Glasshouse

Last night, we had dinner at Glasshouse in Kew which is owned by the same people that own Chez Bruce in Wandsworth and La Trompette in Chiswick. They categorise themselves as largely French influenced but leaning heavily on Spanish and Italian influences too.

We arrived at 7.30 and the restaurant was fairly empty but it soon filled up, we quickly tucked into the bread as we were starving and enjoyed a selction of sourdough, olive, walnut, raisin and rosemary foccacia.

I started with a spaghetti of rabbit and chanterelle mushrooms which was lovely. I was wary of having pasta as a starter but it was a delicate portion which balanced the earthiness of the rabbit and mushrooms with a light cream and tarragon sauce.

Stephen opted for the duck salad with crispy onions and balsamic dressing and deep fried truffled egg, he really enjoyed it but I (as usual) found the balsamic too sweet.

Next, I chose the rump of lamb which was served with a black olive, tomato and red pepper dressing, green beans and mashed potatoes. The lamb was perfectly pink (they asked me if that was ok) and there was plenty of it, just as well as Stephen enjoyed it too.

Stephen chose the halibut with fondant leek and mashed potato. He felt the fish was slightly over-cooked but commented on the tastiness of the rest of the dish. I enjoyed what I tasted, the creamy sauce added an extra depth to the lightness of the fish.

Neither of us usually order dessert but I couldn’t resist the sound of the maple syrup ice cream with frosted pistachios and biscuit. The maple syrup flavouring was subtle and not too sweet and worked very well with the crunchy pistachios and the slightly peppery biscuit.

In order to alleviate my feelings of greed, Stephen joined me in dessert and went for the only real choice: creme brulee. He was disappointed that the sugary top was cold but otherwise enjoyed it.

We didn’t have our proper camera with us so these are taken with my phone, hence the fuzziness and bad lighting.

We’re off on holiday tomorrow so no posts for a while, hopefully we’ll have lots of interesting pictures to show when we get back though.