Tucked inside the New Wing of Somerset House, Spring is the kind of space that makes you breathe a sigh of relief the moment you walk in. And maybe a gasp of awe. Airy, light-drenched, with fresh flowers from Heckfield Place scattered across the tables. It was the urban brainchild of the late Skye Gyngell, and her ethos still runs through every plate: produce first, all of it from Jane Scotter’s Fern Varrow, the biodynamic farm in Herefordshire that supplies the kitchen and whose owner heads up the incredible biodynamic gardens at Heckfield Place. Skye’s vision is now carried forward by Eleanor Henson, Group Culinary Director across Spring and Heckfield Place, working closely with Jane.
We started with snacks, and honestly, I could go back for the porridge bread alone. Warm, nutty, served with a beautifully shaped sphere of rich butter (such a small, lovely detail). Alongside it, a Jersey oyster with horseradish cream and pickled rhubarb, the rhubarb crisp and tangy against the brine, almost taking on the role of a pickled red onion.
A note on drinks: Spring makes its own liqueurs, including nettle and limoncello, and with an Italian head bartender, the cocktails are very much worth lingering over.
For starters, the Cornish mussels with wild garlic, cider and rye croutons were exactly the kind of dish you want in early spring. Then a plate of Fern Varrow leaves with broad beans and green goddess dressing, hiding the most meticulous beetroot brunoise underneath. The ricotta tortellini with peas and mint butter felt like the season on a plate.
Mains were the hardest call. Turbot is one of our favourite fish, and the yakitori turbot with slow-cooked fennel and sake butter sauce was a standout. The gnudi with nettles, ricotta salata and lemon leaf butter arrived shaped into perfect little dumplings, dusted in flour for a soft skin, with crispy nettles on top. It tasted like a walk through an English garden in April.
The wine list is just about the right size, with enough selections to be interesting but few enough that the sommelier can speak to all of them. For us, he suggested a beautiful bottle from Mâcon produced from a small enclosed vinyard formerly managed by the vignerons’ grandfather.
Dessert was similarly nearly impossible to choose, but on the manager’s recommendation we went for the espresso jelly and panna cotta with Gariguette strawberries, which immediately transported us from London to Provence. The trio of ice cream was worth ordering for the tarragon alone, minty in colour but with a distinct herbal finish.
Note: Spring provided support for the reporting of this story.