We never go out for dinner on Valentine’s Day.
After a run of bad experiences (overbooking, price ramping, shoddy food, couldn’t-care-less service etc) Mr and Mrs Riversniffer vowed some years ago never again to dine out on that day.
But when Mrs R said in January she’d booked A Cena, and what’s more it would be her treat, Mr R did not offer the slightest peep of objection. The fact is, if someone is offering to take you to A Cena, you don’t look the proverbial gift horse in the mouth. It’s usually very, very good.
At this point a slight diversion – why is Richmond unable to support a first class restaurant?
Richmond has always had plenty of choice in the mid-range (say £50-70 for two including a bottle of wine). But despite the town always being portrayed as “affluent” or “well-heeled”, restaurants which have aimed at the top of the market have not lasted long.
Over the last thirty years it is difficult to recall a single first division restaurant that survived and thrived. Twenty years ago one entrepreneur opened an up-market eatery in the then-new Richmond Riverside development. Shortly before he closed up six months later, he observed “nobody in Richmond has got any money.”
I leave out of this the Petersham Hotel. In recent years under chef Alex Bentley it has been consistently very good indeed. However, the Petersham is a hotel, and I’m talking about stand-alone restaurants.
Riversniffers would welcome comments. Can you remember a single first division restaurant in Richmond town in the last thirty years that maintained consistently high standards of food and service and survived for longer than say a year?
Anyway, back to A Cena. We arrived on time at 7:30pm and were shown straight to our table. A brace of martinis and two glasses of prosecco were followed by starters of scallops with anchovy, roast cherry tomatoes, green beans and parsley. Sounds delicious? It absolutely was.
Our main courses were: Pan-roast Scottish Beef rump with Chestnut mushrooms, red wine and white truffle oil mash and Sicilian Style Roast Guinea Fowl with lemon and braised broad beans with speck and olive oil mash. Both were faultless.
Puddings were: New York style vanilla cheesecake with blackcurrants and strawberries in Valpolicella syrup with meringue and cream – faultless again.
All this was accompanied by a bottle of Veneto chardonnay and topped of with a large espresso for him and a glass of iced coffee with vodka for her (highly recommended by the way).
Service was attentive, courteous and, well, faultless.
Did we escape the Valentine’s Day curse entirely? Not quite, because there was a special £50 a head prix fixe menu. We reckoned if you’d ordered what we had on a normal night it would have cost about £32 per head. There was a premium to be paid for venturing out on the dreaded night.
But we didn’t begrudge paying it. It had been a great evening, our third successful visit to A Cena in eight months. Each time it has been a rare treat.
So can we now say that at last Richmond has a well-established (four or five years established, I would guess) first division restaurant? Well, technically no, because A Cena is 100 yards on the left on the Twickenham side of the bridge, as you leave Richmond. So it’s in Twickenham, not Richmond!
Anyway, however you define where it is, it’s a great place and highly recommended. Including a bottle of wine, expect to pay around £60 for two for lunch, £100 to £120 for dinner.
Booking is essential.
A Cena, 418 Richmond Rd, Twickenham, TW1 2EB.
Tel: 020 82880108
