London Food: Season Kitchen

Season Kitchen is a tiny, tiny, charismatic restaurant in Finsbury Park on Stroud Green Road. The special thing about them is that they only use ingredients and style of cooking influenced by the seasons, ultimately only using the freshest fruit and veg when at their best.

Due to this style, the menu changes every week. The food styles vary, but they are generally French, British and Italian with inspiration from all over the world. The ingredients are also locally sourced, which is lovely. 

AMBIANCE ****

As mentioned above, it;s a really small restaurant with a lot of character...it almost feels like you are in someone's living room so it's a very warm atmosphere. There are old paintings on the walls and everything looks very rustic. It's fairly dark inside but this adds to the charm of it all. Some people might not like the small space, as other guests are very close to one another and it can feel like someone is listening to your conversations. If you aren't bothered by this, you will love it here.

SERVICE ****

The service was great. The size of the restaurant really allows the staff to tend to all the guests and be able to see when something is needed. There was a bit of a wait for our drinks but the food came very quickly and the staff were all lovely.

DRINKS ****

Due to the frequent menu changes, the drinks menu is fairly small so that it compliments a lot of the food. There were two types of wine, port and a cognac as well as coffee, tea and a few soft drinks. I don't drink wine but my boyfriend enjoyed his! I gave this 3 stars because I think some people would prefer a wider choice of wines with their food, but I'm sure the staff have chosen the best out there. The prices are reasonable and they also offer aperitifs.

FOOD *****

We ate there during the summer, and had the 'toast, marmalade, rabbit & ham hock' starter which had an interesting and unusual taste as you can imagine. Other things on the starter menu were 'octopus carpaccio w/lime & chilli dressing', char-grilled wye valley asparagus w/ red wine & anchovy dressing' which also sounded great. I love it when the food on my plate has an element of surprise as I sometime can't really imagine what it will taste like.

For the mains, we had the 'rooftop risotto' and the 'pulled kid w/ spinach & sauternes sauce'. The rooftop risotto certanly was a surprise, as it came with a flower on top which turned out to be an edible onion sourced from a local garden! It tasted lovely and so did the pulled kid...succulent with lots of juice everywhere and lovely complimentary vegetables. For our sides we had the 'jersey royals w/ fresh mint'. The dessert menu looked just as interesting with the 'nougat glace' and rosemary chocolate pot w/ black pepper biscotti' amongst other options.

I really enjoyed my evening here and can't wait to go back to try something new. There's something about this little gem that makes you feel like you're in your mama's house, getting the most delicious food in a cosy environment but with that extra bit of affordable luxury.

A meal for two with drinks, starters, sides and mains costs around £60

53 Stroud Green Road, London, N4 3EF

www.seasonkitchen.co.uk

Last four images from Google and the Season Kitchen website