Obsessed with: gooseberries — the taste of the British summertime

This article is part of FT Globetrotter’s guide to London

“I don’t think I’ve ever tried a gooseberry,” a colleague told me recently. For although gooseberries, varieties of which are found all over the world, are one of the few fruits Britain has in abundance in early summer, it is rare to find them in supermarkets. One reason is that this little round fruit, which grows in dense, thorny bushes, is tricky to harvest. Another is its divisiveness: pick a gooseberry too soon, or choose the wrong variety, and it’ll be intensely sour and sharp. Chosen wisely, you can eat the berries straight off the branch.

I have always loved gooseberries. Picking up from where forced rhubarb leaves us in late spring, they grow happily and hardily until August. Depending on the variety and time of year (some gooseberries change colour depending on how ripe they are), the fruit can be red, yellow or green. Cooking varieties — the sour kind — are typically green and better for jams and sauces; dessert varieties are darker and ready to eat.

Their sharpness and prevalence in the UK means they are often used in restaurants to add creamy, classically British desserts — fools, syllabubs and possets — to their summer menus. I make my own gooseberry fool with 300g of green berries, 350ml of whipped double cream and three tablespoons of sugar. Simmer the fruit with the sugar and a few splashes of water until it starts to lose its shape (around eight minutes), then leave to chill before folding into the whipped cream. If you’re feeling lazy, order the fool at Lyle’s or St John. I also have my eye on the gooseberry tart with almond frangipane and yoghurt mousse at The Connaught Patisserie by Nicolas Rouzaud.

It also has its savoury uses too. In France, a gooseberry is called a groseille à maquereau (mackerel berry) for the way it cuts through oily fish (it is almost never used in desserts across the Channel). This summer, London-based lovers of both fish and berries can John Dory and gooseberries at Kitchen Table and Colchester crab with pickled fruit at The Grill by Tom Booton at The Dorchester. (As gooseberries are seasonal, tread with caution: always call ahead to avoid disappointment). 

From now on, restaurants across the capital are busy putting their own spin on classic gooseberry recipes, while others are offering more offbeat takes. For those who have never tried them, a whole new world awaits. Here is our pick. 

The Pelican 

45 All Saints Road, London W11 1HE

Everything at The Pelican feels like spring, from the airy, stripped-back interiors to the bright green spears of asparagus floating in butter sauce. Gastro glory hunters will be familiar with the west London pub: since being taken over in 2022, the kitchen has accumulated a string of rave reviews (including this one by the FT’s food columnist Tim Hayward). 

The fanfare makes sense: The Pelican combines the charm of a countryside pub — wooden chairs, dried flowers and vintage cutlery — with the atmosphere of a London local. On a recent weekday visit in May, all of the windows were thrown open, while punters not lucky enough to have secured a table enjoyed pints and bar snacks — think Welsh rarebit, spider crab toast and monkfish scampi — on the sunny pavement outside.

Chef Doug Sims (ex-River Cafe and Quo Vadis) has gone classic with gooseberries this year, counteracting any sweetness by cooking them down with dill, horseradish and mustard seeds. The sauce is then piled on to grilled, butterflied mackerel. “The mackerel and gooseberries are the main focus of the dish — the other ingredients are just there to accentuate that,” says Sims. 

Other seasonal delights on Sims’ menu: new potatoes dripping with wild garlic butter and a whole marinated tomato served with neon-green caper, basil, parsley and mint oil. The proximity of chairs in The Pelican’s dining room allows ample chance to peek at what other people are having. Prepare to be as satisfied as you are jealous. Website; Directions

Ganymede

139 Ebury Street, London SW1W 9QU

Oliver Marlowe, co-founder of the company that owns Belgravia pub Ganymede, grew up “surrounded by gooseberry bushes”. “They’re really underrated, versatile ingredients,” he says. “You can either embrace [their tartness] and go down the vinaigrette route — we used to squeeze and use them as acid to dress salads. Or you can do something rich with them.” 

For Ganymede’s lunch menu, Marlowe has opted for the latter, creating a quiche with double the ratio of egg yolks to whites, a compressed puff pastry base and a layer of gooseberry and onion confit — the kind of combination you might find on a cheeseboard. Marlowe serves his tart by the slice with asparagus, extra confit and a salad scattered with herbs and blow-torched berries. The result is almost like a crème brûlée, if crème brûlée was loaded with cheddar. “It’s quite indulgent,” admits Marlowe. 

The best thing about Ganymede is that it has all the perks of a pub: the hum of punters in the background, a fully stocked bar and an “It’s Friday!” soundtrack. But it is also very much a grown-up restaurant, where Belgravia locals linger with the post-work pub crowd. In one corner you might find someone eating “Aspen fries” over a laptop; in another, a retired woman sipping Chardonnay. The wait staff are young and chirpy. And the food is surprisingly good. Website; Directions

The Orange

37 Pimlico Road, London SW1W 8NE

At Belgravia pub The Orange, chef-director Ben Tish marries Mediterranean-inspired dishes with seasonal British produce: grilled meats, vegetable platters and a large selection of pizzas. It’s the kind of place you might visit for an afternoon pint and a couple of small plates (current highlights include grilled lamb arrosticini and deep-fried burrata). But it’s also somewhere you might share an enormous plate of bistecca alla fiorentina (Florentine-style steak). 

For this year’s gooseberry season, The Orange’s menu is lit up by a wood-roast crostata — “a rustic pie-type thing” — filled with green berries and topped with fior di latte ice cream. Tish adds vanilla and double cream to a traditional pastry mix, lightly blisters his fruit and folds everything up with a layer of frangipane. The fior di latte (milk gelato) in the ice cream is the same as what he uses for his pizza biancas. “It’s very simple and typical of The Orange — two or three things on a plate,” says Tish, who has a gooseberry bush in his garden at home. “We try to be super seasonal.”

This homespun approach stretches throughout The Orange’s bar and restaurant, which is more like a countryside house than a pub (think stately staircases, cloth napkins and washed terracotta walls). It makes sense that there are four stylish bedrooms above the upstairs dining room. As do all of Tish’s homely touches: the crunchy sugar coating of his crostata; the blackened crusts of his wood-fired pizzas; and the gluttonous little pot of rouille served with spiced seafood stew. Website; Directions

Caravel 

172 Shepherdess Walk, London N1 7JL

“I’m not a gooseberry expert,” says Lorcan Spiteri, co-owner and chef at Caravel, which floats on Regent’s Canal in a converted barge near Old Street. This statement is quickly refuted with the arrival of a gooseberry crème brûlée, its top charred and crispy from a flash in the restaurant’s tiny kitchen.

Spiteri likes complimenting the tartness of gooseberries with rich, classic ingredients: cream, sugar and oily fish. “At Quo Vadis we used to do gooseberries, horseradish and mackerel,” he says of his first job in the industry. Across the path at Studio Kitchen — one of three locations he runs with his brother, Fin; the third is neighbouring cocktail bar Bruno’s — he adds gooseberry compote to granola and yoghurt on the breakfast menu.

Much like Caravel’s bistro-style menu, Spiteri’s crème brûlée is at once traditional and fresh: the custard is wobbly and flecked with vanilla and the gooseberries are sharp and jammy. On the side are a pair of pistachio biscuits, on to which you can pile the two layers together. Spiteri advises pairing his dessert with a decadent Paper Chaser (Aperol, Four Roses bourbon, lemon and blood orange). Website; Directions

Faber

Welbeck Mansions, 206-208 Hammersmith Road, London W6 7DH

London might not be your first choice for a fresh fish restaurant, but beyond the bright lights of Hammersmith Broadway, a surprise awaits. Faber opened quietly in 2023 with a mission to make sustainable fish more accessible. You won’t find prawns or salmon here — both carry too many ethical concerns — but in their place are imaginative small plates such as chalkstream trout tartare, breaded gurnard and grilled cod-cheek skewers with homemade tartare sauce.

“We’re always looking at what’s coming into season in the UK, making sure it’s sustainably foraged or farmed,” says co-owner Anthony Pender, who recommends a plate of Rock oysters, some of the biggest and juiciest I’ve tried in London, with a glass of something chilled. 

The sustainable approach also extends to the bar offering, which, on top of Martinis Old-Fashioneds made with monks beard and sugar kelp shrubs, currently includes an elderflower and gooseberry gin fizz (50ml gin, 15ml elderflower cordial, 25ml syrup, 12 gooseberries and a splash of soda water). Much like a spritz, the cocktail is bright and bubbly with a good layer of whole and crushed green gooseberries (tempting to skewer with a straw). 

Why does Pender love gooseberries? “They’re a quintessentially British summer fruit,” he says. Unlike other classic berries such as strawberries and raspberries, which are often imported from the Mediterranean, if you’re eating a gooseberry in London, chances are that it hasn’t travelled far. Website; Directions

Which London restaurants are best for gooseberry dishes in your opinion? Tell us in the comments below. And follow FT Globetrotter on Instagram at @FTGlobetrotter

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