With its barn doors and stone floors, this former dairy retains a farmhouse feel, though there hasn’t been a cow in here for decades. These days, the charming little space houses a handful of closely packed wooden tables clustered around a wood-burning stove. It’s open Friday to Sunday only; as a quiet Friday lunch spot, Jones attracts locals such as teaching assistants from the nearby school, but come Sunday, the crowds from the neighbouring Columbia Road Flower Market create an altogether more animated atmosphere.
Menu mainstays include the outstanding fish breakfast: fresh, fleshy smoked haddock doused in a sublime mustard sauce makes for the perfect brunch – filling but not incapacitating. Omelettes, bagels and a cheese plate are also on offer, and you can help yourself to a tray of preserves. A red pepper soup was flavourful, though the butter offered for the accompanying bread by our friendly if scatty waitress never materialised. An adjoining deli sells bread, juices and smoked salmon from small producers, while on Sundays there is often a table outside selling oysters to be slurped amid the hubbub of the market.