Get out into the Garden

With the current schizophrenic weather conditions, it's a brave diner who heads for the park for a spot of al fresco eating. But the prospect of sampling Henry Harris' menu in the beautiful surroundings of the Garden Café was worth risking a sudden downpour or the potential gale force winds us Brits have come to expect.

Located in the Rose Garden in the Inner Circle of Regent's Park, restaurateur Mike Lucy's latest venture opened in April and is housed in a rejuvenated 1960s café.

Indoors, the noise levels rise fairly high as plates are clattered and hyperactive children run around the formica tables and brightly coloured chairs, but outdoors it's a much more serene affair and the frenetic activity is soon forgotten as you step out onto the cafe's pretty, sloping patio punctuated by leafy flowerbeds and hexagonal wooden tables.

Henry Harris acted as consultant chef for the design of the menu and he has opted for a variety of classic English options including potted shrimps, smoked haddock kedgeree and ploughman's lunch.

A roasted carrot and cumin salad with feta cheese dressing arrived in an enormous glass bowl and proved to be a tasty start to the meal but, like the magic porridge, no matter how much we ate there was a seemingly endless supply of little gem lettuce.

The generous portion sizes worked to our advantage when it came to the second starter of smoked Scottish salmon. The only downside was that the accompanying slices of brown bread proved to be a bit dry, though the robin who joined us at our table didn't turn his beak up at it.

As the main course arrived, so too did more salad - the tomato and Gruyere tart was presented with a bowl of fresh leaves and the grilled chicken with spring herbs and roasted tomatoes was perched on top of a mound of the green stuff.

Both dishes were a success - the colourful rectangle of lightly-browned flaky pastry topped with Gruyere cheese, slices of tomato and shaved fennel was bursting with flavour and the chicken was a juicy, well-cooked piece of meat, though would have benefited from a less eager shake of the balsamic vinegar bottle.

The chill in the air deterred us from sampling the more summery options on the dessert list such as the Chalk Farm ices or the strawberries and cream. Instead, the chef had predicted the lack of sunshine and provided a rather more wintery but ultimately more comforting speciality in the form of a delicious bread and butter pudding.

His modern take on the classic dish consisted of layers of sweet steamed bread and a rich chocolately sauce sprinkled generously with large flaked almonds. Well-worth braving the British summer for.