If you'd thought we'd already reached Peak Riverside Romance with those Coppa Club igloos, think again.
French restaurant Le Pont de la Tour have installed a wooden cabin in prime position on their riverside terrace. They've decked it out with candlelight, fairy lights and blankets. And they've made it just big enough to comfortably fit two people plus a champagne bucket.
While transparent, stargazing spots are sprouting up all over London, there's something magical about being by the side of the river. We recommend the second of the lunch sittings as perfect timing: starting at 2.30pm for two hours, the glass front to the cabin means you can watch the sunset across the river, and ogle Tower Bridge as it blooms from daytime grandeur into after-dark radiance.
The current, autumnal menu (running till 27 November) is a four-course homage to truffle. The festive menu coming up next promises a five-course feast with a French slant, your own private waiter — and the soft clink of champagne flutes: they've thrown in a bottle of Moët & Chandon.
The limited dates for the pop-up — the cabin holds two people, for two lunchtime sittings, two evening sittings a day, and with no guarantee it'll run beyond December — mean it's booking up faster than you can say 'I need an iconic place to propose'.
And it doesn't come cheap (£145 for two people for the Truffle Hut) — though as that includes the champagne, when stacked up against other special-occasion tasting menus it starts to look like surprisingly good value for a spot this lovely. But if you can manage to snag a reservation and rustle up the cash, this is riverside dining the seriously romantic way.
The Lodge d'Hiver opens on 27 November-30 December, with two lunchtime sittings and two evening sittings.
Lodge d'Hiver at Le Pont de la Tour, 36 Shad Thames, SE1 2YE.
