A street in a leafy corner of north-west London is quietly flourishing – once a stables, the boulevard-esque Lonsdale Road is now home to several neighbourhood restaurants, Wolfpack Brewery and now the Australian café-cum-natural wine bar Milk Beach.
Its chef credentials are strong: the head chef was previously at Duck & Waffle Local and George Tomlin, of P. Franco and Clove Club, is on board to work his menu magic. The interior is a vision of calming Scandi minimalism, with giant raffia light fixtures and well-positioned plant or three.
It’s open almost around the clock which seems pretty radical for the area, serving artisanal coffee and brunch plates by day (think ham hock eggs benedict and banana bread with espresso cream cheese), with the lights dimming for sultry small plates come nightfall. A concise globally-inspired menu, dishes are all reasonably priced and perfect mopped up with hunks of Little Bread Pedlar sourdough. Highlights include fragrant Shaoxing poached bass and to-die-for beef cheek pappardelle (both £9), but get the wonderful staff to recommend a few plates to your taste. Make sure to leave room for the molten dark chocolate pot, shot through with crackling sea salt.
Jealous of the locals? You definitely should be.
