The Bingham

I’ve lived in West London for decades and have been meaning to try Binghams out for ages. But I was a little nervous about eating in a hotel restaurant.

So my friend’s birthday recently gave me an excuse to book a table. Parking is tricky as it’s on the main road between busy Richmond and Petersham.

The entrance has a reception desk and you have the choice of going right into a cosy bar (which was tastefully adorned with sparkly Christmas decorations over a large fire place) or left into a small but elegantly decorated restaurant.

We were delighted to have been allocated a table for two by the tall windows. From here we could see the fairy lights on the outside terrace and the view down to the river was incredible. There were brightly lit boats floating down the river. It was quite magical.

The restaurant also had some discrete Christmas decorations but it was clear that the underlying décor was elegant and tasteful. The lighting was low and romantic – and there were a fair few couples on celebration evenings as well as some small groups.

The wine waiter arrived with a large bucket of champagnes and sparkling wines. As we were celebrating we both had a glass of the rose champagne (£14 a glass).

We briefly considered the tasting menu but doubted our ability to eat that much food. While we pondered the menu they presented us with warm sourdough bread with home-made butter. Delicious. Shortly after ordering we were presented with amuse bouche – a lighter than air chicken liver parfait with puffed grains to provide a crunchy texture.

My companion choose the salmon with spiced lentils and cauliflower purée to start (£9). Beautifully presented with the skin formed into a sail on top. My duck egg and duck bacon concoction came in a rich broth with a selection of firm mushrooms. The taste transported me to the Far East.

We both choose the beef fillet for our main course (£34) – this had a wonderfully meaty oxtail ragu on the top and was accompanied by a charred onion and watercress purée. The beef melted in our mouths. The sides (£5 each) of creamy mashed potato and broccoli with a yoghurt dressing were perfect.

My companion’s deconstructed tiramisu (£9) was a surprise but she deemed it excellent. Although my pear and pear custard mille feulle (£8) was sublime.

At the end of the meal they presented my friend with Petits Fours on a plate with “Happy Birthday” written in chocolate sauce. She was delighted.

I had had a glass of house wine and the total bill came to £169.75 which included service. Whilst that isn’t cheap, I thought that for the occasion it was reasonable.

It really was a perfect meal. The lovely ambience, the river views, the tasteful festive decorations, the friendly and attentive staff and the stunning food. I’m looking forward to future celebrations so I can return.

Booked in for a midweek lunch with a colleague on a rather dreary winter’s day, I’ll be honest that the pre-conditions for a dazzling lunch weren’t really there, despite appreciating that I was going to a “right posh place” as my dad from Lancashire would say. Indeed the Bingham (at number 88), was in this year’s All In One Ultimate Restaurant List; i.e. in London’s elite 100 restaurants.

My mood changed though with the immediate and warm welcome that we received sans the formality that you might expect at a place of this class. Alongside the warm welcome which greeted us was a lingering (though not over-bearing) smell of paint; evidence of the restaurant’s very recent and extensive refurbishment which we had the privilege of enjoying the benefit of.

The newly spruced up decor was something I would describe as modern, retro-chic; an oxymoron I’d agree, but accurate nevertheless! The newly laid wooden floor was beautiful and made for great acoustics; with a lively buzz filling what began as a quite empty space. Even when the two adjoining dining rooms filled up later on during our meal, the sound level wasn’t overbearing. I also really appreciated the well-judged spacing between the tables. No doubt a few more covers could have been squeezed in, and in other establishments they would have made use of this opportunity, but you felt a real sense of enjoying personal space rather than being crammed in. As it was, we had a perfect table by the French windows and overlooking the river.

I began my selection from the lunchtime set menu (after a most delicious glass of champagne), with ‘Pumpkin Risotto, sherry jelly, trompette de la mort, hazelnut’ whilst my companion had the Truffled Cabbage Soup, poached duck egg, chestnuts and bacon. Both sounded like real winter-warmers on paper, though in reality the risotto was beautifully light; the pumpkin pieces were slightly al dente which gave the risotto a much greater contrast in textures than I’d expected. There was a subtle and delicious hint of hazelnut shining through the dish, which arguably made the addition of a near invisible and tasteless sherry jelly on top rather superfluous.

The cabbage soup, I was told had delicious and well-cooked flavours individually and was certainly beautiful to look at; a stunning green more akin to pea soup. As a whole though, it didn’t quite work. The soup was thick, the slow-cooked egg runny and the combination of the two textures seemed uncomfortable on the palate which detracted from the seasonal flavours.

For me, it would have been interesting to hear more about why the sommelier had decided on the particular wine pairings with each dish. It took me to specifically ask about the background to get this information, at which point it was clear that thought and knowledge had gone into the choice. This was a very minor point though and the choices he’d made were delicious and well-judged.

We chose our main courses; sea bream fillet, with sauteed squid and bitter orange vinaigrette for my companion and mushroom gnocchi for me. The fish was described as “perfectly cooked”. It was beautifully summery (good job it was a mild winter’s day!) with delicious citrus flavour (there was a request for more of the vinaigrette as it was gone by the time it had been fully appreciated!).

My gnocchi I found a little on the heavy side, but I think my view was slightly tainted by an incredible and uniquely light gnocchi that I’d experienced elsewhere a couple of weeks previously. The flavours here were all good, but there was no one flavour that packed a real punch.

The desserts were a real triumph; the ‘Bitter Chocolate Tart mandarin sorbet, passion fruit jelly, orange chantilly’ was indeed bitter, but at a perfectly judged level which didn’t make you wince as you tasted it as can so often be the case. It was rich and moist and beautifully bitter-sweet. The torte Chantilly and the sorbet were light and fresh providing really well-judged balance to the richness of the torte. The best chocolate torte I can remember!

We also felt obliged to try the other dessert option on the set menu! The ‘Passion Fruit Curd citrus salad, blood orange sorbet, meringue’ was also stunning; light, packed with flavour and with a real plate of contrasting but complimenting flavours and textures. The intensity of the passion fruit was balanced by the gentle bitterness of the grapefruit in the citrus salad.

To sum up, the French windows and beautiful balcony overlooking the river are (particularly in the summer when you’ll have to fight for a view!) worth coming for in themselves. But when you add to this high-class cooking, warm and efficient service and the phenomenal value of this set menu; £16 for two courses or £19.50 for three, it’s a fantastic place to come. It really lifted my mood and I would absolutely recommend it.

As an aside, please note that there is no hotel car park! There are some allocated spaces across the road (but you need to book ahead for these and there are time restrictions) and otherwise you will need to find the local NCP or metered parking which are a few minutes’ walk away.