Jusu Brothers Review: Fresh, Feel-Good Food in the Heart of Notting Hill

There are some places you discover and immediately wonder how they've escaped your radar for so long.

Jusu Brothers is one of them. Despite having sat on Westbourne Grove for ten years, I'd somehow never made it through the doors. After one lunch there recently, I'm already planning my return.

Part wellness café, part neighbourhood hangout, Jusu Brothers was founded in 2016 by a group of friends who wanted to create somewhere people could eat well, slow down and leave feeling better than when they arrived.

It sounds simple, but in a city where lunch is often grabbed between meetings or eaten over a laptop, it feels surprisingly refreshing.

The Notting Hill space itself is lovely. Bright, clean and modern with subtle Scandi influences, there's an open kitchen at the centre where you can watch salads being assembled, juices being pressed and dishes leaving the pass.

The atmosphere feels calm without being self-consciously "wellness", and the terrace outside is perfect for people-watching on Westbourne Grove during the summer months.

We were welcomed with one of their signature Turmeric & Ginger Shots, a blend of turmeric, ginger, apple and lemon. Unlike many wellness shots, it wasn't aggressively sharp or medicinal. Fresh, slightly sweet and genuinely enjoyable, it felt like a fitting introduction to the menu.

For starters we shared the Spicy Salmon Crispy Rice, which arrived as crisp squares of black sushi rice topped with salmon, sriracha mayo and crispy onions. It was exactly the sort of dish you wish you'd ordered more of. Crunchy, spicy and packed with flavour.

For mains, we ordered the Salmon Teriyaki Salad and the Poke Bowl to share - as dishes are generous. The salad was easily our favourite dish of the meal. A generous portion of teriyaki salmon sat on a bed of quinoa, spinach, cabbage slaw, feta, with pistachios and a tangy, honey mustard dressing.

It managed that elusive balance of feeling healthy and indulgent at the same time, substantial enough for lunch but without leaving you feel sluggish afterwards.

The poke bowl was equally good. I opted for chicken, served alongside quinoa, wakame seaweed, edamame, carrot, sweetcorn, tofu and sesame seeds.

Colourful, fresh and packed with texture, it felt like the sort of meal that makes you feel virtuous without trying too hard.

What I liked most about Jusu Brothers is that healthy eating doesn't feel like the central point. Good food is. The menu is packed with dishes you actually want to eat, from katsu sandos and noodle soups to freshly pressed juices and protein shakes.

In fact, while lunch was excellent, it was breakfast that caught my eye for next time.

The Avo Don on Wild farmed brown sourdough appears to be something of a house favourite, while the fluffy Egg Sando filled with boiled eggs, kewpie mayo and chives looked equally tempting.

There are also coconut pancakes, breakfast bowls and enough juices and lattes to make this a very tempting place to live near.

Parents will also appreciate the fact that children are genuinely welcome here. There's a dedicated kids' menu with classics including ‘Pancake Cloud’ and ‘Baby Bento’ and a general family-friendly feel that comes naturally rather than being engineered.

(They have even considered pram space in the layout). One of the owners has a young son himself, and that understanding of family life seems woven into the experience.

Ten years on, Jusu Brothers has become exactly what its founders hoped it would be: a place people return to again and again and judging by the number of locals dropping in while we were there, plenty already do.

Jusu Brothers , 147–149 Westbourne Grove, London W11. Also at Walworth Town Hall, Elephant & Castle. www.jusubrothers.com