Food reviews

Kensington Square Kitchen

Locals will no doubt want to keep this cute little newcomer to themselves, not least because its diminutive size means it fills up really quickly. Tucked away at the bottom of a quiet square, just down the road from Kensington High Street, it makes a handy pit-stop on the way home from the shops and the all-day café menu offers deliciously tempting comfort food for breakfast, lunch and tea.

Even those visiting after midday will find it hard to resist the American-style pancakes and ‘New York Breakfast’ (smoked salmon, cream cheese and red onion on toasted bagel) but, with daily blackboard specials supplementing the appealing list of international main meals, there’s plenty else to choose from.

We played it safe with a Caesar salad and club sandwich, neither of which disappointed. Not soaked in dressing like these things sometimes can be, the salad proved a crunchy hit, based on crisp lettuce leaves with a generous scattering of croutons, while the equally fresh sandwich (served on toasted white bread, like it should be) came with a decent side order of thin-cut fries – again of textbook texture.

We also tried pistachio and lemon couscous, which worked well as a side dish but would probably have made a dull meal in itself.

Dessert was a more difficult choice. A range of tempting cakes, each more delicious-looking than the next, crowd the display shelves and deciding between them is nigh-on impossible. We finally went for a thick wedge of Victoria sponge but were a bit disappointed to find it was filled with chantilly rather than fresh cream.

Next time, we’ll try the carrot cake and choose to eat downstairs, as the ground floor gets uncomfortably draughty when local office workers breeze by for takeaways. Down below, the mood is relaxed, with communal seating at a large table scattered with glossy magazines.