The River Café

Italy on the Thames, Nothing Fancy

4 of 5

Since 1987 the same Thames Wharf building has served Italian food that sounds simple on the menu and costs a lot to make well. The open kitchen was designed by Richard Rogers, and the garden terrace looks onto the river. The menu changes daily, which is the one rule that matters. If the ingredients are not right that morning, the dish is not on it.

The sample menu on the restaurant's own site shows what to expect: ravioli di ricotta with chestnuts, wood-roasted whole sole, wood-roasted chicken, and the Chocolate Nemesis for dessert, the cake people drive across the city for. A set lunch is 65 pounds for two courses and dessert or 80 pounds for three plus dessert. The à la carte entrées run roughly 30 to 51 pounds, and the mains from 64 to 69. Yes, that is a lot. It is also what honest ingredients and a very large kitchen team cost.

Lunch runs every day and dinner Monday to Saturday, with evening guests asked to leave by half past eleven. Book ahead. Wear shoes you can walk home in. A table by the river is a rare thing in London, and an Italian lunch that never raises its voice is rarer still. Anyone who has ever eaten overcooked pasta in a hotel knows what this place is correcting.

Order this: Ravioli di ricotta with chestnuts, Sogliola al forno, Pollo arrosto, Chocolate Nemesis
The damage: $$$$
Go: Lunch in summer, when the garden terrace is open
Find it: Thames Wharf, Rainville Road, London W6 9HA