Milk, the all-day destination café by duo Julian Porter and Lauren Johns, located on Hildreth Street Market in the heart of Balham, has this month reopened following a short closure for refurbishment. The extensive makeover has seen the café double in size, with Julian and Lauren (who also own Fields all-day café on Clapham Common) acquiring the shop space next door and knocking through the adjoining shop wall. The new larger space should help reduce the lengthy queue which has become common place outside Milk on a weekend, which allows the café to now cater for up to 45 guests inside, and a further 35 outside on the terrace during warmer months. Table service is also now available throughout. The café (formally known as M1lk) continues to serve its forward thinking all-day breakfast/brunch menu, with dishes including Milk favourites‘The Convict – English muffin, drycure bacon, M. Moens & Sons sausage, burford brown egg, poacher hash & hangover sauce’ (£7.90) and the‘Sweet Maria – ‘Sweetcorn fritters, grilled halloumi, avocado, kasundi & lime’ (£7.80). Further dishes such as ‘Housemade crumpets with hay-smoked goats curd, Wandsworth Honey & wild rosemary’ (£7.90), ‘Buckwheat pancakes, with smoked apricot, housemade elderflower syrup, burnt apricot marshmallow & macadamia’ (£7.80) and ‘Baked Eggs two ways eggs with butternut squash, feta & crispy sage’ (£7.80), are also common place on the menu. As well as its food, Milk takes great pride in its specialty coffee, using beans from Berlin’s The Barn coffee roasters and Koppi single origin filter coffee brewed on FETCO machines. A selection of cold pressed juices, soft drinks and house smoothies are also on offer, including the ‘Lois’ – made with fresh blackberries, pear & lavender (£3.50), as well as a concise list of local craft beers and natural wines for those seeking something stronger. Milk also serves a choice of cakes and biscuits made daily at the café in the onsite bakery.
Designed personally by Julian and Lauren, the interiors at Milk have also been refreshed. With a focus on simplicity, quality and sustainability; exposed original brick work is now offset with plastic pink tiled table tops, hand-crafted British wooden furniture and a striking original kitsch green and pink 1950s bathroom suite. The outside terrace overlooks the bustling Hildreth Street Market in Balham and catches the sun until late into the evening.
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