[title]
Countertop dining: it’s so popular, so ubiquitous, so keenly taken up as a byword of relaxed casual eating these days that I genuinely wouldn’t be surprised if they introduced it at Wetherspoon’s any day now. The counter at this Finsbury Park café-bar was certainly very popular on my Sunday lunchtime visit – although the staff were nonplussed when I told them I’d booked a couple of seats there. But two big bowls of salad were pushed aside, and space was found.
The menu here isn’t exactly revolutionary but the definite plus of having the kitchen in full view is that you know they aren’t taking any shortcuts. I watched my burgers – one fish, one chuck rib – land on the grill in a plume of flame. Minutes later, they arrive with me: tender, moist and utterly delicious. A low point: two bloody marys were let down by a lack of celery. But the baked goods selection ended things on a high: a Danish pastry, marbled with sticky lodes of blueberry compote, was fiendishly good. Walnut is a cheerful, reliable neighbourhood spot for the folks of NW4.