No. you’re not seeing things. That is a butchers counter at the back of this restaurant. Which tells you that this is going to be an unusual place to eat.
This long-established butchers shop in north St Margarets (in the shopping parade near the junction of St Margarets Road and Talbot Road) has recently branched out to be a cafe during the day and a restaurant by night (open Wed through Sat up to 9pm).
They also do catering, which is how Mr Riversniffer heard about it. At a function, on enquiring who had made the delicious party food, the answer came back “Thomas the butcher, and they’ve also opened a restaurant in part of the shop”. Well, that was intriguing, so we just had to try it.
A friend was staying with us, and she generously declared it would be her treat. So three of the Riversniffer family and our friend lost no time in booking.
Having had their party food previously, Mr Riversniffer had a hunch it would be good. It turned out to be faultless. From the moment the free pre-starter nibbles arrived (see picture above), through 4 starters and four main courses it was absolutely delicious.
I hope they won’t mind me reproducing a couple of exerpts form their menu:
Three of us had the avocado with crab, which was fresh and very tasty. No 1 son Riversniffer (being almost completely carnivorous) had the beef carpaccio, rated first class.
The main course menu is fairly (but not exclusively) meat orientated:
Three of us had various forms of steak, one had the lamb shanks. The steaks were predictably top notch, and the lamb shanks had that unctuous texture that they have when they’re done really well. Chips with the steaks were big, real, home made and very tasty.
And the wine? Well, they’re not licenced at the moment, so one must make the arduous journey (all of twenty yards!) to The Good Wine Shop on the corner of Talbot Road. There we bought a bottle of red and a bottle of white and took them back to Thomas. The wine proved outstanding. So you get the best of both worlds – a great meal and a shop stuffed full of great wine twenty yards away…
I think you can tell by now where this review is heading. From our experience you would never have guessed it was early days for this establishment. From start to finish the food and the service were very assured. V Thomas is a brave and original venture, which absolutely deserves to succeed.
The bill? Just under £90 for the four of us (we didn’t have puddings because we’d done too well on the earlier courses). The government gets about £12.50 0f that in the form of VAT, so for the calibre of food we thought it very good value indeed. Wine, of course was separate, but the Good Wine Shop has some outstanding wines for under a tenner and Thomas generously do not charge corkage.
Given its position, surrounded by long-standing residents and the more recently arrived residents of the former Brunel site, I hope and believe V Thomas will soon be beating the customers off with sticks.
Book early for a unique dining experience.
V Thomas
387 St Margarets Road
Twickenham
TW1 1PP
Tel: 020 8892 3725
