Whoo-hoo! Very super-duper-pooper excited to write about my new find because you’re going to love it. I went up to old Larn-din town last week to meet my lovely regional Muddy editors for lunch, but it’s pretty tough finding a venue to suit when one editor is coming from Norfolk, another from Sussex, and another again from Cornwall!

In the end I used my noddle and remembered that The Quince Tree (RIP Stonor, hello Henley!) also has a London cafe/restaurant in the beautiful Clifton Nurseries, in the lovely leafiness of Maida Vale.

I’m abundantly aware that London is by means bereft of cafes, or restaurants but OMG, this was so pretty, such an oasis, so easy to get to and the food was so fab that it’s definitely worthy of writing about. From Marylebone station, it was three stops on the Bakerloo to Warwick Avenue (or a 10 minute taxi if you can’t be bothered to tube it), and then literally a one minute walk to the entrance. I’d seen pictures before but I had no idea that the garden nursery would be so pretty, or how integrated The Quince Tree cafe and shop would be to the whole thing. Look, beauty everywhere.

The cafe is housed in a glass house reminiscent of the one in Gee’s Oxford (though bigger), with an artful mix of retro and wrought iron chairs, wooden tables and beautifully tiled floors. It looked pretty in the day but it would also look amazing at night – they hold weddings, private parties and special events here so I’d definitely say it would be worth exploring for those options.

It was a boiling hottest day of the year for my Editors’ jolly under that glass roof, which was brilliant except I’d chosen to wear a H&S viscose dress that made me feel like I was wrapped in cellophane , a set of circumstances that meant I drank a lot of white wine very fast and thus did my usual trick of not taking many photos of the food (*hangs head in shame*) – here are the few I did take. I’d organised special salads and poached salmon platters, and they were absolutely delicious.

Here we all are, in the early stages of being tanked up.

Memories are a bit shady after that point! I do remember ordering bottle after bottle of wine, and then seeing them empty in a very short space of time. I went off for a final drink or two with Anna-Lou from Muddy Northants (third on the right, star jumper, bad influence) that tipped me over the edge entirely. Had I not been so plastered I would have tottered 10 minutes down the road to Westbourne Grove for a lurch around the shops or to Little Venice and the canal around the corner.

Instead, it was a snore home on the train for your plucky local blogger and intimate relations with Ibuprofen the next day. But I’ll definitely come back here, as it’s a great spot for catching up with girlfriends (particularly those who are arriving into Paddington or Marylebone, or driving from the West), and just has that something different about it that I’m always searching for.

As ever if you make it down there, let me know what you think, though I’ll eat my plate if you don’t think it’s every bit as brilliant as I do.