The Chelsea Flower Show starts tomorrow and with all 157,000 tickets already long sold out, internet touts such as getmein.com are now selling them for up to £200 each. If you didn’t book tickets well in advance, fear not for the Royal Hospital venue isn’t the only place to get a taste of the floral this week - a host of restaurants throughout London are paying homage to the show by putting on special menus which do just that.
Gordon Ramsay bistro Foxtrot Oscar set on Royal Hospital Road itself is ideally suited if you are attending the event and may be a popular choice if you have shelled out a bit for the ticket given that one course and a drink (Pimms or G&T) from the special flower show menu is just £12.
A stroll away on Kings Road, Chutney Mary is offering jasmine and violet jellies and a Bombay rose bush martini to celebrate the show, whilst Bluebird will be serving up an intriguing sounding dish of lamb chops with chickweed and dandelion salad. Unsurprisingly, there’s no weeds at Artisan Du Chocolat on Sloane Street, just specially hand-crafted orchid & orange blossom bars available for £2.50.
Just a little further away on St. James Street, Avenue has gone a step further and created a whole floral menu including flowering herb risotto, elderflower sorbet and a cherry blossom parfait, whilst elsewhere in the capital, Cocomaya are eschewing icing on their cakes for a week in favour of petals, and Launceston Place are celebrating both the Chelsea Flower Show and the approaching English Wine Week by adding a dish of lavender set cream to their £48 set menu and serving it with English sparkling wine.
If you’re lucky enough to have tickets, there may still be time to get onto Ebay and have them fund a whole week’s worth of floral fine dining...
