The Greenhouse

The Greenhouse is one of those rather gorgeous and terribly important London restaurants that its easy to forget about. Tucked away at the back of what looks like a tranquil churchyard, in a quiet residential mews within the most moneyed triangle of Mayfair, close to Annabels, Mount Street and most of the capitals embassies, this isnt a place that you pass by chance. But its been a thriving, deeply chic, destination dining room since restaurateur Marlon Abela (Mortons Club; Cassis; Umu etc.) revamped it in 2003.

Wed actually forgotten about the Greenhouse ourselves. We had the most wonderful lunch there, a couple of years ago, and been much taken with the light and refined French dishes and what we thought was one of the prettiest rooms in the centre of town. With lots of glass and sunshine and outside greenery, it feels like a dreamy, posh afternoon in the countryside. On a particularly dismal Tuesday evening recently, during a downpour and the most depressing of storm-cloud gloamings, chef Antonin Bonnet had his work cut out to lift the spirits But lift them he did.

We opted for the full nine yards, Bonnets tasting menu five savouries and two sweets and a variety of refreshers and fancies to keep the theatre going. Oh, and of course, wine pairings. Wine is something that the Greenhouse does spectacularly well. It can justifiably show off: its one of only four restaurants in the world to win the Wine Spectator Grand Award every year since 2005, and the sommelier here has sorcerous knowledge as well as charm.

The food all comes in various degrees of studied excellence, from braised snails in nettle soup to roasted pigeon breast with pomegranate. A starter of apple cider marinated mackerel with horseradish was as sharp as a tack, and a great salvo from Bonnets kitchen. And the menu changes according to season. None of the ingredients are flying long-haul. Unusually theres also a vegetarian tasting menu, and as a mark of how refreshingly unstuffy and jovial the place is, you can mix and match. But everyone has to have the raspberry sorbet with vanilla foam and the Snix, a deconstructed Snickers. Although and apologies to those born after around 1985, youll have to Wikipedia it we still rather wish theyd called it a Marathon.