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Richmond has long had the ingredients for a strong neighbourhood dining scene, yet Mignonette Bistro has carved out a particularly distinctive place on Kew Road. This intimate 25-seat restaurant serves French-rooted, seasonal cooking with a menu that changes regularly and a clear interest in quality produce. Michelin recognition arrived remarkably quickly, with Mignonette entering the Guide within months of opening and subsequently receiving a Bib Gourmand.
Small in scale and relaxed in character, it is the sort of restaurant where the food carries much of the ambition. Lunch, dinner and Sunday menus take different forms, while special tasting evenings and a considered wine selection give regulars good reason to return.
A Small Bistro With Serious Intent
Mignonette opened in September 2024 under founding partners Glen Toromeni, John McClements and his son James. The restaurant describes itself as a family affair, and its compact dimensions reinforce that independent character. John McClements also brings considerable experience in French cooking, having previously been behind the Ma Cuisine restaurants in south-west London.
The approach centres on seasonality, careful sourcing and relatively unfussy presentation. Seafood comes from MW Capture, while meat suppliers include Sutton Hoo Farm and HG Walter in the UK and Le Guélier in France. Fruit and vegetables are sourced across the Home Counties and further afield. The restaurant’s Bib Gourmand is particularly fitting, recognising cooking that combines quality with good value.
French Cooking With a Broader Outlook
Dinner shows the kitchen at its most expansive. Complimentary home-baked bread with cultured butter starts proceedings, followed by dishes that draw on classical French technique while introducing influences well beyond the traditional bistro repertoire.
The current starters make that range immediately apparent. Roquefort is paired with watermelon, beetroot, figs and honey pomegranate, while monkfish comes grilled with lardo, smoky sweet piquillo mole and a brochette of red prawns. Sushi-grade tuna carpaccio is served with Ibérico de Bellota ham, passion fruit, guacamole and seaweed salad. Elsewhere, fresh Torbay white crab meat is accompanied by mango and avocado salsa with brown crab vinaigrette, and seared Orkney scallop comes with kumquat, miso celeriac purée, maple bacon and sake beurre blanc.
Meat dishes carry a distinctly richer tone. Saddle of rabbit with pancetta, pomme purée and anise-flavoured Savoy cabbage sits alongside saddle of venison with beetroot chocolate mole and game jus. There is dry-aged Galician fillet steak with oxtail ragù, caramelised salsify and bordelaise sauce, as well as Hare Royale filled with foie gras farce, served with lardo, pomme purée and red wine sauce. Roast Limousine calves sweetbread with braised celeriac and caper butter sauce offers another nod to classical French cooking.
Fish remains prominent among the mains. Cornish halibut is roasted with red prawns and fresh crab crust, sauce bouillabaisse and saffron rouille, while butter-poached native lobster is served with red prawns, saffron sorrel risotto and sauce Américaine. Vegetarian cooking receives similar attention, including a watercress and Comté cheese mousseline with butter-simmered Loire Valley salsify and Comté fondue.
Lunch and Sundays at Mignonette
Lunch is more concise and changes daily, retaining much of the character of dinner in a shorter format. Sample starters include salmon tartare with frisée, avocado and dill crème fraîche; ballotine of quail with fermented shimeji mushrooms and Shaoxing yellow wine dressing; and feta with beetroot, watermelon, pomegranate and honey mustard dressing.
Main courses might include roast rump of veal with green peppercorn sauce, pork tenderloin with red cabbage and beetroot mole, or mixed fresh seafood with sauce bouillabaisse and rouille crouton. There is also a crisp breast of chicken with mushrooms, lardons, pomme purée and mustard sauce.
Sunday lunch shifts towards more familiar roast territory while keeping the kitchen’s detail intact. A 45-day dry-aged Hereford sirloin comes with Yorkshire pudding, roast vegetables and rosemary jus, while alternatives include roast Cornish saddle of lamb, pork tenderloin and chicken breast with aromatic Savoy cabbage. Fillet of sea bass with prawns, confit fennel, crushed Jersey Royals and lobster sauce provides a seafood option.
Desserts With a French Accent
Desserts are reassuringly recognisable without feeling routine. The caramelised pear tarte Tatin comes with Calvados cream, while Earl Grey and honey crème brûlée introduces a gentle aromatic note to a French staple. Other choices include burnt blood orange Basque cheesecake with Yorkshire rhubarb purée and iced nougatine and praline with fresh raspberries.
Warm madeleines are served with sea-salt chocolate sauce and crème Chantilly, while Baba au Grand Marnier arrives with fresh red berries and Chantilly. A plate of mature French cheeses is also available, with Époisses, Comté, Monts Bleu d’Auvergne and Sainte-Maure among the selection.
Wine Alongside the Menu
Wine is treated as an important part of the experience rather than an afterthought, with a broad list designed to accommodate both the seafood-led dishes and richer meat cooking. Dessert wines and spirits extend the selection at the end of the meal, including Sauternes, Banyuls, Pedro Ximénez, Cognac, Armagnac and Calvados.
Mignonette also occasionally gives wine a more prominent role through dedicated dinners. Its Seafood and Champagne evenings illustrate the kitchen’s more elaborate side, with a six-course menu paired course by course. Recent combinations have included Orkney scallop with miso celeriac purée and sake beurre blanc alongside André Clouet Rosé Champagne; langoustine tartare with Bruno Paillard Première Cuvée; and roasted native lobster with Ruinart Brut. These dinners are special events rather than part of the regular offering, so their menus and dates change.
Intimate Dining on Kew Road
With only 25 seats in the main dining room, Mignonette feels closer to a genuine neighbourhood bistro than a formal destination restaurant. Its location on Kew Road also places it within a short walk of Richmond station, making it straightforward to reach from central London while retaining a distinctly local identity.
A downstairs private dining room accommodates groups of up to 35 with set menus, giving the restaurant considerably more flexibility than its small ground-floor dining room might suggest. Mignonette also opens on Twickenham rugby match days with a dedicated pre-match set menu.
For a restaurant of such modest proportions, there is plenty going on. The menus move confidently between French foundations and British produce, with enough seasonal change to keep the experience fresh. Mignonette’s appeal ultimately rests on that combination of serious cooking, intimate surroundings and a neighbourhood spirit that feels entirely at home in Richmond.
Location: 109 Kew Rd, Richmond TW9 2PN
