Clementine opens today, Saturday 10 October, at 190 New North Road in Islington, a 20-cover all-day cafe from Anna Higham, the pastry chef behind Quince Bakery, formerly of Flor, The River Cafe and Gordon Ramsay. It sits directly opposite Quince, and the build-out was partly crowdfunded with more than £30,000 raised.
The food
The menu reads like a love letter to British baking and brunch. Tattie scones with scrambled Cacklebean eggs, Staffordshire oatcakes, Stella’s bespoke sausage sandwich on Quince batch bread, chicken and tarragon pie, and a proper Ploughman’s. Head chef Marcus Westlake, formerly of Forno and Brawn, runs the kitchen.
The room
Dan Wilson Studio did the interiors, and at 20 covers it is intimate. Expect a breakfast and lunch crowd from day one, and expect queues at the weekend.
Islington has no shortage of cafes, but a pastry chef of Higham’s reputation doing all-day food opposite her own bakery is the kind of opening that becomes a neighbourhood institution fast.
