• Features
    • Institutions
    • Interviews
      • Insatiable
      • At the Table
      • Screen Eating
      • View all Interviews
      • Back
    • Long reads
      • Travel
      • Origins
      • View all Long reads
      • Back
    • Five Dishes
    • View all Features
    • Back
  • The Directory
    • City of London
      • Bank
      • Blackfriars
      • Barbican
      • Farringdon
      • Fleet Street & St Paul's
      • Guildhall
      • Leadenhall
      • Monument, Tower Hill & Aldgate
      • Moorgate & Liverpool Street
      • View all City of London
      • Back
    • North London
      • Finsbury Park
      • Hampstead & Belsize Park
      • Highbury
      • Highgate
      • Hornsey & Crouch End
      • Hoxton
      • Islington & Barnsbury
      • Kentish Town
      • King's Cross
      • Primrose Hill
      • Regent's Park & Camden Town
      • St John's Wood
      • Stoke Newington & Stamford Hill
      • West Hampstead & Kilburn
      • Willesden, Harlesden & Kensal Green
      • Tottenham
      • View all North London
      • Back
    • The West End
      • Bloomsbury & Fitzrovia
      • Covent Garden
      • Hanover Square
      • Harley Street
      • Holborn
      • Marylebone
      • Mayfair
      • Oxford Street
      • Regent Street
      • Soho
      • Victoria Station
      • St James's
      • Westminster
      • Whitehall
      • View all The West End
      • Back
    • South London
      • Balham
      • Barnes
      • Battersea
      • Brixton & Streatham
      • Camberwell
      • Clapham
      • Croydon
      • East Dulwich
      • Greenwich
      • Peckham
      • Putney
      • Richmond
      • South Bank & Borough
      • Wandsworth & Tooting
      • Wimbledon & Merton
      • View all South London
      • Back
    • East London
      • Bethnal Green
      • Bow & Bromley by Bow
      • Canary Wharf
      • Clapton & Hackney Downs
      • Hackney & Dalston
      • Hackney Wick
      • Limehouse
      • Stratford & West Ham
      • Walthamstow
      • Wapping
      • Whitechapel & Mile End
      • Woodford
      • Shoreditch
      • View all East London
      • Back
    • West London
      • Belgravia
      • Chelsea
      • Chiswick
      • Ealing
      • Fulham
      • Hammersmith
      • Kensington
      • Knightsbridge
      • Ladbroke Grove
      • Maida Vale
      • Notting Hill & Holland Park
      • Paddington & Bayswater
      • Pimlico
      • Shepherd's Bush
      • South Kensington
      • View all West London
      • Back
    • View all The Directory
    • Back
  • Guides
    • Neighbourhoods
    • Pop-ups
    • View all Guides
    • Back
  • Reviews
    • Meal kits
    • Restaurants
    • Bars
    • Breweries
    • London Larder
    • View all Reviews
    • Back
  • Columns
    • Where Molly Ate
    • Classic cocktails
    • The Foodist
    • On the Trail
    • The Escapist
    • View all Columns
    • Back
  • Recipes
    • Courses
      • Dessert
      • Brunch
      • Breakfast
      • Starter
      • Main
      • Savoury snacks
      • Lunch
      • Small plates
      • Salad
      • Sides
      • View all Courses
      • Back
    • Seasons
      • Spring
      • Summer
      • Autumn
      • Winter
      • View all Seasons
      • Back
    • Ingredients
      • Fish
      • Vegetarian
      • Pork
      • Lamb
      • Beef
      • Chicken
      • Seafood
      • Eggs
      • Poultry
      • Game
      • Fruit
      • View all Ingredients
      • Back
    • Cuisines
      • Japanese
      • French
      • Italian
      • Spanish
      • American
      • British
      • East Asian
      • Nikkei
      • Levantine
      • Scandinavian
      • Indian
      • South American
      • Chinese
      • Caribbean
      • View all Cuisines
      • Back
    • Baking
      • Bread
      • Puddings
      • Pies
      • Sweet snacks
      • Cake
      • View all Baking
      • Back
    • Cocktails
      • Champagne
      • Gin
      • Vodka
      • Liqueur
      • Aperitif
      • Brandy
      • Whisky
      • Rum
      • Tequila
      • Sparkling wine
      • Cachaça
      • Beer
      • View all Cocktails
      • Back
    • View all Recipes
    • Back
  • Events
  • Win
  • Subscribe
  • More
    • Japan Week
    • What Christy Cooked
    • Shop
    • Promotions
      • Offers
      • View all Promotions
      • Back
    • News
    • Foodism 100
      • The awards night
      • View all Foodism 100
      • Back
    • Sustainability
      • Farm-to-table
      • Sourcing
      • Social enterprise
      • Seasonality
      • Business
      • Food waste
      • View all Sustainability
      • Back
    • What to Buy
    • National Pizza Day
    • Plant-Based Plates
    • Beer
    • Bitemap
    • Partnerships
      • Keep it reel
      • Rice Here, Right Now
      • The Local Curry Challenge
      • Be Different
      • The Grand Journey
      • Diplomats of a New Era
      • View all Partnerships
      • Back
    • Gift guides
    • Read the magazine
    • Back

London's best garden cafés, restaurants and bars

You might live in a city, but you can still stop and smell the blooms at these flower-filled London joints

Lydia Winter editor

by Lydia Winter

Spring; photograph: Amber Rowlands

Spring

Somerset House, WC2R 1LA

Among Petersham Nurseries’ highly successful alumni is Skye Gyngell, chef-patron at Spring, the suitably sophisticated restaurant in Somerset House's New Wing. Everything from the name to the pale-pink interiors and the cooking itself feels light and fresh – head here when London’s grey, grey and more grey colour scheme starts to get a bit too meh. We particularly like the dainty courtyard, where elegant trees and delicate fairy lights set the scene for the utterly delicious food, much of which is sourced through Gyngell’s relationship with the Fern Verrow farm in Herefordshire. 

More info
Central Street Café

Central Street Café

90 Central Street, EC1V 8AJ

This community centre is cleverly making the most of Clerkenwell’s avocado-on-toast-loving tech and design boffins to subsidise high-quality meals for elderly locals. Exposed brick walls, antique light bulbs and rose-filled rooftop garden provide prime Instagram fodder, and all profits are fed back into local projects that work to support support older local residents and those out of work.

More info
Petersham Nurseries

Petersham Nurseries

Church Lane, TW10 7AB

The food at Petersham Nurseries has been coming up roses thanks to head chef Damian Clisby, formerly of Hix Soho. He uses the produce growing in Petersham’s greenhouses to create an inventive menus of fresh, light dishes that range from anything from bruschetta with new-season broad beans to risotto with romana courgettes, made all the more delicious because you eat it inside the plant-filled glasshouses. While you’re there, book yourself in for a gardening workshop, and you’ll be be growing your own tomatoes in no time.

More info
The Green Room Café

The Green Room Café

113 Stoke Newington Church Street, N16 0UD

You'd think a florist selling food would be all about edible blossoms, but this quintessential Stokey destination does much, much more, including a damn good shakshuka with chorizo. Walk through the bountiful flowershop and you'll find a café that stretches out to a sun-dappled terrace out the back. It's family-friendly but still cool, and does a great line in brunch and lunch.

More info
The Ivy City Garden

The Ivy City Garden

Dashwood House, EC2M 1QS

Hiding deep within the modern, concrete-riddled landscape of the Square Mile is an oasis filled with lush blooms… and tasty food, thanks to the team at The Ivy City Garden. Head here for British classics – hello shepherd’s pie – and cocktails that use herbs from the garden. Rain? No problem – there’s a retractable roof that’ll let you enjoy the verdant surrounds even when it’s pouring down.

More info
1 of 5

Published: Monday 14th August 2017

  • Guides
  • Guides

Enjoyed this? Here’s a few more you'll like...

  • Neighbourhoods

The best restaurants in Hackney, East London

London's best tasting menus | Sea bream with maesaengi, asparagus and Jersey Royal potato at Sollip
  • Guides

London's best tasting menus at every price point: 52 to try

  • Guides

Mark Birchall's Barcelona-inspired dinner party cupboard essentials

  • Gift guides

The best food and drink gifts for Mother's Day

  • Guides

Where to celebrate St Patrick's Day in London

Salmon and cream cheese bagel from De Beauvoir Deli
  • Guides

The best delis in London: 12 to try

  • Guides

Best Valentine's Day gifts for food and drink lovers

  • Guides

The Best Places to Eat in the French Alps

  • Guides

The ultimate Glenmorangie Christmas gift guide

  • Guides

The foodie gift guide for the gourmand in your life

  • Guides

DesignMyNight's guide to doing Christmas in London differently this year

  • Guides

The best winter terraces in London

Loading
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us
  • Read the magazine
  • Subscribe to the magazine
  • Sign up to the newsletter
  • Partnerships
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Advice about cookies
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Sustainability
  • Foodism 100
  • Be Different
  • The Grand Journey
  • The Local Curry Challenge