The Glasshouse at Kew is in good company, being part of the same group as Chez Bruce in Wandsworth and La Trompette in neaby Chiswick. A superbly eclectic menu will produce one of the best meals you’ve had all year.

The Venue
The building looks literally like a glasshouse and how apt for the most famous attraction in Kew, the Gardens, although the restaurant is nowhere near them. It is conveniently sited next door to Kew Gardens station, though, among a parade of very smart shops and services which makes it a kind of village on its own. The restaurant is a big room with elegant decor and a clientele to match.

The Atmosphere
Weekday lunches seem quiet at first but fill up quickly to almost full capacity. Even with the number of diners it’s still not noisy. The Glasshouse has a pleasant buzz about it, the sound of sensible people enjoying serious food. That is not to say that the place is at all snobbish or pretentious. It's a good restaurant and its customers know it.

The Food
Lunch is £12.50 for one course, £18.50 for two and £23.50 for three. Some may baulk at paying that for lunch but it is indeed very good value considering the variety and complexity of the dishes available. Some restaurants will offer simple dishes for lunch just to keep the prices down. Not so at The Glasshouse. For starters, smoked trout tartare with paysanne vegetables, couscous and peashoots is spectacularly fresh and flavoursome whilst the salmon and lemon fishcake is a superbly, intensely tasty concoction. Likewise, the crisp sea bass with wild mushrooms on toast and Jerusalem artichoke chips melds well together in a portion that looks almost main course in size.

The actual main courses include a crisp sea bream with mussels, chorizo and chick peas in a salsa verde of such richness it’ll knock you back. The grilled halibut with leeks, charlotte potatoes and little prawn beignets comes in another rich sauce, and slow-roast pork belly with middle white sausage, black pudding, apple tarte fine and choucroute is an amazing assembly: an oblong of the meat well-roasted, not too fatty but with a crisp pork crackling top, lying on a bed of baked apples atop a layer of choucroute cabbage, plus a lovely pork sausage and the best black pudding imaginable. Perfection all round.

The desserts are all tempting but the one to choose is the warm pineapple financier with caramel ice cream, an individual steamed pudding stuffed with morsels of pineapple and served with a treat of an ice cream.

The Drink
House wine from £15 or thereabouts produces a nicely drinkable Bergerac white, but the resident sommelier will do you proud if you wish to go to town and splurge out on a really good vintage bottle which will be decanted for you and served with all the style you expect from a thoughtful restaurant such at this.

The Last Word
It is encouraging to find such a good local restaurant in such an unexpected location.

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