Petersham Nurseries

Worth saying upfront: the Covent Garden branches of Petersham Nurseries, The Petersham and La Goccia on Floral Court, closed for good in February 2025 after the group went into administration trying to negotiate lower rents. If you’re planning a trip based on the Covent Garden address, it no longer exists, and the original Richmond site is now the only place to experience what made the brand’s name in the first place.

That original restaurant sits inside a working plant nursery just off Petersham Road, reached down a narrow lane that makes it feel more like a discovery than an address. Meals are served in a series of glasshouses among plants still for sale, with gravel underfoot and quite a lot of weather getting in around the edges depending on the time of year, which is either charming or impractical depending on your tolerance for a slightly cold ankle in November.

The kitchen made its reputation under chef Skye Gyngell two decades ago on seasonal, largely organic Italian inspired cooking, and that ethos has stuck: menus change with what’s available rather than running to a fixed script, and dishes tend to be simple rather than showy, built around good produce cooked with restraint. It has held a Michelin Green Star for its approach to sustainability.

This is a lunch destination more than a dinner one for most visitors, ideally combined with a walk along the river or through Richmond Park beforehand. It suits people who want a genuinely different kind of London dining experience, somewhere between a garden centre and a restaurant, and who don’t mind travelling out of central London to get it.

Prices sit at the higher end for what’s a fairly rustic setting, mains run into the £30s and a full lunch with wine will comfortably clear £70 to £80 a head, which some visitors find hard to square with the informal glasshouse surroundings. Booking ahead through the Petersham Nurseries website is essential, particularly for weekend lunches when tables go quickly.