The Royal Garden Hotel’s Park Terrace Restaurant is famous for its views of lush and leafy Hyde Park, but the food measures up quite nicely, too.

The Venue
Located in the five star Royal Garden Hotel, the Park Terrace Restaurant is on Kensington High Street, a perfect location for Hyde Park, the Royal Albert Hall or just some shopping. The restaurant is on the ground floor of the hotel, adjacent to the bar and cafe. The decor is nothing particularly out of the ordinary, with wood chairs and touches of blue and beige, but the standout decorations are the huge marble-style sculptures that line the wall, holding up the ceiling with an Atlas-like solemnity.

Along the side of one wall are enormous floor to ceiling windows overlooking Kensington Palace Gardens as well as Hyde Park. In the daylight (and the summer) the views are gorgeous, but unfortunately during the dark winter nights it’s hard to make out whether you’re looking at London lights or the reflection from inside the room.

The Atmosphere
The clientele seem to be predominantly hotel guests or local Kensington residents, so expect small groups of posh diners as well as couples, single foodies and families. Early evenings can be a bit quiet, but it fills up a bit later in the night. Service is friendly and efficient, with no unnecessary interruptions.

The Food
For dinner there’s an a la carte menu that’s an extremely good value considering the quality of the food and the location – three courses for about £28, and two for about £20 – perfect if you want to sample luxury without forking out too much cash. The dinner menu is seasonal and mainly British, with a touch of influences from France and Italy. Whenever possible, the ingredients are seasonal, locally sourced, organic or free range.

Recommended starters include a warm pigeon salad shredded beetroot and apples. The pigeon is served medium rare, tender on the inside and crisp and salty on the outside. The saltiness is complemented wonderfully with the sweet crisp apples and sugary beetroot, and the whole salad is laid out on endive leaves so that it looks like a colourful flower. If you’re not a pigeon fan, another good choice marinated salmon, which is slightly sweet, with a light colour and flavour. It’s served with a cucumber salad and a crisp and savoury ball of fried oysters.

Mains are equally impressive, with a mixture of chicken, beef, pork and fish dishes, as well as a vegetarian option. The roasted loin of New Forest venison is deliciously soft and tender, layered in small pieces on top of a mildly spiced celeriac puree. Accompaniments are tiny squares of sauteed potatoes, crisp on the outside and fluffy in the middle, and a terrine of sliced root vegetables. Fans of fish shouldn’t pass up the wild Bristol Channel sea bass, a delicate and flaky fished served on a bed of potatoes and surrounded with a ring of broccoli, green beans and other green veg.

Desserts include a pear tart tatin, crisp and subtly sweet and served with a small shot glass of cardamom ice cream. The gingerbread cheesecake is the only slight disappointment, as it’s a bit too gloopy and not quite at the level of spiciness you’d expect for something flavoured with ginger.

The Drink
Unsurprisingly, the wine list is vast, with bottles from all over the world, predominantly France. There are plenty of good value bottles at around £20, with prices going up to about £200 for the rarer choices. The house red is a 2006 Merlot, a light tasting wine that goes well with both fish and game.

The Last Word
This is a great place to treat a family member or business colleague – and for the prices, you can afford to come back and fully sample the rest of the menu.

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