London is made up of tiny little enclaves. Sometimes it’s a town, like Brixton or Hampstead; other times it’s simply a street. These are the true London secrets. Pick the wrong road and you’re in the middle of a housing estate. Pick the right one and you’re on a Lambs Conduit Street, Church Street or, where today’s café is featured, Mill Lane. An off-shoot of West Hampstead it is a leafy, village-like lane that’s currently undergoing a renaissance. A number of the older, more dated shops are making way to the like of The Kitchen Table, a small little café slap bang in the middle of the street.

Take a seat at the Kitchen Table

Coffee – 5/5

Serving Monmouth coffee, this is an excellent and surprisingly large cappuccino. Full of flavour and not over-milked, this was coffee perfection. At £2.30 for a regular and £2.50 for a large, it was as good deal. Though I’m not sure what my size was as it wasn’t specified.

A generous sized cup of Monmouth

Atmosphere – 4/5

Living up to its name, there was one big kitchen table in the middle, covered in newspapers and condiments, surrounding by four smaller tables. It had a very informal atmosphere, but with enough personality that I’d be happy to sit around for a while. It did seem, though, that the kitchen took up half the café.

If you can’t stand the heat, relax in the Kitchen

Food – 2/4

On top of the usual stuff there was a daily special and a daily tart. I tried a chicken sandwich, which was tasty but didn’t blow me away. The side salad was just a few leaves with a drizzling of oil. A bit more effort and attention to detail could have made this a lot better.

A good sandwich with a bit of a lacklustre side salad

Service – 3/3

Really good service despite a bit of confusion on arrival over whether to order at the counter or wait for table service. Answer – it was table service.

Extras – 1/3

Not much extra going on. There’s suggestion online that they do a super club, but their website was down so I can’t back this up.

Summary – 15/20

A great find and definitely worth the trip to find it. An excellent cup, informal atmosphere and friendly service.

Details

37 Mill Lane,

West Hampstead,

NW6 1NB

Twitter: @kitchentablenw6‎

Click here for a map