The White Cross Richmond TW9 1TH
The White Cross
Superb view over the river
The White Cross is an old pub located right on the river in Richmond, not far from the bridge. In summer people take advantage of the waterfront so it is full of families with kids. It is so close to the river that sometimes the tide prevents you from getting out. Well, it is not a bad place to get stuck, especially if you are upstairs on the tiny balcony where you have a great view over the river as you can see in the pictures.
The pub got its name because it is built on the site of a monastery (Friars Observant of Richmond, before the order got suppressed).
A table with a view
We ordered the chicken liver & Brandy paté with plum & apple chutney & crusty bread (£5.95), the Cumberland sausages with mash & caramelised onion gravy (£7.95), the French bread baguette with honey roast ham & wholegrain mustard (£5.25) and the sultana scones with clotted cream, strawberry jam & clotted cream (£3.50). Other interesting options were whole baked camembert with fruit chutney & bread to dip (£8.95), the cheese board Denhay mature cheddar & Cropwell Bishop stilton with fruit chutney & crusty bread (£7.45) and homemade cottage pie served with mixed leaves & crusty bread (£8.95). Of course, being a pub you have many other sandwiches, wraps (for example the Warm Cajun Chicken & sour cream – £5.75) and baked jacket potatoes with cheddar & bacon (£6.25) or even with beef chilli con carne (£6.25). As drinks, we ordered a pint of kronenbourg and a lemonade.
Chicken liver & Brandy paté
Close-up
The chicken liver and Brandy paté was good. Not the best I’ve ever had, but not bad either, although it really needed the plum and apple chutney to accompany it. The crusty bread was excellent and more of it would have been welcome because of the big portion of paté.
French bread baguette with honey roast ham & wholegrain mustard
The ham and mustard baguette was a mixed experience. On the one hand, the filling was a good thick slab of ham with wonderful texture and flavour, accompanied with just the right amound of fairly mild mustard. On the other hand, the baguette itself was an abomination. No nice fresh crispy outer and gently chewy inside here. No, sadly this baguette was a limp and flacid thing that shouldn’t have been allowed outside the kitchen it was baked in – I still shudder to think of it. I’d consider taking a sandwich here again, but I will never again make the mistake of ordering it on their so-called baguette. If you’re tempted to try it, I strongly recomend playing safe and taking the farmhouse “doorstep” sandwich instead (which is, presumably, the same sort of nice crusty sliced bread that accompanied the paté).
Cumberland sausages
The Cumberland sausages were all right. Again, not fantastic but nothing to complain about too. The mash was HUGE! I usually have a great appetite but I couldn’t eat all of it. It was enough for 3 people!
The scones
The strawberry jam
The scones were pretty good, nice and fresh and not at all crumbly. They were served with fresh clotted cream and strawberry jam – a nice end to the meal.
Great location!
Cost and conclusion: it was about £25. You do not really go to the White Cross for its food but rather for the nice setting and the view of the Thames. With a pint of beer it is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon there. Richmond is such a nice town with a village feeling while being only 20 minutes away from Waterloo train station. Highly recommended if you are around!
The Rose and Crown 79 Kew Green Kew TW9 3AH
Well located pub! It is next to Kew Gardens.
This Rose and Crown has a great location next to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, commonly named Kew Gardens. It is a wonderful place for taking photos of flowers of course but also insects as you can see below. Back to our pub! It is a nice looking pub with a rustic appearance inside, with many separate and cosy areas to sit and low ceilings. It has a nice front garden overlooking Kew Green but we went out to the back garden which was more pleasant cut from the traffic noise.
The tables in the back garden (not the photo above, which is of the path taking you to the rear garden) are quite large and the seats, in wood too, are incredibly heavy. You do not lift them easily with one hand.
Great Leffe
We ordered a seared teriyaki surf & turf (grilled teriyaki sirloin and battered coriander prawns, finished with chips and teriyaki dip – £11.25) and a classic fish pie (topped with cheesy mash and served with vegetables – £8.25). Other meals that looked interesting were the Moroccan spiced lamb burger (served in a light flatbread with peppernatta, sweet potato wedges and a cucumber mint dip – £9.45), the free range extra thick pork chop with cider and Calvados sauce (with mash and vegetables – £10.25) and the pork escalope (marinated in its own sauce, served with stir fried fresh vegetables and noodles and completed with a sweet chilli dipping sauce – £10.95). We ordered a pint of Leffe beer (great beer) and a pint of lemonade with lots of ice.
Classic fish pie
The fish pie was very good. Nice creamy potato topped with plenty of cheese. Inside the main fish was salmon, but there was also plenty of smoked haddock and shrimps to keep things interesting. Good pub food at a reasonable price here.
Seared teriyaki surf & turf
Excellent fries
I chose the seared teriyaki surf & turf because lately I cook quite a lot of meat marinated in teriyaki sauce on BBQs so I wanted to see how I was doing compared to the pub. The grilled teriyaki sirloin was not bad but a little dry and the teriyaki taste was very light. I cook better 😉 The battered coriander prawns were very good and the chips were excellent: tasty, and crispy outside without being dry inside.
Cost and conclusion: it was about £26, without the optional 12.5% service charge of course. Nice pub food, pleasant surrounding, and it was sunny! A good stop before visiting the gardens!
Some photos taken at Kew Gardens:
Taken from the botanical glasshouses with a Nikon D700 and a 14-24f2.8 through the glass.
Taken with a Nikon D700 with a 70-200f2.8
A bee at work. Nikon D700 with a 70-200f2.8
Pizzeria Rustica 32 The Quadrant, Richmond, Surrey London TW9 1DN
Reviewed on Tuesday 16 June 2009
Pizzeria Rustica
Rustica upstairs
We have tried many pizzerias in London and I have to say the best pizzas are made at Rustica, followed closely by Franco Manca. That is based on the pizzas only. If I count the surrounding, Rustica wins by a huge margin. The location first: let’s not be cruel by comparing Richmond to Brixton market. Second, the design of the restaurant is also a lot better. Rustica is a charming relaxing restaurant while Franco Manca is more canteen-like and within a market, next to a fish stall. Just as well because Richmond costs about double even if still being reasonably priced.
We did not take any starters since their pizzas are quite large and we ordered two pizzas, a capricciosa (£9.90) and a buffalo (£9.95), with two Moretti beers (£6.50). The beers could have been colder for my liking. The capricciosa was very good, with a nice crispy base, and the right amount of toppings. The usual good experience. The buffalo was excellent, as usual, should I say! I love the buffalo mozzarella. One distinctive feature of the buffalo pizza is that the toppings (parma ham, tomato bruschetta and mozarella) are added fresh on a cooked pizza base so the base stays crispy. The chilli oil was very lightly spicy and it poured incredibly slowly – a lot of work to get enough on your pizza. I prefer when it is very spicy (hot) like they often do in France.
Inside Rustica
Pizza Capricciosa
Pizza Buffalo & the chilli oil
Overview of the two pizzas
The desserts were a homemade carrot cake and a Baileys cheesecake. The carrot cake was very good. Nice and chunky, and not over-sweet as is often the case. That includes for the icing/topping, which was just sweet enough to match the cake nicely. The Baileys cheesecake was great. Not too sweet either and the right amount of Baileys. A little complaint here: the tables are so close together that it can be hard to have a decent conversation if you happen to have loud/talkative neighbours. Also, if it just happens (as it did) that you have a neighbour who orders something smelly like fish at the time you are up to dessert, then the proximity of the smell is a bit off-putting.
Homemade carrot cake
Baileys cheesecake
Overview of the two desserts
Cost and conclusion: it was £36 and it is up to you to leave the gratuity or not and how much. I like that! It is just very rude to automatically add an “optional” 12.5% service charge to the bill and to assume the service was worth it. Here the service was excellent, with a very friendly italian staff so they deserved a good tip You can read previous reviews of Rustica here (22 March 2009) and here (2 May 2009).
Pizzeria Rustica is located next to Richmond train station, but it is also only 15 minutes walk from Richmond Park which is the largest open space in London covering almost 1000 hectares. It is home to around 650 free roaming deer so if you are into photography and wildlife, it is a good spot to visit. Below is a photo of a deer I took there.
A deer hiding in the bush at Richmond Park
Pizzeria Rustica 32 The Quadrant, Richmond, Surrey, London, TW9 1DN Reviewed on Saturday 2 May 2009 lunch time
We have been many times to this place which is, in my opinion, the best pizza restaurant in London. It has already been reviewed previously here. It is a good place to stop before going to Richmond park for taking photos of deer & bunnies.
The room open to the street
This time we both decided to take different pizzas than the usual ones we get so we ordered an American Hot (£9.50) and a Capricciosa (£10.90). As drink we chose Moretti (£8.50) as suggested by the waiter who said the staff liked this beer better than the Peroni. We thought it was an excellent beer. The American Hot pizza was a little disappointing because it had too many pepperoni for my liking, making the pizza a little too greasy. The Jalapeno chilli bits were not spicy enough. Fortunately the pizza base was really exceptionally good, being tender and crispy at the same time. That was very nice. The Capricciosa pizza was excellent, with tasty mushroms, the right amount of pepperoni and a perfectly cooked egg.
Moretti beer
American Hot pizza
Cost and conclusion: it was still a nice lunch with one exceptional pizza and one average pizza on toppings but both fantastic for the base. The Capricciosa will become one of our favourites, with their Buffalo and Calzone pizzas! The bill was £28.90 (plus service charge to add).
Pizzeria Rustica 32 The Quadrant, Richmond, Surrey, London, TW9 1DN Reviewed on Sunday 22 March 2009
Pizzeria Rustica in Richmond
The Pizzeria Rustica is located very close to Richmond’s train station and is on The Quadrant busy street, next to a McDonalds. It has a kind of relaxing feeling with all the rustic tables and chairs and the old tools attached to the wall. The tables are close to each other so it is not the place for talking discretely about confidential things unless you happen to work for MI6. We have been there many times there but it is the first time I review it and as you can guess, it is not a bad restaurant as we do not like to hurt ourselves
Antipasti
Of course they have bread & olives (£3.75), Bruschetta (bread topped with tomato, garlic, buffalo mozzarella, basil and olive oil – £4.95) but also interesting starters like Cozze marinara (fresh mussels, garlic, chilli, tomato sauce with crusty bread – £6.35), Scamorzina (smoked mozzarella wrapped in Italian pancetta with rocket and truffle dressing – £6.35), Crostone (melted goat cheese on a crusty bread with sun dried tomato and basil pesto – £5.85) or the Antipasto rustica for two people consisting in plain garlic bread, parma ham, roasted vegetables, buffalo mozzarella, sun dried tomato and olives for £10.95.
Main course
They have specialities like the Pollo (chicken breast stuffed with fresh asparagus wrapped in Italian pancetta with white wine sauce and potato mash – £13.50) but we came today for their excellent stone baked pizzas.
The price range is from £7.85 (Margherita with mozzarella, tomato and basil) to £11.50 for their Pizza 2007 (they won the “The best pizza in UK Award 2007” with that one. It is with tomato bruschetta, rocket and parma ham). Other pizzas, beside the classical Napoli, Tonno or Funghi & prosciutto, are the Noci (mozzarella, gorgonzola cheese, walnut & rocket leaves with no tomato sauce), the Fiorentina (mozzarella, tomato, spinach egg, parmesan and garlic), the Rustica (mozzarell tomato, mushrooms, peppers, aubergines, courgettes, garlic & chilli) or the Calzone which is a folded pizza with mozzarella, ham and mushroom topped with tomato sauce. Any extra topping costs £1.20 excepted for the parma ham, buffalo mozzarella and the king prawns that cost £1.50.
We went for the Calzone and the pizza 2007
Pizza Calzone
Pizza 2007
Overview of the two pizzas and the small table.
The Calzone was great (even if the best ever calzone I had was in Marseille), with crispy pasta and delicious ham and cheese. Here, it would have been better if the cheese and ham were more mixed together than having a “ham zone” followed by a “cheese zone”. The pizza 2007 was good too, but my preference still goes to the pizza Buffalo (that I usually take), mostly because I love the Buffalo mozzarella. Both of them have the toppings added fresh on a cooked pizza base so the base stays crispy. The spicy oil is not that hot compared to what we can find in some pizzerias in France but it is still spicy.
Drinks
Nero D'Avola
They have beer, like Bud, Moretti and the excellent Peroni, all for £4.25 and of course wines. I will pass on the white wines choice to focus on the list of red wines: it starts by the Rosso della casa (Puglia) for £13.95 (not a bad wine, a little on the sweet side), Merlot Venezie IGT (Cielo) for £14.50, Montepulciano D’Abruzzo – Feudi D’Albe 2006 for £14.95, Chianti Gentilesco (Tuscany) – Bonacchi 2007 for £15.95 (easy to drink), Nero D’Avola for £15.95, Maestro Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon Venezie IGT for £16.95, Valpolicella Clasico Valverde 2006 for £17.95 and the Amorino Rosso (Colline Pescaresi) – 2005 for £25.95. We chose the Nero D’Avola and it was fine. Dry enough (I do not like sweet wines) and easy to drink.
Cost and conclusion: an excellent lunch for £37.70 (£21.75 for the two pizzas plus £15.95 for the wine) plus tip. This pizzeria is probably the best one I know, and I have been in many pizzerias around the world. The service is very friendly and they are not pushy like in some pizza chains where they insist you take a starter or a dessert. The pizzas at Rustica are big, be sure to be very hungry if you take the starters too.
Richmond is a nice town so after your lunch you can go to Richmond Park to see the deer or you can go on the river side etc
Richmond
