Melanie Clarke and McKenzie Amaral met in restaurant marketing before training as chefs at Le Cordon Bleu in London and Paris. McKenzie completed a stage at The River Cafe after graduating in 2023. They opened inside One and a Half, a De Beauvoir co-working space, in January 2025, serving rotating Poilâne toasties with La Fromagerie cheese, Cobble Lane cured meats and Formative Coffee's espresso.
A steel mesh mezzanine walkway runs above the counter, reached by a white staircase, up to a loft-style seating room under the roof pitch. White-washed brick walls line the ground floor, with stools facing pink-striped curtains in the shopfront windows and a florist at the back.