Richmond Hill Cafe and Larder

LOCATION
On busy Bridge Road, near the corner of Punt Road.

PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIA
Lunching at Richmond Hill often sounds as if starlings have come in to roost, so lively is the chatter over the tables, and so bouncy is the acoustic. The restaurant embodies a large, open area, with a marble-topped bar dominating the centre of the room. Bright food murals jazz up the walls, where otherwise, blackboards list the day’s specials and wines by the glass. The atmosphere is casual with bare tables and the wine list in plastic sleeves, and timber floors beneath your feet.

The food is easygoing, too, which is to say that if you want breakfast at 2pm, or lunch at 11.30am, that’s fine. And, in fact, some of the breakfast dishes make excellent light lunches, such as thinly sliced avocado fanned on to sourdough, with little dollops of goat’s cheese and shreds of mint and chilli. The eggs are free-range. At lunch, there are more serious things to eat, such as a steak sandwich with lots of extras – Welsh rabbit, tomato tapenade, salsa verde. If you warm to a particular flavour or ingredient, chances are you can find it in the cheese store or produce section. Note that there is also dinner on the first Friday of every month.

Rita Erlich