Spring
Aldwych, London
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A bright white room in the newer wing of Somerset House, Spring feels like an intuitive setting for Skye Gyngell's restaurant. If her vegetable- and fruit-oriented cooking evokes the seasons in ways that are easy to overlook in the metropolis, the origami wall decorations, cluster light fixtures and white pillars carry a distinct hint of the celestial. It all makes for an experience that is both restful and wholesome, without any sense of puritanical earnestness. At a time when the industry is struggling to recruit and retain, staff here are exemplary – alert, obliging, hospitable. Dishes are also burnished to a high shine, even for the simplest of ideas. Three tortellini of sunny yellow pasta are filled with potato and Taleggio, in a luminous butter sauce edged with salty speck and sage. Nor does confidence falter when the combinations light out for wilder shores: Cornish crab with persimmon, kohlrabi and lovage oil, garnished with a trio of radicchio varieties, is full of gently building aromatics. Vegetable accompaniments insist on their share of the limelight in main dishes, so caramelised Jerusalem artichoke, lightly cooked cime di rapa and smooth white bean purée have their say in supporting tenderly grilled lamb, while monkfish comes parcelled in cabbage leaves instead of the traditional bacon, teamed with puréed cauliflower and curry-leaf butter. A side of potatoes smothered in black garlic and sour cream is fully worth the additional outlay. Pick of the desserts is a silky quince, mascarpone and citrus cake, the three elements melding beautifully into something truly unforgettable. A judiciously chosen wine list offers many of the on-trend varietals of the moment, as well as low-intervention cuvées and some cellar treasures. Mark-ups are pretty vigorous, though: bottles start at £30.
