spring

Not so long ago we enjoyed a brilliant lunch at Spring, ex-Petersham Nurseries head chef Skye Gyngell's recently opened restaurant in the New Wing of Somerset House. The light-flooded dining room boasts high ceilings, textured, pastel blue walls, an impressively long marble bar and even an atrium garden, complete with self-watering trees. The team at Spring have created an elegant, calm space in which to enjoy a long, languorous lunch. And so we got to it. I drank raspberry, rosehip and rowanberry cocktails and wine from Hungary (or was it Bulgaria?), and ate fiery crab cakes and monkfish with clams, rosemary aioli and brushcetta. It was all very well executed, beautiful to look at and absolutely delicious.

The dining room at Spring. I've read a few reviews of the restaurant in which journalists have spoken a tad negatively about the staff's uniforms. I, for one, loved them. The boys are all in indigo workwear - stripes, short, wide trousers and waistcoats. Just perfect. I'm already dreaming of all the many happy times to be had at Spring in the future - another lunch, a late night dinner, an ice cream in the Salon, come next year. I'm also desperate to try their version of Bicerin, a classic layered espresso and chocolate drink from Turin. My first experience was a pleasure; I can't wait to return...

Duncan, pre-lunch, in front of the National Gallery.

Post-lunch, more than ready for an afternoon nap. Read here about our trip to Peterhsam Nurseries back in February.