Neighbourhood defining
Don't Tell Dad, Hampstead listings, Kapusta, Ognisko, Pump Street Bakery, Mýse, best co-working spaces, MORE
RESTAURANTS • First Person
Big secret
The power of a restaurant to transform a neighbourhood? That’s the energy Don’t Tell Dad has brought to Lonsdale Mews in Queen’s Park since its January opening. It’s the kind of place that feels readymade for locals — but it’s already drawing chic diners from every corner of London. And I love everything about it.
By day, a cosy bakery — one that I reckon the French would be proud to call their own — takes up about a quarter of the elongated space, serving baguettes, cookies, and innovative pastries (though lately they’re sold out of almost everything by 11a). They also, blessedly, do the kind of proper coffee that’s hard to find in this neighbourhood, “roasted by casual obsessives.” Each morning when I walk by, there’s a line out the door, mostly full of locals on their way to work. Inside, new mums chat with snoozing babies in tow, all creating a chill, neighborhood feel.
Come Saturday at 8p, when we showed up for dinner, it’s a wholly different vibe: perfectly designed, lit by candlelight, effortlessly chic, and just the right amount of buzzy, Don’t Tell Dad had all the magic of a special dining experience without the fussy, overdone bits. My husband and I chose seats at the bar during their soft opening and found a lively, familial warmth in the air.
The menu mixes playful surprises with dependable classics. I had perfectly cooked wild bass over buttery Jerusalem artichoke and Swiss chard. The beverages, including beer, wine, cocktails, and digestifs, are just as much a draw as the food. The night we visited, they featured a 2021 Blanc de Blancs from Burn Valley Vineyard right up in Norfolk — a rival to any Champagne. Their list has a selection of alternative “fizzes,” plus reds, whites, oranges, and rosés. There are also four signature concoctions and an equal number of non-alcoholic mixes.
The radicchio salad, tangy and sweet with a crunch of nuts, is one you might spend years trying to recreate at home. For starters, both the duck crumpets and the tea smoked trout with soda bread, horseradish, and pickles were extraordinary. And finally, a simple, perfectly executed dessert of baked chocolate, clotted cream, and brandy prunes.
Don’t Tell Dad is the brainchild of Coco di Lama founder Daniel Land. During our visit, he wandered about, smiling like someone who knows he’s created something special and offering samples of the amazing bakery bread. The open kitchen is helmed by Queen’s Park’s own Luke Frankie. And the rest of the staff couldn’t have been sweeter.
As the rest of London begins to catch on and DTD becomes one of those impossible-to-book spots, we’ll be proud to say we loved it first. –Lucy Barzun Donnelly
→ Don't Tell Dad (Queen’s Park) • 10-14 Lonsdale Rd • Bakery: Mon-Sun 8a-3p, Dinner: Tue-Sat 530-930p, Sun 530-8p • Book.
LONDON RESTAURANT LINKS: Off Tottenham Court Rd, The Orangery opens with London’s biggest onsite hydroponic farm • Short-lived Pollen Street Social replacement Mary’s has shuttered • In Shoreditch, departed Leroy will become French-Italian restaurant Duchy • New battle for West End nightlife looms • Is this London’s finest food hall?
REAL ESTATE • First Mover
Three for-sale properties in Hampstead that recently came to market:
→ Penthouse Apartment, Nutley Terrace (Hampstead, above) • 3BR/3BA/3R, 260 m2 flat • Ask: £3.75mn • converted modern duplex in historic building • Ownership type: share of freehold • Agent: TK International.
→ Hampstead Square (Hampstead) • 4BR/3BA/4R, 241 m2 semi-detached house • Ask: £5.695mn • c 1720 Georgian house ‘sympathetically renovated’ retaining original character • Ownership type: freehold • Agent: Marcus Parfitt.
→ Redington Rd (Hampstead) • 3BR/3BA/3R, 387 m2 flat • Ask: £7.5mn • lateral duplex with 104' private rear garden and heated pool • Ownership type: leasehold • Agent: TK International.
WORK & PLAY LINKS: New renderings revealed for Liverpool Street Station makeover • UK to dilute rules for smaller private equity firms and hedge funds • Inaugural London SXSW announces music lineup • The shoulder pad is back.
WORK • The Nines
Co-working spaces
The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of London’s best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or email found@foundldn.com.
FORA (Farringdon), high-design, luxe amenities, event-ready spaces balancing style and functionality
Second Home (Spitalfields), light-filled, plant-drenched, built for startups and creative minds
Pavilion (Knightsbridge), refined, boutique-style, members-only feel, polished interiors
Storey (Liverpool Street), corporate meets contemporary, flexible spaces, sleekly modern edge
The Ministry (Borough), workspace w/ music industry roots, buzzing bar, after-hours energy
Maslow’s (Soho), private-club feel, stylish spaces, plenty of opportunities to network
WeWork (Waterloo), familiar, reliable, right in the thick of it — central location, 24/7 access, all essentials
De Beauvoir Block (Hackney), indie vibes, creative studios, effortlessly cool laid back atmosphere
Missionworks (Hammersmith, above), converted church filled w/ greenery and modern design, serene yet functional
CULTURE & LEISURE • Wednesday Routine
Family whirl
ALISSA TIMOSHKINA • food writer • Kapusta
Neighbourhood you work & live in: North Islington
It’s Wednesday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
As a freelance food writer and cookbook author, my home kitchen is my workplace. It’s a place of both exciting creative moments and mundane chores. On Wednesday morning there’s chaos, making everyone breakfast, trying to get my oldest kid to school on time, packing a snack bag for her after-school club. I’m constantly juggling work and family life. I’m quite literally holding the baby in one hand, cooking a meal with another.
When I’m creating content and developing recipes, I try to make sure those meals also feed my family. When the baby sleeps (on me), I try to use the time for any writing and emails, and often have to do a bit more once the kids are asleep.
What’s on the agenda for today?
My new cookbook, Kapusta, came out on 20 Feb so I’m mostly focused on that. That includes recording content for social media, doing interviews, planning and promoting events, and arranging various collaborations with restaurants, chefs, and food brands. The book is a love letter to the vibrant, humble vegetables that have shaped some of the most cherished culinary traditions across Eastern Europe.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
I’m going out soon with my girlfriends for the first time in a long while, and I’m super excited to visit Ognisko, a legendary Polish restaurant in South Kensington. The place is steeped in history and serves the most delicious food, alongside a very impressive array of infused vodkas — which I’ll sadly have to pass on, as I’m still breastfeeding.
How about a little leisure or culture?
I love London for the sheer variety of family-friendly events. We keep an eye on the Barbican’s programme and regularly go to their family film club. Their theatre programme is equally exciting. In fact, some of the best theatre moments of a lifetime took place in their venue, from all of Complicité’s productions, to the rare Dmitri Krymov appearances, to My Neighbour Totoro, which was one of the best outings with my daughter. I’m also looking forward to The Southbank Centre’s new indoor playground space, created entirely out of recycled objects and materials.
Any weekend getaways?
For over a decade, my partner and I have been going to Orford, a small town near Southwold. The whole coastal area is stunning and full of real hidden gems. The real foodie appeal of Orford is Pump Street Bakery — and Pump Street Chocolate.
What was your last great vacation?
Probably one of the best holidays of my life was to Sestri Levante in Italy, back in 2022. It’s our cherished spot that we keep going back to. I almost feel reluctant to share, as I want to keep this little treasure of a town to myself. The pistachio gelatos are phenomenal, and there’s a small trattoria that does the best farinata.
What store or service do you always recommend?
The one thing I really have no time for (and therefore, long for terribly) is self-care. My exhausted self is currently desperately longing for a session with my favourite osteopath in London, Frederic Roscop, who has his practice in South Kensington. I can’t recommend him enough.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Rum Punch
London Reggae Festival • Riverside East (Olympic Park) • Sat 3-10p • final release, £10 per
BBC Symphony • Oramo conducts Vaughan Williams • Barbican Hall (Barbican) • Sat @ 730p • orchestral stalls, £46 per
Father John Misty • Royal Albert Hall (South Kensington) • Tues @ 645p • Box ST, £99 per
GETAWAYS • North Yorkshire
19 courses and counting
Stepping off the 8a from King’s Cross into the characterful town of Malton, I wonder why I don’t do this more often. I’ve made it from London to ‘Yorkshire’s food capital’ in two and a half hours, inhaled fresh country air, met a friend for artisan coffee, stocked up on freshly baked sourdough, and even bought a giant meat pie from a local butcher keen on the up-sell, all before noon.
There’s no Uber here, so you’ll need to book a taxi in advance if you don’t have a conveniently located friend. But once you do, it’s just a 14-minute drive through winding Howardian Hills to the main drag of Hovingham. This feels like your typical Yorkshire village: an eclectic store, a trickling stream, dog walkers in wellies, locals who bid me ‘good morning’.
Then I set foot inside Mýse, ready to settle in for a 19-course lunch. It might be the familiar Yorkshire accents (I grew up not too far away) or maybe the log-burning fire in the entrance snug, but there’s a calm that immediately descends on me, along with the sense that this is going to be good.
If Scandinavian uber-restaurants Noma and Fäviken merged, Mýse might be the result, with its minimalist interior and terroir-based cuisine. Dried flowers hang from wooden beams, while walnut wood chairs are draped in local sheepskins and ash tabletops are linen-free. Early courses arrive in creative receptacles: A pickled quail’s egg comes in a carved wooden spoon on a nest of hay, while a pound-coin-sized ‘charcoal pie’ is filled with raw roe deer, topped with Exmoor caviar, served on a piece of charcoal, surrounded by pines.
It's not style over substance though. Every bite is better than the last, from the ball of Yorkshire pudding batter stuffed with braised ox cheek to the ‘beastings’ custard tart with colostrum, my favourite of the five sweet courses. Both the wine and soft pairings are exceptional, and the beetroot, black garlic, and red verjus make a brilliant substitute for red wine. There’s an optional cheese course which I can’t fit in (you absolutely should).
Stretching my legs with a coffee around the fire out the back of the restaurant, I’m envious of the couple unloading their car, ready to sink into the bed in one of the on-site rooms. The cosy new cottage just up the road is even more enticing. But no — I’m heading back on the 18:12 to London, quite possibly with a post-lunch snooze on the train. That’s the beauty of England: You can make a round trip to one of the best restaurants in the country, and be back in your own bed by teatime.
Drop Mýse into London and it’d easily win every accolade, but its off-the-beaten track location in the North Yorkshire countryside means that nearly two years after opening, it’s still under the radar — all the better for those of us in the know. –Laura Price
→ Mýse (Hovingham) • Main St YO62 4LF • Wed-Thu 7-11p, Fri-Sat 1230-3p & 7-11p • £145 per • Book.
GETAWAYS LINKS: London’s historic Custom House may become new luxury hotel • LTN airport expansion officially happening • Brand new Orient Express now boarding in Rome • New boutique luxury Royal Hideaway Corales Villas debuts in Tenerife • Plans announced for Raffles Lake Como, coming in 2027.
ASK FOUND
First, a quick primer on how this works: You send us the pressing questions of the day (on dining, services, living in London and surrounds). We all put our heads together (us, FOUND, + you, FOUND subscribers, who are also FOUND) in search of truth and beauty.
Three FOUND subscriber PROMPTS for which we are seeking intel:
If you haven’t already, tell us your favourite London restaurant.
What London hotel do you always recommend for out-of-town guests?
Tell us about your favourite driving-distance getaway?
Got answers or more questions? Hit reply or email found@foundldn.com.