Alina Kosichkina couldn’t find a burger she liked in Notting Hill, where she relocated a few years ago from Kyiv. So, the restaurateur – who had 32 restaurants in her native Ukraine with business and life partner Dima Zakhodiakin – has created a restaurant doing them just how she wants. Milk Burger opened yesterday, October 5, in a Westbourne Grove space that was once a Gourmet Burger Kitchen. “The walls remember all the burger success before,” she tells Broadsheet.
While there are plenty of spots around town trading in decent wine and burgers, at Milk, burgers can be ordered with champagne – a welcome move for those of us who readily embraced the high-low stylings of Bubbledogs on Charlotte Street when it opened almost 15 years ago. The house champagne is by Billecart Salmon.
Milk Burger’s kitchen is headed up by Jorge Paredes, who was executive chef at Sabor, then head chef at Oma and Agora in Borough Market. He’s bringing that fine dining experience to the burger game, with a similar focus on great ingredients and technique: all sauces are made in-house and meat is sourced from aged-beef supplier Mr Txuleta, which is also behind Ibaii steakhouse in the City. “I love to do everything in house, all my sauces are made from scratch,” he tells Broadsheet.
Kosichkina says burger lovers fall into two camps: team juicy burger and team smash burger. And while most burger spots in London pick a side, Milk is doing both. “I’m [in the] smash army and Dima is on [the] juicy, so we have both of them,” Kosichkina says.
There’s a classic smash burger and a spicy one – and despite her preference for a smash burger, Kosichkina reckons the bestsellers will be juicy. One stars what Milk calls “baconnaise”, which combines mayo with bacon powder, while the other is a bone marrow and truffle burger Kosichkina says is “very gastronomic and an unusual combination”. A turkey burger with dolce gorgonzola sauce and a Mexican-style burger – beef patty, salsa and avocado, wrapped in a tortilla and fried – round out the burger options. There are also two sandwiches: a Cuban and a katsu sando. Fries come medium-cut, and are the result of “many, many tastings”, Paredes says.
The team is embracing the nostalgia that’s inevitably laced into a burger diner, with a cherry pie inspired by the McDonald’s classic. Paredes tried more than 30 different doughs before hitting on the right formula, which is close to the original recipe but uses virgin coconut oil in place of palm oil. “For whatever reason, McDonald’s took it [off] the menu a long time ago, and I’m really missing [it],” Kosichkina says. “So it looks absolutely the same.”
The team is taking its burgers seriously – and to match, it has a serious fit-out by David Archer, who has worked on projects as varied as Chiltern Firehouse and The Standard London, as well as the renewal of Ronnie Scott’s and The Barbary in Notting Hill. The narrow dining room is lined with burgundy tiles and rust-red banquettes, while a brighter space is all light timbers and white-panelled walls.
“The burger market is oversaturated,” Kosichkina says. “But when I want to have a burger, I can’t find a place – especially in this area – where it’s comfortable, with nice interiors, good cocktails, wine and champagne. So we’re combining this together and I’m pretty sure everybody will love it.”
Milk Burger
50 Westbourne Grove, W2 5SH
Hours:
Daily midday–9pm
