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Run by a notably good-looking mother, son and daughter team – this family café is bringing its very good genes to the tail end of Kensal Rise. Vicki (who set up the first Vicki’s in Little Venice back in 1985) seated me herself when I arrived. There’s another branch in Willesden, but this is a relaxed, indie set up: just a few tables, and a counter piled high with luscious, Mediterranean-influenced salads.
Specialities are surprising: the first is a homemade, satisfyingly burnt-edged quesadilla layered with beetroot and feta. Where lesser quesadillas rely on lashings of cheese to glue the whole thing together, this was sharp, vegetable-heavy and intriguingly nutty. Another seriously delicious thing on the menu was the ‘chilli and ginger greens’. Served cold with the Lebanese breakfast, these were wonderfully tart and sour. Vicki told me the ‘green’ was kale but I don’t believe her: no one ever did anything that juicy to kale.
Chia and honey coconut porridge was a tad sludgey, and the house fishcake was slightly over-salted. But overall, this is definitely an above average caff. Mother and son were having a light-hearted squabble over the till when I went up to pay – somehow it just made the whole experience more charming.