Delibes's opera has not had a major UK staging in decades, but its two hit numbers - the Bell Song, for the soprano heroine, and the Flower Duet, adopted by British Airways in its adverts - have kept its name alive. So it is a canny choice for Opera Holland Park, whose audiences have learned to trust the company's policy of reviving user-friendly rarities.

In the event, it turns out to be a more substantial piece than expected. The plot, set during British rule in India, concerns serving officer Gerald, who stumbles upon the sacred garden of a militant Brahmin priest opposed to the foreign occupiers and falls in love with his daughter, Lakmé. She later nurses him back to health after a murderous attack by her father, but finally takes poison when Gerald decides he must return to his regiment.

Amid the story of culture clash and religious hatred, Delibes's librettists weave an EM Forster-like satire of the English in India, but the work's chief merit lies in a score that is melodically graceful, delicately orchestrated and unfailingly appealing.

However, it needs more flow than conductor Noel Davies provides, while Allison Bell in the title role is too knowing and her tone at times metallic. Philip O'Brien's Gerald occasionally sounds stifled but shows a sense of style.

It is not a perfect performance, but this flower of late 19th-century exoticism still keeps its fragrance.

· In rep until July 15. Box office: 0845 230 9769.