Head to Somerset House in London and tucked inside you’ll find a beautiful, airy restaurant by Skye Gyngell, the genius behind Petersham Nurseries. Opened in 2014, Spring has gradually been building a reputation as a destination for great food and equally great service.
Building on that success, Gyngell recently launched an innovative three-course £20 set-menu, with the explicit aim of combating food waste. Called the ‘scratch menu’ the name is derived from her Australian roots, where the expression ‘scratch tea’ means to dive into your fridge and produce something delicious from the scraps that otherwise would have gone to waste.
Interestingly, 40% of fruit and vegetables grown in the UK are discarded before reaching shop shelves due the food's appearance. Although the produce is considered ugly or misshapen, the majority is in fact edible. The aim of Spring’s scratch menu is to reduce this wastage by creating dishes from ingredients that are often overlooked. The menu is not designed to be fancy or complicated, however Gyngell promises each dish will be simple and delicious, despite being made from odds and ends.
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Our evening meal started with a Ginger cordial soda, which was lightly spicy and pleasingly sweet. A perfect palate cleanser for the meal ahead.
Proceedings open with a plate of pickles that comes with “yesterday’s sourdough and Taleggio". You could be forgiven for imagining that a day-old piece of bread would taste stale rather than delectable, but you would be very mistaken. The sourdough is warm and soft, and sprinkled with tart pickles, which work perfectly with the fruity tang of the melted Taleggio cheese.
The dish was swiftly followed by the evening's main course: pakora vegetables with Bombay potato and tomato relish. This dish is truly exceptional – a heady mix of spices and tangy tomato which gives the whole thing a delightful kick. At the recommendation of our waiter, we decided against wine and opted instead for a pint of Toast, a Hackney pale ale made from surplus loaves of bread. A perfect tipple to match the menu's anti-food waste theme.
The final course, a mouth-watering chocolate and crème fraiche cake positively oozes with caramel espresso. The combination of chocolate and coffee always works, but for this reviewer the portion just wasn’t quite generous enough. But perhaps this is Gyngell’s secret to keeping people coming back for more.
Having eaten at Spring before, the service for the scratch menu is noticeably faster, which may be because it is pitched for a pre-theatre clientele. However, the speedy delivery of each course doesn’t make you feel rushed, and as the portions lean towards the smaller side, you won’t feel overwhelmed.
The scratch menu not only reduces food waste, it also makes sense economically - £20 s unquestionably a steal for this meal. Available Monday to Saturday from 5:30pm-6:45pm, this delicious set menu is a must for anyone looking to reduce food waste while still dining at one of London’s finer restaurants.
Spring Restaurant, Somerset House, London WC2R 1LA, springrestaurant.co.uk
