Spring in London, always a fabulous idea.
Last week I had the pleasure to enjoy a girls’ lunch at Spring in Somerset House.
Why are long lazy lunches with girlfriends the best fun of all?
I think it is the camaraderie and the ability to chat about the big and the small ad infinitum. We don’t have to think about whether a subject is too dull or not engaging enough; we can unburden ourselves in a way that only really works with our mates. Girls generally have heaps in common and whether it is about work or fashion and children, their joys and disasters, there is so much to share.
Plus, there is so much laughing.
Back to Spring.
Somerset House is a spectacular venue in any season (winter, when the ice skaters are scooting around against such a backdrop, is my favourite) and it is home to Skye Gyngell’s new restaurant Spring.
Spring had me with the decor. Yes, it is feminine and that is what I loved. It is brave. The softness against the strength of a location such as Somerset House. Skye’s sister, Briony Fitzgerald designed the space and her choices are impecccable.
The atmosphere is relaxed.
That is the beauty of the location, an oasis of calm and tranquillity inside and yet a glance outwards and the restaurant could only be London.
Skye’s food is my kind of food. I am not even going to tell you about the bread or the ice-creams.
If you ever dined at Petersham Nurseries in Richmond, you know what I mean.
I can’t categorise her influences and her style of cooking; enough to say that her combination of flavours are just to my liking. There is a set menu, 2 or 3 courses and this is my recommendation for the best value.
London wouldn’t be London without a visit to Somerset House.
A morning at the Courtauld, a rendezvous with Renoir and a lunch at Spring; call me and I’ll join you… xv
Spring
Somerset House, New Wing
Lancaster Place
London WC2R 1LA
+44 (0) 207 3011 0115
images spring restaurant, somerset house, 30’s magazine
