A morning on Lantern Row, in frames
The room before the door opens, the brew bar set for the first order, flour on the bench at five, the day’s produce coming in and the plates that leave the pass. This is the kitchen as regulars know it, from the first bake to the last pour.
Act 01
Before the doors open
The room you walk into from the street, and the counter where every coffee is poured.
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Dining roomThe front room seen from the stair before service, armchairs drawn up to small round tables along the tall windows, and the terrace chairs outside waiting under the tree. -
Brew barNadia’s end of the counter, set for the day: a glass carafe under its pour-over cone, two gooseneck kettles behind it and a small metal cup ready for the first order.
Act 02
Up close
The small things that decide a morning: the milk on a well-made coffee, and the flour that starts every bake.
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CremaA milk coffee seen from straight above, the poured pattern still holding its edge a few seconds after it left the machine, with two dark specks settled off centre. -
FlourA handful of flour falling into a hammered metal bowl, most of it still in the air. The bench looks like this at five in the morning, with only the bowl under the light.
Soup of the dayMiso broth with tofu, cucumber and coriander in a red lacquer bowl, one of the soups Tomás rotates through the week and a lunch on its own at $12.
Act 03
How the morning starts
The first loaf out of the oven, and the produce that arrives while it cools.
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CoolingOne round loaf resting on a wire rack a few minutes out of the oven, the scored top already opened along its cuts. The speckled counter underneath still carries the flour it was turned out on. -
DeliveryRed peppers packed shoulder to shoulder in a shallow pale crate, still on their stalks, set down by the back door and sorted before anything reaches the kitchen.
The long tableLaid against the panelling at the back with mats, glasses and a small vase of dried flowers. It seats up to ten, is held for one party at a time and is the only table set aside in advance.
Act 04
On the table
Where the food ends up: a pastry at the window, and a lunch plate on its way from the pass.
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Window tableA single iced pastry on a white octagonal plate, set down on the pale wooden table by the window where counter orders are eaten. The nuts across the top are whole rather than chopped. -
The passA plate waiting under the kitchen light: leaves, radish and tomato around a small pot of pale green dressing, with a soft roll and a sprig of rosemary at the edge.
Contact
Ask what is on the plate this week
The lunch plate, the soup and the pastry case change with the season. Write to the kitchen and the team will tell you what is on this week.