Two rooms one kitchen
A lane, a shutter, and a lantern that tells you whether to bother.
Everything is cooked at Kettle Lane. The window at Dunbar Street gets one pot a night, carried up the road at nine, and closes when it is empty. If the lantern over either door is dark, so is the pot.
The counter · since 2016
Kettle Lane
Last bowl goes out thirty minutes before close, or the moment the third pot is scraped — whichever comes first.
- Address
- 6 Kettle Lane, Northbridge
- Seats
- 14 at the counter, 2 booths of four
- Phone
- +1 (415) 555-0163
Hours
- MondayClosed — broth day
- Tue – Thu6pm – 1am
- Fri – Sat6pm – 3am
- Sunday6pm – midnight
Last bowl thirty minutes before close. Kitchen stops taking orders the moment the third pot is scraped, and on a good Friday that has happened before ten.
Where to sit, and what it is like there
Stools one to four
Directly in front of the pass. You will be spoken to, you will be handed things, and you will watch every bowl in the room get built. Loud, hot, and the reason most people come back.
Stools five to nine
The middle of the counter, under the lanterns. The warmest part of the room in winter and the best place to sit on your own with a book nobody will ask you about.
Stools ten to fourteen
Nearest the shutter. Quieter, slightly draughty between November and February, and the only stools where two people can hear each other properly after midnight.
The two booths
At the back, four each, and the only seats that take a booking. High-backed, dim, and far enough from the pass that you can have a conversation that lasts longer than a bowl.
Getting to Kettle Lane
- On foot — the lane runs off the north end of Harrow Street. It looks like a service entrance. It is the right one.
- Night bus — the N4 and N11 both stop at Harrow & Vine, two minutes away, and run until half past four.
- By car — do not. The lane is loading-only until 7am and the nearest car park shuts at eleven, which is precisely when you would want to leave.
- Last train — 12:41 from Northbridge Central. Plenty of people miss it on purpose and stay until three.
Getting in
- Step-free — one shallow ramp at the door, no step at the threshold, and the counter has two low stools that come out on request.
- The booths are reachable without passing the counter, along the left wall.
- Accessible WC — through the back, shared with the building, key on the hook by the till.
- Hearing — the counter is genuinely loud between eleven and one. If that is difficult, book a booth or come before eight.
One pot. Chalked on the shutter at nine.
Standing room · since 2023
The Dunbar Window
One broth a night, chalked on the shutter at nine. When it is gone the shutter comes down, and that has happened before eleven.
- Address
- Stall 12, Dunbar Street Market
- Room
- 6 standing, no bookings, no booths
- Phone
- +1 (415) 555-0177
- Wed – Thu9pm – 2am
- Fri – Sat9pm – 4am
- Sun – TueClosed
The counter is walk-in. The booths are not.
Fourteen stools stay open to whoever turns up, at every hour we are open. If you need a seat you can count on, the two booths take a booking up to three weeks out.