liver with chorizo and a little risotto.  The mackerel is really fresh and zingy, and the calves liver pink (and the risotto green!). For main course I go off piste and choose the chicken escalope wrapped in prosciutto with mozzarella from the a la carte list. Very enjoyable. B has the stuffed skate, as does S, and the other choice was a honey roast duck.  All well cooked and presented simply, without too many frilly diversions.

For dessert , S and I have a bitter chocolate bombe, with caramelised banana and pistachio ice cream – excellent. The other S has a summer fruit parfait which was also good.  B sticks at 2 courses.

By now we’ve finished 3 bottles of Viognier, but when we order another to go with the coffee, they have no more – another place we’ve drunk dry. So we move up to a Hawke’s Bay NZ Sauvignon Blanc (£29.50).

Service has been very good – efficient and friendly without interfering. They manage the trick of keeping our wine glasses filled without seeming to be trying to get us to drink faster. (As you can see we drank enough anyway!).

The bill comes to £260 including 12.5% service. But it’s not till later that realise that they have charged us for three 3-course lunches at £26.95, one 2-course lunch at £22.95 AND £17.50 for my chicken as well.  Bit naughty.

So looking back, although we enjoyed ourselves and the view of the river and race was super, the food itself was probably only OK for that price.  As an evening venue with no views it may be less appealing.

Catching up - July

Hampton Court by the river

Back in the summer, we were off to the Hampton Court Flower Festival for their opening evening event.  So we stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at the Mitre Hotel by the bridge. It was a lovely day, so we were pleased to find there was still a table available outside on the terrace by the river, even one with an umbrella to shade us from the sun. It’s a gorgeous place to be, watching the ducks and the boats, and the occasional paddle steamer pottering around.

We started with (what else?) a bottle of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc (£22.50), and some sparkling water.  B wasn’t that hungry so we shared a starter of chilli salt and pepper squid, which came with a good cucumber and onion salsa. It was lightly battered and gently cooked, so avoided the rubbery texture, and would have been an ideal snack at any time. For main course B had the spicy garlic lime chicken breast, lightly fried with rocket & red onion salad. The lime did really shine through, so this was a very refreshing summer dish.  I had the “Oriental style” fish and chips, which was strips of salmon deep fried with chilli, chips and a soy dipping sauce. An unusual variation on the classic, this was also a good dish for a hot day.

Not everyone was enjoying their meal however. One lady complained that the fish in her (ordinary) fish and chips wasn’t fresh.  The manager responded quickly (though at first believing it was we who had complained) and tried to assure her that it had been freshly delivered. Unimpressed the customer chose to switch to a risotto. Perhaps this reinforces the general rule of not ordering fish on a Monday.

Service generally was a little brusque, though with a change of shift we did get a more charming waitress eventually. All in all a pleasant place to be on a nice day, and at £70 pretty reasonable.

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Brasserie Vacherin

Malcolm John’s Fish and Grill has been re-branded as Brasserie Vacherin to match his other restaurant in Sutton and Le Vacherin in Putney, so we had to go along to see what this meant for the menu.  We are again eating early, this time ahead of a comedy show at the Fairfield Halls, and so it’s fairly quiet on a Sunday afternoon.  After Kir Royales to get us going, we order the Viognier, from Languedoc, at £23 – full of fruity flavour.

My favourite tuna tartare is still on the menu, but B beats me to it. It’s a fresh and zingy creation, with chilli and ginger, and more substantial than it looks. I start with scallops, cooked just right, with black pudding and bacon to make it heartier.   B’s sea bass is also a standard from the old days, and is still a sound version of the dish, presented quite simply. My supreme of hake off the specials list is rather flavourless in comparison, but meaty enough, accompanied by chips in the signature tin can.

Unusually for us we decide to share a dessert – crepe suzette.  This is a very fine example, retaining a good degree of sharpness in amongst the melting sauce.  With a 12.5% service charge added, this lot comes to £95, much the same price as it used to be.

Just 3 weeks later we decide to visit again, on a Saturday night so we have booked. The place is virtually full, and we’re rather shocked as we’re  to our table to find a live singer belting out the classics directly at us. It’s so loud you can hardly hear yourself think, and the choice of songs so hackneyed it makes Radio 2 look cutting edge.  The ladies night out at the table alongside him are lapping it up though.

We have Kir Royales and Viognier again and this time I get the tuna tartare. B has prawns with garlic and parsley, three of them nicely grilled in their shells. My main course veal escalope is rich and oozing. B has the grilled crab, again with chilli and ginger, which is a bit of a battle to extract from its shell. And again we have the crepes suzette – nothing too adventurous!

The couple at the table next to us are sharing the chateaubrand which comes served on a stand complete with bone marrow and saucer sized mushrooms. Even at £50 this looks like an excellent option.

This time we’ve racked the bill up to £120, with a couple of extra glasses of Viognier. Still pretty good, though I’d avoid Saturday night next time.