Since Greg Malouf took over this London institution, his dazzling way with spices has transformed the cooking. But the bill still leaves a nasty taste in the mouth The Petersham Nurseries Cafe ? which isn't a cafe at all, but a restaurant with a Michelin star ? is the only restaurant I've ever been warned off by a complete stranger. This was a few years ago: I was buying some stationery and happened to mention, since it was the first nice day for ages, that I was thinking of playing hooky and maybe going for a walk along the Thames. At which point the woman behind the counter said, "If you go to Richmond, don't go to the cafe at Petersham Nurseries. It's really expensive and the service is slow and the tables wobble and you can't justify the prices at all."Coming out of the blue as it did, that anti-recommendation had quite an impact ? and I'd already heard similar grumbles. Skye Gyngell's cooking had its admirers, but more than one visitor felt that the alarming bill wasn't matched by the food or service. As for the location, beside Petersham meadows, it would be perverse to have anything against that; it's gorgeous.Gyngell has left and been replaced by Greg Malouf, another Australian, whose Melbourne restaurant MoMo was regarded as one of the country's best. Melbourne is a great food city, and what made it so was immigration, especially from Greece and Italy and Lebanon. It was these influences that made Australians collectively realise: hang on, we live in a Mediterranean climate just down the road from Asia, so why are we eating northern European stodge? Malouf has been a leader in showing how good the food of the eastern Med can be, aligned to fine ingredients and good technique. This kind of cooking is hard to find in the UK, so his arrival at Petersham was a tempting prospect.On the strength of my visit, I'd say only one of the negatives previously attached to the place remains intact. That's the prices, and the kind of people those prices attract: the west London oblivious well-off. The only kind of double dip on display here is if you order two portions of a starter. That's worth doing, by the way, since the Lebanese spinach and yoghurt dip comes with baby vegetables that have an unmistakable, picked-that morning crispness. This sets the tone: sharp flavours are delivered here, and the first-class ingredients are tweaked with some unusual spicing and seasoning, without abandoning a sense of simplicity and directness.It wouldn't be too far amiss to see the cafe's new incarnation as a Lebanese-Australian take on the River Cafe. An example of this was a starter of kibbeh nayee, a Lebanese form of steak tartare made with fillet. It looked a little plain on the plate, accompanied by sprigs of mint and a few leaves of red endive, and I had a moment of wondering, is that it? But the beef was mixed with bulghur wheat and had a complex and subtle mix of spices ? both more interesting and more digestible than trad tartare. Another starter of scallops with samphire, datterini tomatoes, rocket and a mild Turkish variety of chilli was very sharp, literally so, taking the acidity of the tomatoes and using it as a dominant note, rather than muting it to complement the sweet scallops. It took me a moment to work out whether I liked it, before concluding that I did. But it wasn't comfort food ? there was more going on than that.Zhug is a chilli-hot sauce from Yemen, a bit like an Arabian version of salsa. Malouf uses it to liven up a dish of fried courgette flowers with orzo and artichokes ? beautifully done, and not easy, since courgettes flowers and stems normally call for different cooking times and techniques, but here they arrived in one piece, respectively fried-crunchy and just al dente. Wild sea bass, crisp and moist, had noticeably more flavour than farmed fish does, and came with fennel and "barrel-aged feta". I'm not sure I've had that before: I think I'd remember, because this was the best feta I've ever tasted, asserting its presence with mild, creamy acidity, but not too much to overpower the fish. This cost �29. As I say, the prices are an issue, but not enough of one to stop the place being permanently packed. There's a reason they call it Richmond.? Petersham Nurseries Cafe, Church Lane, Off Petersham Lane, Richmond, Surrey, 020-8940 5230. Open, Tues-Sun, lunch only, noon-2.45pm (evening supper clubs on Fri or Sat through the summer). Set lunch from �24.50 for two courses, � la carte about �50 a head, excluding drinks.RestaurantsLondonUnited KingdomFood & drinkJohn Lanchesterguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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