Daffodils Bar & Restaurant

Daffodils replaced Its Thecha at the Crowne Plaza London – Kingston in May 2026, and the menu changed with the name. Where Thecha was a regional Maharashtrian specialist — Kolhapuri, Malvani and Savji thalis with Mumbai street food on the side — Daffodils is something more like a confident hotel bar-restaurant: short, mixed, built for groups who couldn’t agree on a cuisine.

The all-day menu reads in three layers. Indo-Chinese small plates for drinking food: honey chilli garlic prawns, hot and spicy chicken wings, crispy squids with tartare, southern-fried chicken strips with sweet chilli, halloumi fries, padron peppers. A North Indian curry section in the middle — tikka masala, madras, jalfrezi, in veg, chicken, lamb or prawn — served the standard way with rice, chutney and naan. British pub mains and grills anchor the bottom: battered cod, steak and kidney pie, chicken–ham–leek pie, sausage and mash, a 10oz rib-eye, tandoori chicken. Plus a six-strong burger section, three salads, and the usual fries and sides.

The room is the bar’s real argument. A curved white-leather banquette sits in front of a wide window-wall that looks straight out at the Hogsmill boat cut behind the hotel — sunset there at 7–8pm is the time to be sitting at one of the high tables along the glass. The bar runs along the back with mirror-backed shelves; the lighting is modern hotel-lounge, not pub. On our May 2026 visit the staff had set out England flags on the tables, which is the tell that they programme this room for big-event sports nights — a sundown-then-screen pattern locals have started to use.

The use case that makes this venue: the Crowne Plaza is an unusual asset for Kingston–Surbiton, because it gives you a bar with the option to start a date here (small plate, drink, then walk 12 minutes up the river into Kingston for dinner), finish a date here (last drink after dinner in town, then short Uber home), or stay — rooms on the same lobby if the round count escapes you. Almost nothing else in the corridor offers that combination in one building.

Highlight dish (May 2026): the chilli garlic prawns — butterflied prawns glazed in a sticky chilli–garlic sauce with capsicum, onion and spring onion on a bed of leaves. Beer-snack format, plenty to share. The hot-and-spicy chicken wings and crispy squids round out the Indo-Chinese-leaning small-plates platter if you want to build a sharing board.

Local’s Tip: If you’re walking from Surbiton station (~12 mins) or Kingston Bentalls (~15 mins along the river path), time the arrival for golden hour — the windows face the boat marina and the sunset light is the main event. If you’re driving, the hotel car park is on-site (best to confirm guest-vs-visitor terms with reception).