Flower power: Where to find the best floral feasts in London

From installations inspired by Iraqi lemon groves to tributes to London’s green spaces, this year’s Chelsea Flower Show demonstrates that the capital’s attitude to gardens is about breaking out of the (herbaceous) borders.

It’s not just SW3 that has been transformed, you can go on a green trawl around London. KA-BLOOM. Here’s where to green up your glass.

Green drinking

Far from Chelsea, in Bethnal Green, the Town Hall hotel is channelling Chelsea. It’s invited horticulture experts Grace and Thorn in for a celebration of geraniums (the new peonies in the circles who know). There will be a special weekend brunch and the whole place is decked out with flowers.

If you are at the show, raise a glass to Chelsea’s blooms in the middle of Sloane Square at an etymological floral pop-up courtesy of The Botanist. Teaming up with Chase Distillery, expect a load of vodka tipples crowned with edible flowers inside a charming horseshoe box exploding with flowers. If you like your drinks with a view, head to Radio Rooftop for bedazzling cityscapes and über-pretty Pisco Lavender Sours.

You can also watch the show live while you’re there. Love gin? Click your heels through Jason Atherton’s Berner’s Tavern at the London Edition for Hendrick’s gin cocktails and to feast your eyes on a garden installation to put you under the floral spell.

At Kurobuta, you can taste cherry blossom. The newest cocktail is a hedonistic mix of cherry syrup, enhanced by coconut rum and balanced out by Coca-Cola. It looks beautiful, served with a cherry on top in folded nori, to look like a flower in bloom.

There’s a terrace at Caramel London too and the cocktail of the week is the Brompton Garden, made with orange-infused Bombay Sapphire gin, Kamm & Sons aperitif, lime and bitter orange and elderflower tonic.

Floral feasts

Marylebone private members’ gaff Home House is throwing a Sixties-style Flower Power Party. Flowers in your hair will be a dress code stalwart, and non-members will be stoked to know that they can also join in on all the festivities with special one-off packages. Michelin-starred Belgravia hangout Amaya is also getting in on the fun with pretty floral flourishes featuring noodle salads and colourful desserts.

If you’re going to the show, head to the Saatchi Gallery where the team at Gallery Mess will be putting a creative spin on the floral mastery taking place around the corner. In or out, enjoy a treat from the restaurant’s bespoke floral menu or simply toast the gardeners with a Hibiscus Elderflower Tommy. Head to Sketch for the third edition of the Mayfair Flower Show, for which executive chef Pierre Gagnaire has put together a stonker of a four-course flower menu featuring everything from roasted guinea fowl to foie gras mousseline.

The restaurant’s pink Gallery Room will also be giving its notoriously good afternoon tea a floral makeover. Highlights include redcurrant religieuse, a Harry ’n’ Megs-style lemon and elderflower wedding cake, and vanilla and strawberry hibiscus gateau. In Battersea, The Pear Tree Café has a limited-edition Rose flavoured ice cream, created by Jude’s. Its base is a milky vanilla, with perfumed floral notes, and it’s only available until Saturday.

There’s a whole floral cake menu, with matching cocktails, at W London, with crystallised shots in popping colours. Meanwhile, Bluebird is collaborating with Portobello Road bakery Pearl & Groove to serve cakes — including a Harry and Meghan-inspired elderflower, lemon and gin — and drinks in its courtyard. There will be pistachio and rose water sponge, poppy seed and lemon cupcakes, scones and sandwiches. Good with Islay gin cocktails. The signature drink is gin, rhubarb liqueur, lemongrass cordial, fresh thyme, raspberries with sparkling rose wine.

Rooms in bloom

The Royal Garden Hotel is throwing a flowery afternoon tea where guests can devour a Mad Hatter-esque spread, complete with jasmine tea macarons, elderflower pannacottas and cute miniature honey and lavender cheesecakes. On Park Lane, Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester will offer a botanical lunch menu offering punters an actual “blossoming” tartlet, as well as a so-called English Rose Garden for dessert. Feeling extravagant? Check into The Connaught Hotel to indulge in a flower chocolate dessert masterminded by in-house pastry chef Nicholas Rouzaud.