Zebra Riding Club: A gastronomic getaway less than an hour from London

Sign up to IndyEat's free newsletter for weekly recipes, foodie features and cookbook releases Get our food and drink newsletter for free Get our food and drink newsletter for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. There are elements of Birch that don’t make sense, but one thing they have done very well indeed is the Zebra Riding Club restaurant. Removing the agony of choice, the Zebra Riding Club offers just three set menus – carnivorous, pescetarian and vegetarian. The selection of snacks to kick off felt like a personalised take on crudites and dips, featuring taramasalata for the meat eaters, hummus for the veggies, crisp radishes, cured meats and pickles, house-baked porridge sourdough, and two delightfully compact asparagus, goat’s curd and preserved lemon tarts that tasted like spring personified. If it weren’t for the myriad pottery, baking and sound-healing classes, Birch could bill itself solely as a gastronomic getaway – the restaurant is certainly good enough to hold up to that reputation.