Richmond has long lacked many decent independent restaurants. Over the years, as rents have gone up, they have been driven out of the centre. For a while, a few clung on by the station, Emandal having gone a long time ago, its Paella a long distant memory and the ever popular Don Fernando’s now being replaced by a chicken shop, FFS. But these days, it’s a bit of a wasteland, with some half-decent chains like Cote and Cocotte the only remnants of cheapish dining.

The Richmond end of Kew Road has been home to an eclectic selection of shops and restaurants for a while, including the Library Pot which is mostly an excellent games cafe. But apart from the excellent Chatora, none has really been worth the trip across the roundabout.

We were idly browsing the new crop of Michelin Bib Gourmands a while back and noticed that a Richmond restaurant had made it onto the list, and was located on the site of the rather disappointing Cafe 109, next to one of Richmond’s better pubs, The Shaftesbury.

On further investigation, it had a pretty expensive a la carte, but what looked, on the face of it, to be a brilliantly priced set lunch. We were due to meet a friend of ours who also has a nose for a bargain coupled with impossibly high standards for food, so arranged to meet her at Mignonette for a Friday lunch.

I have a patchy history with set menus. In some cases, they offer excellent value, such as the new Prix Fixe at Cote. In others, such as Salon Privé in St Margarets (one of my most local and least visited restaurants), it is given with great reluctance, and only offers half sizes of the worst of the a la carte (and cooked somewhat disdainfully as well). As we will see with Mignonette, a good set menu will definitely make you want to go back. It may not make the restaurant a huge profit, but it puts bums on seats, and acts as a great advertisement for the more expensive evening options.

If you’re here for an eviscerating critique of the food and wine, best sign off now: almost uniquely for a meal, I could find no fault anywhere. The food was so good, and the prices so reasonable, I even had a pudding. Usually, I like to keep notes as I go along so I don’t forget the high and low notes of a meal, but there was no point, it was all great. However, I should at least mention what we had, if only in passing, so here we go:

Bread was free! Given that set lunches can often not even include vegetables (shame on you Clipstone), this was an amazing addition.

Between us we had the Curd Cheese, Salmon and the Duck. Could not fault them. I particularly enjoyed the Curd Cheese, which I chose as a bit of a test, to see what they could do with it.

The big test was the Calves Liver. On a £23, 3-course, set menu, how can you offer something like that? I’d be surprised to see it as a main course for £23 on its own, and even then, be worried it was more Beef than Calf.

It was perfectly prepared. No membrane, no tubes, just melt in the mouth. Seemingly impossible at the price.

The Pork Loin and Hake were equally delicious, I am told.

Pudding was Soufflé, Madelines and Basque Cheesecake. While the cheesecake was not as good as that at Lurra, it was only 3 quid!

We had a bottle of the House White, which was really good, especially on a bright spring day. We were sat by the large open front window (definitely worth it) and it was the perfect way to spend a spring lunchtime.

If I had a criticism, it would be of the service. There were three members of staff on duty and our experience was, how can I put this delicately, mixed. Certainly one of the staff was friendly and chirpy: another seemed to think that emptying our wine bottle was an Olympic sport and that he had a good shot of getting Gold in 2028.

But at heart, I cannot recommend this place highly enough. And clearly other people agree as it filled up over the course of Friday lunchtime, and they were actually turning tables, with people coming in at 2.30 for a later lunch. With my Hotel Inspector hat on, I’d put the cost up by a fiver and send at least some of the staff on a charm course. With my customer hat on, I’d say you should get there as quickly as possible before they realise what insanely good value the lunch is!

Conclusion

Overall Rating: 5/5

• Food: 5/5
• Wine: 4.5/5
• Ambiance: 5/5
• Service: 3.5/5
• Value for Money: 5/5
• Would we go back for lunch: 5/5
• Would we go back for dinner: 4/5

Mignonette: https://www.mignonettebistro.com