Milk Beach, London W1: "Worth putting on your best swim shorts for" - restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants

Of all the conspiracy theories you could get tangled up in, the idea that "Australia is a hoax" might just be my favorite. Its inhabitants ? Just actors. Quanta? Fictitious. You could take the pennies to Milk Beach, a new Aussie restaurant in Soho, to meet the freckled, outdoorsy staff and savor the grilled prawns, lamingtons and the pure Aussie side of it all, but they'd just say, " It's all very convenient, but where's the proof?"

That said, there's something about Milk Beach's distinct lightness that presents Australia as a kind of idyllic dream world. For a moment you're on Greek Street, weaving through trash cans, rats and bachelor parties, before a quick turn down an alleyway reveals the cool and pretty Ilona Rose House. This is Milk Beach, a spacious, pastel, pale-wood oasis run by a calm, laid-back, tousled beach staff who look like they've just returned from an afternoon ashtanga session in Bondi. Maybe… Yes, life in the UK is cold, cruel and inflexible at the moment, but here at Milk Beach things are decidedly vitamin D-infused and happy, as if your biggest problem is flip flops too sandy or at worst the coffee and the banana nigga don't come fast enough. -type="model.dotcomrendering.pageElements .ImageBlockElement" class="dcr-10khgmf">

Restaurants are all about staging, and Milk Beach knocks it out of the park on this point. is her second take on it, following the hugely popular Queen's Park restaurant which opened in north-west London in 2018 and quickly rose to fame for its brunches serving infantilizing boiled eggs in a jar with mashed sweet potatoes and soldiers, and Elly's Granny Banana Bread with Espresso Cream Cheese.The Soho menu is more of the same formula, an airy float through Mediterranean and Southeast Asian influences, but with the Sydney swagger at its heart.

The menu is divided into 'snacks', 'raw', 'veg', 'plates' and ' robata”. The raw section centers on oyster “shooters,” with gin bloody marys and Jersey rock oysters served with Thai cucumber consommé. There are also very good buttermilk salted silver sardines, all sprinkled with lemon thyme and smoked sun-dried tomatoes and quite delicious. Grilled baby gem is popping up on so many menus right now, perhaps because it's inexpensive and, with the application of chef's ingenuity, can be so much more than the sum of its parts. Here it is accompanied by a rich and vibrant pistachio butter that transforms it into something luscious and memorable. spacefinder-type="model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement" class="dcr-10khgmf">...