Review: Milk Beach Soho

Sneak through a passageway off Soho’s Greek Street, and you’ll hit the snazzy new development, James Court. This is a great little hideaway, where you feel miles away from the adjacent Charing Cross Road, home to new and shiny bars and restaurants including: Milk Beach.

Milk Beach is a a restaurant centred around modern Australian food and as I found out from my dining partner (who co-incidentally had spent five years in Oz) is also a real beach in Sydney!

You can feel the Aussie vibes as soon as you enter the open plan, curved in shape restaurant with floor-to-ceiling windows allowing for all the light to come in when London plays ball. Warm colour tones, natural wood and stone finishes combine to bring warmth and a laid marbled-effect floor has been installed to evoke the feel of walking along the rocks by the sea. Pop to the loo to listen to sounds of the sea to really get yourself in the mood.

Milk Beach Soho

It was the staff that made this experience for as soon as we arrived. The manager Dale was beyond lively and friendly and gave me hug on arrival which left me wondering if he had confused me for someone he actually knew!

Other servers helped us nail menu choices with relaxed guidance, and one very nice waitress treated us to a wine tasting just to select our carafe. We settled on ’23 Pikes, Luccio Fiano from Aukland. The menu bridges Southern Hemisphere and European wines with a strong focus on low intervention brands.

What to eat at Milk Beach?

This is a crowd-pleaser menu with a wide variety of dishes from BBQ-inspired to fresh fish and T-bone steaks for sharing. Developed by Kiwi Executive Chef, Leonard Swan, it draws inspiration the whole of Southeast Asian to the Mediterranean – all the cultures that make up modern Australian cuisine.

We loved the stracciatella with hot honey, plum, rosemary and hazelnut to start served with big chunks of sourdough and whipped butter.

For mains we had Koji marinated chicken ‘Schnitty’, with fermented chilli mayonnaise and a whole seabass with monk’s beard and lashings of XO butter which was perfectly cooked.

To end our meal, I was introduced to a classic Australian dessert ‘Golden Gaytime’. Milk Beach’s somewhat de-constructed version features vanilla ice cream with toffee and buttermilk parfait, malt and honeycomb crumble, and drizzled dark chocolate. That was a slice of Aussie heaven right there!

New for 2025, Milk Beach has launched a monthly wine dinner series – Toast Australia.

Hosted by Wilem Powell - Head Sommelier from 2022 to 2024 at Peter Gilmore’s Sydney restaurant, Quay. Just 20 guests per event are seated across two large tables, to enjoy and explore different wine brands alongside a crested three course sharing menu with matching wines. Tickets are £135 per person and you can check wine dinner dates and vineyard focus on their website.

Milk Beach Soho

Ilona Rose House, Manette Street,

London, W1D 4AL

https://www.milkbeach.com

Features Editor, Chatting Food: Jo Aspin

Jo Aspin is a freelance writer specialising in UK restaurants, travel, food and drink. She is also a Director at hospitality PR agency Amy Williams Consultancy, based in London.

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Instagram: @welovechilli