Tiny garden café gains growing reputation as one of the world’s finest

 
p35 Sorrel Fergusson, Chef / Manager at the Garden Museum Cafe, Lambeth Palace, recently listed in the World's Best Museum Restaurants top ten. Picture by GLENN COPUS
GLENN COPUS
Rachael Sigee28 September 2012

A Small café at one of London’s lesser known museums has made it to the top 10 of the world’s best.

The Garden Museum Café in Lambeth, whose kitchen is barely big enough for two people, was selected alongside dining rooms at some of the world’s most famous museums.

It was rated sixth in the world, up with the likes of the Michelin-starred Nerua at the Guggenheim Bilbao and restaurants at The Hermitage in St Petersberg and Musée d’Orsay in Paris.

Garden Museum Café chef and manager Sorrel Fergusson, 26, said: “It was a bit of a shock really. We’re fairly modest and humble here — this isn’t fine dining. We make good, fresh, natural food, using ingredients from the garden where possible. This year I’ve had herbs, beetroot, potatoes and raspberries, and we change the menu daily according to the season and the weather.”

The café can cater for a maximum of 100 covers a day and diners can eat al fresco in the museum’s 17th century-inspired knot garden. It serves vegetarian and vegan soups, tarts, salads and homemade cakes.

Its signature dish is an orange, almond and rosemary cake with herbs picked straight from the garden. Gourmet Magazine, which compiled the list, said: “English gardens are some of the world’s most beautiful, so it should come as no surprise that the café at the heart of the Garden Museum has been called the prettiest table in central London.”

Ms Fergusson said the plaudit was particularly special given the chellenges the café faced: “The kitchen is nicknamed ‘the galley’ because there’s only really room for me and one other person washing up at the other end.”

The café is attached to the Garden Museum, which celebrates the history of British gardening.

Top 10

1 The Hermitage Restaurant, St Petersberg

2 Nerua at the Guggenheim Bilbao

3 The Ludwig Museum Café, Cologne

4 Musée d’Orsay Restaurant, Paris

5 Café Sabarsky, Neue Galerie, New York

6 The Garden Museum Café, London

7 Caffè Museo at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

8 Café d’Art at the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo

9 Museo-Atelier Canova Tadolini Ristorante, Rome

10 Acropolis Museum Restaurant, Athens

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