Spread is a specialty coffee bar and kitchen on Lavender Hill. We opened because we wanted somewhere in the neighbourhood that took its coffee as seriously as its food — and the food as seriously as its coffee.

On the bar, Origin's Resolute pulls as the house — stone fruit, caramel, milk chocolate. Alongside it, a guest espresso that rotates through the best roasters we can get our hands on, from London to Oslo to Melbourne. The aim is simple: bring our customers coffee they'd otherwise have to fly to taste. Behind it, a single-origin filter that changes with the season. Never burnt, never approximate.

In the kitchen, the same care. A short menu of bold, considered plates — Calabrian nduja, gochujang, harissa, miso, tonka bean — built on British produce from suppliers we know by name. Eggs from Cackleberry. Bread from Galeta and Flourish. Smoked fish from Wimbledon Smokehouse. Fine cheese from Hamish Johnston. Nothing on the menu we wouldn't order ourselves.

We don't take bookings — tables stay for walk-ins. The menu is short on purpose. The coffee is poured properly because it's worth waiting an extra ten seconds for. We'd rather do fewer things and do them right, and we'd rather you came back next week than feel rushed out today.

A small place, taken seriously, for people who like the same things we do.