Rocket Riverside has style, charm and sophistication all under one roof, not to mention a fantastic location with a beautiful view.

The Venue
Rocket Riverside in Putney has a superb location overlooking the Thames, and its romantic location is not the only winning element to the restaurant. The interior is spacious with booths and wooden tables that line the large windows. There is a large central booth which is perfect for bigger parties of people and warm tones of brown and red offer a feeling of warmth and luxury. Lighting is dimmed which also adds to the relaxing atmosphere.

The Atmosphere
The background music is chilled out and soft, not intrusive but adding to the laid back tone of the restaurant. Rocket attracts small groups of friends as well as couples out for a romantic meal.

The Food
The menu has so much to offer that it may take you some time to decide what to order, it all sounds extremely enticing. Spicy lamb cakes on an orange, olive, red onion and mint salad with a fresh chilli plum dressing is a good choice with the tanginess of the oranges contrasting surprisingly well with the lamb burgers which are small, plump and succulent. The salad with the chilli plum dressing has a slight sweetness which also adds to the dish in a pleasing way. The fried spicy baby squid on a rocket and cherry tomato salad with a sweet chilli and lemon dressing sounds promising but the chilli and lemon dressing is too sweet and the coating on the squid doesn’t add much to the taste. In this case something simpler would work better.

For mains, try the honey mustard pork on a sweet potato mash with a maple, white wine, apple and shallot sauce. This dish is delicious: the portion is generous and the sweet potato mash is soft and creamy and everything you want a mash to be; the pork is moist and complements the potato extremely well, and the mustard and honey coating is perfect and sets off all the tastes of the dish. Another main to go for is the grilled sirloin steak topped with aubergine caviar on a Savoy cabbage and potato gallette served with a warm green bean, frisse and red onion salad. The steak is cooked to perfection and nicely tender, whilst the cabbage and potato gallette is well presented.

The dessert options are priced at £5 each and there is bound to be something for everyone’s taste on the menu. The chocolate mousse with strawberries and crushed biscuit is super sweet and comes in a bowl that feels slightly too large for the dessert. There is a lot of chocolate to get through though, and being as sweet as it is, you may feel slightly guilty after you’ve finished, but it is a real treat. The chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce is a little dry and not moist enough which is a bit of a let down after an enjoyable main.

The Drink
The wine menu is extensive and reader friendly with each wine grouped into light aromatic wines, medium bodied fruity wines, full bodied white wines, light supple red wines, medium bodied reds and big opulent reds, so you can’t go wrong when choosing a wine to suit your taste. The house red is a Merlot called De Gras from Chile which is very light and easy to drink.

The Last Word
Rocket has much to offer, its location being one of the main attractions.. The prices are a little high for Putney at a range of £9.50 - £17.00 for mains, but the warm decor and friendly service more than make up for it.

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