It’s taken me an embarrassingly long time to review Zoran’s on my blog. I say this because when I lived in St Margaret’s, I was there when Zoran first opened the cafe/deli and went in regularly (nearly every day!) to have coffee, eat, or buy some of his top-quality deli products. I’d chat to Zoran when I went in and watched with pleasure as his slow start to building up the business suddenly took off and Zoran’s is now a St Margaret’s institution. Everyone knows Zoran. Then 14 years ago I moved to the other side of Twickenham and since then have only been to Zoran’s occasionally. Back there today, as I sat with my lunch, Zoran came up from the little kitchen downstairs and thanked me for coming back. It was so nice to be remembered and really – I must go there more regularly again!

It seemed the obvious choice today as my friend Annette – on a short trip from Italy where she lives – was meeting me at St Margaret’s station late morning and we wanted an early lunch before visiting Turner’s House, which has recently undergone a major restoration. The great artist JMW Turner designed the house in St Margaret’s, which was built in 1813, and used it as a country retreat. It currently has an exhibition of five of his original oil sketches on show, loaned by the Tate.

It was all wonderfully familiar entering Zoran’s. As it was quite early we easily got seats on the ground level but there are many more downstairs. Immediately before you as you go in is a fabulous array of freshly made foods – salads, dishes like lasagna, and cakes. And above the counter a board offers a large selection of sandwiches, made with focaccia, baguettes or bagels. There’s also a breakfast menu.

Everything is made in a little kitchen at the bottom of the stairs as you head down to the sitting area below. It’s quite amazing how such gorgeous food is cooked in so tiny a space. But there was Zoran with an assistant chef, busy at work.

Annette and I only wanted a snack so chose one of the focaccia ‘sandwiches’ each; they were excellent.

But there’s also homemade soup, salads or cooked dishes. I’ve eaten more substantial dishes before and watched today as some came up from the kitchen. They looked so good it strengthened my resolve to return soon.

We chose some Bottle Green drinks to have with our focaccia and had coffee afterwards, which came with little amaretti biscuits on the side. (Bill for 2 lunches and drinks was £20.20.)

It was really good to be back and we took a rather long and leisurely time to enjoy our lunch and catch up before heading off to Turner’s House. Zoran’s is somewhere you’ll find the best home-cooked food and its deli shelves are filled with the best quality products. Nestled between Richmond and Twickenham, St Margaret’s isn’t an obvious go-to place unless you have a reason to go there. But now you have – go to Zoran’s!