Tom’s Kitchen at Somerset House: summery atmosphere, so-so food

London’s summer this year has been late in coming, but I have officially lost the right to complain, as it’s been sunny and warm all week (apart from some rain today)!

On Friday, we celebrated the start of the Bank Holiday weekend with a summery lunch, and rather than sitting indoors in a (potentially) dark room, we decided to head over to the beautiful Somerset House. I’ve had drinks on their terrace, seen a couple of exhibitions, and been ice skating in the courtyard, but I had never eaten there, so I was looking forward to it. I have to admit that unfortunately, it was a little hit and miss in terms of food, but the drinks, location, and sunshine made up for it!

Tom’s Kitchen is quite a simple affair that definitely relies more on its location than a showy menu. 4 starters, 3 sharing boards, 3 mains, and a few sides were all that was available, but in the beautiful hot weather, we weren’t too keen on heavy food in any case.

When I saw that one of the starters was burrata, I was sold. The creamy cheese itself was wonderful, and I loved the combination with butternut squash, but it was the hazelnut vinaigrette and crushed nuts on top that sold it to me. It was just perfect… after I added a bit of extra salt on top, that is.

The boards were slightly hit and miss, with the meat one being outstanding, the vegetarian one so-so, and the fish one… not so great.

Everybody went mad for the chicken liver pate and bresoala on the meat platter, and the highlight was definitely the smoked duck breast! All in all, a great assortment of meats.

I didn’t have too much of the fish, as it was all a bit… fishy. I love seafood, but the flavours were too strong and so I had to combine the various items with quite a bit of bread.

On the vegetarian one, I really liked the artichokes and peppers, but the hummus was a bit grainy and didn’t have quite enough tahini for my liking.

A great and creative cocktail list made our stay at Tom’s Kitchen enjoyable, and being outdoors during the day in London is something I can rarely take advantage of. Based on this, I would recommend Tom’s Kitchen for ambience and drinks, but perhaps head somewhere else for food afterwards. Check out my list of London restaurants for some inspiration on that front!