Exciting food is what we’ve come to expect from Australia, the mix of world cuisines that reflect the sun and vibrancy of the lucky country. Milk Beach does it so well you can almost feel sand between your toes.
How do you like to get to the beach? Via the bustle of Tottenham Court Road or via the still, thankfully, cheerfully squalid street that is Greek?
Ilona Rose House is a comparatively new addition to the space between Greek St and Tottenham Court Road, and between it and the rear walls of the old Greek St buildings is now a large courtyard that serves as outside space to Milk Beach, as well as Kapara.
I’d hate to say it’s a secret spot, but it’s certainly not obvious it’s there, especially from the Greek Street side, and an open space in Soho is now as rare as a genuine brothel. The internet killed that business as well.
Seedy thoughts like that disappear when you reach Milk Beach. An Australian concept, it’s the second version of the Queen’s Park restaurant that opened in 2018. You’re greeted by wholesome sunny staff, many of whom have genuine Aussie accents, and not just the question mark at the end of every sentence? What Stephen Fry called the ‘moronic interrogative’?
Inside is fresh, light and woody, with a mysterious glass-walled pit that seems to descend to the bowels of the earth, I got giddy just looking down it. Outside is the place to be on a sunny day though, plenty of shades keep the glare down and the air is quietly still thanks to buildings on three sides.
We’re here for their Sunday Session, which will be on until the end of September with cocktails by fellow Australian brand Papa Salt Coastal Gin, live DJ sets, and an all-day menu of brunch favourites and robata barbecue every Sunday from 12-6pm.
It’s busy! I somehow still half expect central London to be a ghost town on Sundays, but of course it isn’t. The terrace is full but we manage to squeeze in. It’s a great ‘vibe’, sunny weather, sunny staff and happy customers. Bright dishes can be seen all around.
It’s a short menu, which is probably best for those with hangovers, and we pick a selection to share, plus two cocktails to kick things off.
Milk Beach Martini – Gin, samphire, rosemary and oyster leaf vermouth, celery bitters, smoked sea salt, is fantastic. I love the sheer clarity of the liquid. The oyster leaf is remarkable, it really does taste exactly like an oyster. And a Zen Garden Kiwi – vodka, matcha syrup, yuzu, foamer is more colourful but no less delicious, both have a good shot of alcohol, these Australians aren’t stingy.
Along with the question mark? I also get a bit irritated by the Australian habit of shortening words, however the Koji marinated chicken ‘Schnitty’, (schnitzel) with fermented chilli mayonnaise is too good to be angry with. Moist chicken with a tasty crust from the koji.
We partner it with Burrata, grilled apricot, black olive, almonds, a dish with obvious Italian accents but only Australians would have thought to partner a Burrata with apricot. It works very well, far better than using some apple-hard tomato grown in Holland, and the sweet, crunchy almonds are a sharp contrast to all that creamy burrata.
For mains we share Flame grilled garlic prawns with fermented chilli butter, Chicken salt chips, and a Gem lettuce and parmesan salad with a tarragon dressing and lots of anchovy. Oh and some sourdough bread.
The Caeser-adjacent salad is great – fresh and crunchy and the parmesan and anchovies are umami rich. The chips are fine, cooked in fresh oil and crunchy. Chicken salt is an Australian concoction that contains no chicken, it’s rather like sprinkling stock powder on your chips. I like it.
The prawns are peeled but with tails on and are meaty, big and bouncy with a superb flame-kissed flavour but the price, £29 for about fifteen, seems excessive. £19 would be more like it. It was the only thing that put a small cloud on our beach holiday. Still though, you can’t beat eating flame-grilled prawns on a sunny day.
A DJ is now spinning tunes on the patio, it all sounds the same to me, that ‘tick tick tick’ sound that always comes out of the bushes in Spanish beachside hotels, but what do I know about modern music? I still haven’t got over Peter Gabriel leaving Genesis.
We share dessert, a rather wonderful creation that looks exactly like a giant fried egg. It is in fact called ‘The Night Egg’, and it’s basically soft set mango and coconut mouse with coconut condensed milk and tajin which is a spice blend of ground chili, salt and lime. It’s really good on all kinds of sweet desserts and especially good here.
We’d finished our cocktails a while back and were boating back some very decent well-chilled rose by the glass.
We left mid-afternoon but the place was still buzzing, with tables changing occupants constantly. We were rather sorry to leave the beach.
www.milkbeach.com/soho
Ilona Rose House, Manette Street, W1D 4AL
Also access via 13-14 Greek Street, W1D 4DP