REVIEW: Linnea, Kew Green, Richmond

Walking towards Linnea from Kew Green and the first thing you’ll notice is its half frosted covering on the glass window. A half rail curtain would look much warmer and inviting – also less clinical and a little less 1990’s. Inside its decor doesn’t fare much better. Soulless dark brown wood and bare stone coloured walls, Linnea desperately needs some personality. It all reminds me a little too much of my local Indian restaurant, just slightly smarter. But there are some quick fixes here. Simple white cotton tablecloths, large paintings covering some of the bare walls and a warm inviting candle on every table – I can’t stress enough what a huge difference it would make. The foundations are already here at Linnea, it just needs a little work. Bread arrived and it turned out to be marvellous, nice and fluffy with a good crunchy crust and a rosemary infusion which left a lingering impression. Wine list was short, but perfectly formed and the riesling we sipped on was beautifully aromatic.

My starter of smoked haddock risotto with grana padano cheese turned out to be a lovely dish which will only leave you with regret if you don’t order this. Large chunks of intensely flavoured haddock, lots of smoky flavour working its way around the dish and the risotto was cooked very well indeed. It was seasoned perfectly too, with a nice lingering note of pepper sticking around. To look at on the other hand, it didn’t leave much to the imagination. It’s colour was bleak and stale white, which is why at first when it arrived I struggled to get excited. Thankfully this was one very deceiving looking dish, which turned out to deliver big on flavour.

I should probably mention prices too, because they’re really very cheap. A three course meal off the a la carte itself can be had for around £25 and for dinner, that isn’t bad at all. Another starter we managed to divulge in was the Dingley dell pork and pistachio rillettes with toasted sourdough and pickles. As a dish is was very nice. The meat was well sized and full of flavour, but could have perhaps been a little more compact to give it more of a meaty feel when cutting through. Sourdough was delicious too but overall this dish was begging for a little sauce on the side – perhaps some mustard?

One thing that really surprised me most about Linnea is that its Nordic heritage wasn’t reflected in the food as much as we were expecting. I’m not exactly sure what I was hoping for, but perhaps something along the lines of a jus made of sweet red berries, a modern taken on a smorgasbord or even some good rye bread. Our main course of roasted coley with potato salad, sour cream and chives turned out to be the most authentic dish we ate here. The fish was well cooked, the dish again nicely seasoned but I wasn’t completely sold on that potato salad being of a lukewarm temperature. A side of red cabbage was the best part of it all and was full of festive sweet spice, a real winter warmer.

Chicken was all out for our meaty main course, so instead it was replaced with partridge. Served alongside some whole roasted parsnips, puree, hispi cabbage, marjoram and jus. A nice plate of food, but incredibly dated and a very British plate of food. I keep going on about the foods heritage and I’ve no problem with the food being British either, the fact the ingredients are all sourced locally is inspiring – but it’s just not what I was expecting from Linnea and I’m sure it won’t be what most of its visitors will have in mind either. There is so many small influences making its way on to the menu from the Nordic countries here that I just wish it was more defined as to what the menu wants to offer.

Pineapple carpaccio, chili, lime and soft cheese mousse was a pleasant affair and its freshness very welcomed after some heavy foods. The actual descriptions of all the desserts needs drastically improving also, with most of them described much too literal, such as ‘set chocolate cream‘ or ‘soft cheese mousse‘ – they didn’t exactly leave much for the imagination. Cheese course on the other hand was excellent. I’m not a fan of of Jacob’s style crackers but they can be forgiven when some fruity homemade bread is involved. An English cheddar, brie and a richly flavoured blue – they were all mouthwatering and fantastic examples, especially with that puddle of honey to dip them in.

Overall, Linnea was a rather confused and dated meal in my opinion. The food wasn’t bad at all and I did enjoy most of what I ate, but it all seemed a little behind the times. Plating of the food needs work and so does it’s vibrancy as everything was a little dull and wasn’t exciting to look at, much like the dining room. Linnea certainly has lots of potential and with a little work on its decor, the menu reading better and food simply given more attention to detail then perhaps this brasserie will become the neighbourhood gem it could very easily be.

6/10