SCOTT’S has opened its first branch, in Richmond. While that is a fillip for the south-west London borough, it’s also a telltale development. Time was when the venerable Mayfair restaurant would have plumped for the City or Canary Wharf. Instead, it’s opted for the suburbs.
Richmond is affluent all right, and its riverside is cosmopolitan, upmarket and buzzy — round the corner from Scott’s is an outlet of The Ivy, also owned by restaurateur Richard Caring. Whether Richmond can stomach Scott’s prices of £40 for fruits de mer, £46 for Dover sole and a bottle of white Burgundy Grand Cru at £1200 remains to be seen. To be fair, they are at the top end of the menu and wine list. They’re also cheaper than the mother ship —Dover sole in Mount Street is £48 and fruits de mer £50, and it carries several bottles at more than £1000.
