PETERSHAM NURSERIES
In this series, we profile pop-up eateries that celebrate British seasonal fare. This month: a renowned restaurant in a greenery-filled glasshouse
Continuing our series on seasonal supper clubs, we visit a renowned restaurant in a greenery-filled glasshouse
With their spirit of togetherness and their celebratory seasonal dishes, supper clubs are perfectly suited to midwinter. Formal restaurants, with year-long waiting lists, leather-bound menus and linen tablecloths, have their place, but more laidback evenings, showcasing fresh, local ingredients, are popping up across the country in churches, barns or even garden centres – the finest ones, of course.
WELCOME TO THE GLASSHOUSE
Tonight’s supper club at Petersham Nurseries in Surrey takes place in an elegant glasshouse. Signature zinc-topped tables and antique Indian furniture take centre stage, with smaller tables dotted around, on which wine glasses sparkle and candelabras wait to be lit. Pine trees line the walls like butlers, fairy lights decorate columns and coloured orbs hang high between them. During the day, this is the nursery restaurant – where plantlovers take a break from browsing the wares of the garden centre and interiors emporium – but on select evenings, it comes alive as somewhere more magical, where the outside comes in.
At the back of the glasshouse, in the kitchen, Ambra Papa, the head chef, is busy preparing tonight’s feast, including risotto with quail, Portland crab salad, brown-buttered Dover sole and chargrilled beef sirloin. Soon the dishes, which make the most of the changing seasons, will be brought in for the guests – you can smell them already. Glasses will clink and chatter will fill the air.
FROM SMALL SEEDS…
Petersham Nurseries prides itself on its mix of charm and sophistication. Gael and Francesco Boglione started the business in 2004. They were living in a neighbouring Queen Anne house and bought the nursery, then tired and rundown, when it went up for sale. Initially, they just wanted to rescue it from developers and didn’t know what they would use it for. Then Francesco, an Italian businessman, had an idea. In his youth, he had travelled around India, trading art and antiques to fund his expeditions, and wondered if they could sell furniture – and plants, of course – from the nursery. “We hadn’t anticipated success,” Francesco says. “We just wanted to save a
“We wanted to save a small nursery and create a place not dissimilar to our home”
small nursery and create an attractive place, not dissimilar to our home.”
From the start, Petersham specialised in the unusual and the beautiful – French gilt mirrors, hand-painted benches, swan-shaped planters – and quickly attracted visitors looking for something a little different. “The only guidance on what we sold was to choose things we loved,” says Gael, who is originally from Australia. That summer, they opened a restaurant run by the chef Skye Gyngell and, in 2011, it was awarded a Michelin star. “People often say that when they walk in, they feel at peace,” Gael says. The supper clubs, which the couple have been running for ten years, have a similar atmosphere, providing the chance to experience the ambience of Petersham by candlelight.
SUPPER IS SERVED
The first visitors arrive just before 7pm, emerging from their cocoons of coats and scarves, and rubbing their hands as they step in from the cold. They mingle between the tables and sip prosecco. Many of the ingredients for the meal come from Haye Farm in Devon, which is run by Gael and Francesco’s son, Harry. This is to the delight of the couple, who are stepping back from the business and handing the reins to their four children. (Each of the Boglione clan, says Francesco, is integral to what they do: the eldest, Lara, is managing director, who set up their second branch, in Covent Garden, in 2017, while Anna and Ruby are working on exciting new initiatives.)
“We plan our menus around what Harry is harvesting,” Francesco says. “The chefs talk to him throughout the year and adapt their dishes to make the most of his produce.” And they have a wealth of choice. Harry keeps Gloucester Old Spot pigs, Ruby Red Devon cattle and Jacob and Suffolk Crosses, and grows everything (organically, of course) from beetroots to rhubarb. Tonight,
he has supplied beef and pumpkin, radicchio and pears, among other best-in-season ingredients.
The Bogliones have always embraced seasonal eating and organic food. “When we were growing up in the Sixties, people knew exactly what was available at any time,” Francesco says. “We’d eat strawberries, peaches and asparagus in specific months. We would never have dreamed of eating a cherry in November.” In the Eighties, Gael went on marches to protest against using chemicals to preserve the shelf life of fruit and vegetables, and has brought up her children with the same values. “We have always respected the seasons and tried not to buy food flown in from the other side of the world,” she says. Today, they have extended their green ethos to the business: as well as sourcing local food for the restaurant and supper clubs, they only use suppliers with similar beliefs. Growers who deliver plants in plastic pots, for example, are encouraged to collect and reuse them.
Tonight is about showcasing the best of sustainable eating. The team hold up to 15 supper clubs a year, but would love to do more to keep up with demand. The intimate evenings usually sell out within days of being announced first to their newsletter subscribers and Instagram followers, and then on their website. You can see why they are so popular. As the conversation flows and the carefully prepared dishes are brought out, you wish you could live like this every day. Both food and setting reflect the Petersham values of seasonality, sustainability and beauty – and there are few better ways of getting a taste of it than at a supper club. TO SIGN UP TO THE NEWSLETTER and to reserve a table, visit petershamnurseries.com or call 020 8332 8665/020 8940 5230. The set menu is £80 or £125 with wine pairing.