Aside restaurant - London, UK

What started as a small social enterprise coffee roasting house on the edge of leafy Peckham Rye Park is fast turning into a monopoly business in Peckham, as the team behind Old Spike Roastery opens its third venture in the popular south-east London neighbourhood. After the coffee shop came Spike & Earl, a sleek whitewashed all-day eatery on Peckham Road, and soon there will be a smokehouse inside of the Grade II listed Peckham Rye train station. 

Housed in what was a community centre up until 2012, Aside is the latest addition to the collection. Championing local produce, cocktails and, of course, coffee, it neighbours the Assembly Point art gallery, and features original parquetry under its 35 covers. 

A collaboration between co-owner Rob Dunne and David Ross, the Spartan interiors evoke a gallery aesthetic: ‘A cultural acknowledgment of London’s history, development and association with such a broad dynamic global heritage,’ says Dunne. Tables and benches are custom-built in utilitarian birch plywood, while stools are from Scaramanga and chairs Ercol, lending a midcentury feel. 

On the menu dishes such as curried goat sit beside charred hispi cabbage, smoked eel and a 40-day aged steak from local butcher Flock and Herd, while cocktails are chic and inventive–the boys behind the bar have plans to move into liquor making, and to expand onto the residential street out front in 2018. Watch this space.