Spring, Somerset House
Having a reputation as a 'foodie' brings certain benefits at work, my opinion on places to eat, or suggestions for wining and dining important visitors is often sought and as a result I occasionally get to tag along and eat at some very nice places indeed, one of the benefits of working in central London which (only just) makes up for the long commute. One restaurant which had been on my list for some time was Spring at Somerset House and this seemed the perfect choice for an all female lunch including a rather influential VIP, as the chef is the highly acclaimed Skye Gyngell. I have long admired Skye Gyngell through her cookery books and was rather sad that I never got the opportunity to visit Petersham Nurseries during her stint there so I was pretty excited to try Spring (having peeked through the windows on my visits to Somerset House on quite a few occasions).
The VIP is vegetarian and as there was no vegetarian option on the sample set lunch menu I made the restaurant aware of this whilst booking (in writing). Booking is done through an online system at which you also need to leave your credit card details and there is a pretty steep penalty per head (£35) should any of your party fail to show and not provide more than 24 hours notice. The day before the lunch the restaurant phoned to confirm the booking and again, I re-affirmed that we had a vegetarian in our party and was assured that this would not be a problem, even if the set lunch menu on the day had no clear vegetarian option, the kitchen would be able to provide an alternative.
The day of the lunch arrived and we were welcomed into the elegant and airy dining room, pale blue walls were decorated with delicate ceramic swirls and cloud like lights hung over linen clad tables, it was stunning and beautiful. Waitresses wearing A-line pastel coloured smocks and waiters in a kind of sailor 'uniform' that you may imagine Gaultier having influenced, tended discretely to tables of diners as we were ushered to our table.
As expected, our lunch party opted for the set menu, which seemed the best value for lunch in a notoriously expensive restaurant. There is a choice of two courses at £25.50 or three, at £29.50, which is pretty good value for central London and on a par with other restaurants at a similar level. The set menu, however, did not feature a vegetarian option, so we advised our waiter and noted that we had made this very clear from the time of booking. This is where things started to go a little awry. Firstly, the waiter seemed to be unaware of what was vegetarian or not, advising our guest to choose the celeriac remoulade with speck (speck being quite definitely of animal origin). When this was pointed out, he suggested having the remoulade without the speck (but nothing in it's place) and seemed genuinely baffled that someone would not desire to eat meat. The rest of the party chose the squid with grilled fennel, rocket and chilli oil (being so excited about the lunch I had actually made my choices the night before). For the main course, again, everyone else chose the same dish, mackerel with beetroots, chard and horseradish, so far, easy enough but then things completely nosedived when it came to requesting a vegetarian option to replace the absence of one on the set menu.
The waiter became rather confused and perplexed and just kept stating that there wasn't an option available. We explained (again) that we had advised the restaurant in advance, in writing, when booking, the day before by phone and on entering the restaurant but the best he could advise was a salad. It seemed that at no point had he been made aware that we had a vegetarian guest or what he could do in such a situation (we can't have been the first). To be honest, it was getting all rather irritating at this point, being a vegetarian in the 21st century is hardly uncommon or unusual, in fact, the only unusual thing at all was a restaurant not providing a vegetarian option (and especially one famed for it's inventive use of seasonal vegetables).
The first course arrived and those of us who had chosen squid were treated to a prettily rustic dish of tender morsels, anointed with a mildly spiced chilli oil and perfectly cooked fennel. It was simple and tasty. Our guest meanwhile, was offered a plate of chunky remoulade dotted with a few toasted hazelnuts. After scoffing ours we waited whilst she (taking a little longer) chewed through her rather fibrous starter with good grace. Our main course of mackerel followed quickly to appreciative sounds which changed to those of surprise when our vegetarian was delivered a plate of green salad, literally a plate of green leaves, nothing else. At this point we'd had enough and called over the manager. She had the grace to be very apologetic and offered the nettle risotto on the main menu but of course, by the time this was ready, we had eaten ours, so our VIP ate alone. We finished the meal with a fairly simple almond tart and coffee and settled the bill, which they did, very fairly, reduce by one. In all, it was a complete disaster. The whole lunch felt stressed and it completely removed any enjoyment from the event. I really don't know how it could have been such a difficulty and I can only advise that anyone with any dietary requirements avoid this place entirely (heaven knows what would happen if you had a common food allergy and requested something different). I didn't want my blog to contain negativity (and this is my own honest opinion, others may have a different experience) but this was such a disappointment and as such I am unlikely to eat there again (or indeed recommend it for future work events). I appreciate that asking for anything different from the menu provides extra difficulties but the restaurant wasn't busy and if they had stated from the start that it wasn't possible we wouldn't have booked. Many smaller restaurants cope admirably with more complicated demands (I have eaten out many times with a particularly fussy friend with no problems) but this is a high class restaurant and we only asked for something suitable for a vegetarian. I left feeling very sad and quite spectacularly underwhelmed.
The VIP is vegetarian and as there was no vegetarian option on the sample set lunch menu I made the restaurant aware of this whilst booking (in writing). Booking is done through an online system at which you also need to leave your credit card details and there is a pretty steep penalty per head (£35) should any of your party fail to show and not provide more than 24 hours notice. The day before the lunch the restaurant phoned to confirm the booking and again, I re-affirmed that we had a vegetarian in our party and was assured that this would not be a problem, even if the set lunch menu on the day had no clear vegetarian option, the kitchen would be able to provide an alternative.
The day of the lunch arrived and we were welcomed into the elegant and airy dining room, pale blue walls were decorated with delicate ceramic swirls and cloud like lights hung over linen clad tables, it was stunning and beautiful. Waitresses wearing A-line pastel coloured smocks and waiters in a kind of sailor 'uniform' that you may imagine Gaultier having influenced, tended discretely to tables of diners as we were ushered to our table.
As expected, our lunch party opted for the set menu, which seemed the best value for lunch in a notoriously expensive restaurant. There is a choice of two courses at £25.50 or three, at £29.50, which is pretty good value for central London and on a par with other restaurants at a similar level. The set menu, however, did not feature a vegetarian option, so we advised our waiter and noted that we had made this very clear from the time of booking. This is where things started to go a little awry. Firstly, the waiter seemed to be unaware of what was vegetarian or not, advising our guest to choose the celeriac remoulade with speck (speck being quite definitely of animal origin). When this was pointed out, he suggested having the remoulade without the speck (but nothing in it's place) and seemed genuinely baffled that someone would not desire to eat meat. The rest of the party chose the squid with grilled fennel, rocket and chilli oil (being so excited about the lunch I had actually made my choices the night before). For the main course, again, everyone else chose the same dish, mackerel with beetroots, chard and horseradish, so far, easy enough but then things completely nosedived when it came to requesting a vegetarian option to replace the absence of one on the set menu.
The waiter became rather confused and perplexed and just kept stating that there wasn't an option available. We explained (again) that we had advised the restaurant in advance, in writing, when booking, the day before by phone and on entering the restaurant but the best he could advise was a salad. It seemed that at no point had he been made aware that we had a vegetarian guest or what he could do in such a situation (we can't have been the first). To be honest, it was getting all rather irritating at this point, being a vegetarian in the 21st century is hardly uncommon or unusual, in fact, the only unusual thing at all was a restaurant not providing a vegetarian option (and especially one famed for it's inventive use of seasonal vegetables).
The first course arrived and those of us who had chosen squid were treated to a prettily rustic dish of tender morsels, anointed with a mildly spiced chilli oil and perfectly cooked fennel. It was simple and tasty. Our guest meanwhile, was offered a plate of chunky remoulade dotted with a few toasted hazelnuts. After scoffing ours we waited whilst she (taking a little longer) chewed through her rather fibrous starter with good grace. Our main course of mackerel followed quickly to appreciative sounds which changed to those of surprise when our vegetarian was delivered a plate of green salad, literally a plate of green leaves, nothing else. At this point we'd had enough and called over the manager. She had the grace to be very apologetic and offered the nettle risotto on the main menu but of course, by the time this was ready, we had eaten ours, so our VIP ate alone. We finished the meal with a fairly simple almond tart and coffee and settled the bill, which they did, very fairly, reduce by one. In all, it was a complete disaster. The whole lunch felt stressed and it completely removed any enjoyment from the event. I really don't know how it could have been such a difficulty and I can only advise that anyone with any dietary requirements avoid this place entirely (heaven knows what would happen if you had a common food allergy and requested something different). I didn't want my blog to contain negativity (and this is my own honest opinion, others may have a different experience) but this was such a disappointment and as such I am unlikely to eat there again (or indeed recommend it for future work events). I appreciate that asking for anything different from the menu provides extra difficulties but the restaurant wasn't busy and if they had stated from the start that it wasn't possible we wouldn't have booked. Many smaller restaurants cope admirably with more complicated demands (I have eaten out many times with a particularly fussy friend with no problems) but this is a high class restaurant and we only asked for something suitable for a vegetarian. I left feeling very sad and quite spectacularly underwhelmed.
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