“People, food, wine, and music: all these important parts of the restaurant are crucial. Our chef uses his extensive knowledge and curiosity searching for better ingredients, grown locally by our own gardener, or from a little further afield. Our menus tell the stories of our suppliers – from tomatoes bicycled to our restaurant from the farm to wild foraged coastal herbs.”
Petersham tomato salad with lovage, olive oil jam and blackberry vinaigrette; Wiltshire beef with confit heritage carrots and miso mustard sauce; and skrei cod with cockles, mussels, leek, potato, coastal herbs.
Rarely is such technical skill and high gastronomic ambition married to such an all-pervading commitment to sustainability. But here are fresh garden produce, foraged herbs and flowers, a dedicated recycling team on top of all aspects of waste management, English wines and beers, beetroots roasted in coffee grounds, bread made with carrot peelings – and the product on the plate is world class. Simply magical.
“Culhane’s food plays with classic French technique and outré Japanese flavours. Here are hand-dived scallops, caramelised outside and opalescent within, in a crystal-clear broth scented with fennel and the savoury thrum of wakame; so far, so conventional(ish). Then you discern a fleeting note of popcorn in the hot liquid. Or mackerel, energised by its thorough charring, daikon braised in kombu dashi, ginger and, er, champagne. There’s always a welcome little jolt of surprise.” –Marina O’Loughlin, The Guardian
Informal fine dining restaurant overlooking Richmond Park