Some new openings arrive with a blaze of hype. Clementine has arrived by a rather more appealing route: its neighbourhood helped make it happen.

The new 20-cover café from pastry chef Anna Higham sits directly opposite her much-loved Quince Bakery on New North Road in Islington. It opens on 10 October, extending the spirit of Quince into a place where people can sit down for breakfast, elevenses and lunch.

What makes Clementine interesting is not simply that London is getting another good café.

It is the way the whole project has been built around a very particular idea of food: seasonal, British, generous, rooted in relationships with growers, millers, farmers and other small suppliers — and designed to feel part of the neighbourhood rather than dropped into it.

That sense of connection is literal. A crowdfunding campaign raised more than £30,000 towards the fit-out, following the community-backed launch of Quince itself in 2024.

The result is a space inspired by Shaker and Arts and Crafts traditions, with oak joinery, slate worktops and a tiled fireplace. Outside, a clementine-leaf green frontage and warm awning give the place a cheerful identity without trying too hard.

The menu follows the same philosophy: familiar food, treated with unusual care.

Breakfast brings porridge with apple compote, tattie scones with scrambled eggs, Scotch pancakes with poached plums and Staffordshire oatcakes. Later come warm scones, brown butter buns, toasties, seasonal soup, chicken and tarragon pie and a proper Ploughman’s lunch.

There is coffee from Allpress and Red Bank, tea from Postcard Teas — including a blend made specially for Clementine — and a changing list of seasonal cordials.

Higham has said the aim is to continue the community feeling created at Quince while keeping the same focus on British traditions and thoughtful sourcing.

That is perhaps the most attractive thing about Clementine.

It is not trying to reinvent breakfast or turn sustainability into a sermon. It simply puts good ingredients, good suppliers and good hospitality at the centre of the experience.

That makes it particularly well suited to the way many Londoners actually want to eat now: somewhere bright enough for breakfast, relaxed enough for lunch, special enough to make the journey, but not so formal that the occasion becomes the point.

It is easy to imagine meeting a friend here, bringing a parent, dropping in after a walk, or taking yourself out for an excellent coffee and something warm from the oven.

In a city full of places competing to be the next big thing, Clementine feels more interested in becoming somebody’s favourite.

That seems like a very good place to start.