Soho, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

Jason Atherton’s casual Soho venue maintains its “informal but enjoyable atmosphere” in large part thanks to its “warm and welcoming” approach to service. The food is well-rated too (if not quite at the heights it once was), with numerous reporters describing their best meal of the year here – you can indulge in a “wonderful chef’s counter experience” or stick with the prix fixe menu. Hidden away upstairs is Atherton’s speakeasy, The Blind Pig.

“Romance oozes out of the walls here!” at what is – for many Londoners – “the ultimate date- night venue”: a “very intimate” (“fantastic eavesdropping possibilities!”), “historic” Dickensian townhouse that’s “old-school Soho and very welcome for it”. The “simple food” is “well-priced”, but the unbeatable “attraction is the superb wine list that’s probably the best value in London”, with “gentle markups that lure you into some wonderful bottles at great prices”; “totally lovable” and “always a joy!”.

“What a sexy dining room!” – the “all-booth seating” at Leonid Shutov’s extravagant Soho venue (each with its own ‘Push for Champagne’ button) “makes you feel like you’re in your own carriage of the Orient Express” and is perfect for “date night and important romantic celebrations” (and also for a lighthearted business meal). Even if the “luxurious” Russian-British cuisine (caviar and Beef Wellington are highlights) strikes some as a tad “overpriced”, most reporters also feel it’s “absolutely delicious”. In 2019, Shutov launched a £25m sibling Bob Bob Cité on the third floor of the City’s Cheesegrater. It inspired mixed reports and in October 2021 relaunches under the Bob Bob Ricard brand, after tweaks to the decor bringing it closer to the Soho original. In EC3, the menu will have a Russian-French leaning.

“Blown away by the food!” – Simon Rogan’s only restaurant in the capital is a “small, intimate chef’s table experience, with six diners per seating”: “an oasis of calm and elegance”. When it first opened a few years ago, they only told you where it was after you had booked, but in recent times they have become much less ‘secret squirrel’ about its location off a Soho alleyway. It has also recently ditched its single-offering, all-in £195 per head format (which included all food and drinks) in favour of a more conventional £125 per head tasting menu, with various drinks offerings. “With just half a dozen customers, it offers an excellent chance to chat with fellow diners and the fabulous chefs and hear the story of the food”. “The chefs do a great job of preparing and hosting at the same time”, and the food is “exceptional and original”. “Three hours speed by in a jiffy”. This year’s only complaint? – “the ground hazelnut topping could have benefitted from being slightly coarser!”.

2021 Review: “Utterly magic shakshuka served with chunks of roasted sourdough…”, “stand-out salt beef bagels…”, “incredible coffee with a selection of babka sweet breads (in different flavours!)…”, “ZFC – ‘za’atar fried chicken’ – to die for!…” – these “bustling” Israeli delis in Stoke Newington and Soho’s Kingly Court create queues (especially at brunch) with their “quite exceptional and startlingly fresh Middle-Eastern-cum-north-American food. They also make a worthwhile destination at dinner, when the pace is more sedate, the natural wines are flowing and you can actually book a table”. “Casual and relaxed”, they look “gorgeous” too.

This all-day brasserie from the Soho House group – on home territory in the heart of Soho – is “a great ‘go-to’ place” and serves “the best breakfast in the area” (fittingly, since it is attached to a hotel). “The atmosphere is brilliant” and overall it’s “a really fun place to spend a few hours, although the food isn’t as good as it likes to think”.

Dining in the “grande dame of Soho restaurants”, now edging towards her centenary year, is “always a treat”, with “wonderful ambience”, “small but perfectly formed menu” and “fine cuisine” from Jeremy Lee. There is also a slightly more cautious school of thought on the place, which says: “the food doesn’t knock your socks off, but overall it’s a great place for a meal”. These days it shares the premises – formerly a brothel and home to Karl Marx – with a private members’ club and the Hart Brothers’ Barrafina.

Holy Guacamole, Batman! The basement near Piccadilly Circus that was Mash Steakhouse (RIP) has been taken over by Wonderland Restaurant group, in association with Warner Bros and DC. With their evil master plan it’s been relaunched. But not just as a themed diner. Oh no! But a ‘Gastronomic Amusement Park’ with five restaurants, three bars and 330 covers in total. For the 20-seat Monarch Theatre experience, enjoy 11-courses for… £195 per person. Great Scott!! There are some serious folks in the kitchen here, though. Executive chef at The Monarch, Karl O’Dell, was formerly head chef of the sadly now defunct, but superb, Texture (RIP).

The vibe might seem very loose at this rackety Soho bar, but the Italian-North African small plates are “surprisingly filling and delicious”. There’s also an “adventurous walk through the natural wine list” and the opportunity to select music from the vinyl selection.

“What a delightful spot”, just off Piccadilly Circus (“my favourite place at the moment, both inside and in the courtyard, love the overall vibe”). The food is “simple but well cooked” and comes at a “fair price”, making it “great for pre-theatre” and “an absolute bargain for lunch”, while the classic hotel afternoon tea is served with some style and “always reliable”.

The Gladwin Brothers – behind The Shed, Rabbit and Nutbourne – graduated to the West End in autumn 2019, with the opening of this new ‘local and wild’ venture, on the site of Arbutus (long RIP). It’s a U-shaped space, with a bar at the entrance, and tables for eating tucked around the corner. (In the basement, there’s a chef’s table for 20). Produce is from the family farm on the South Downs, but the menu here is less sharing plates focused than at its siblings. The odd reporter feels the results from an “appealing menu” are “OK but not memorable”, but most feedback says it’s “very good”.

“The most sensational-looking dining room” – a “so lively” (“far too loud”?) converted banking hall in Ian Shrager’s Edition hotel – overshadows Jason Atherton’s food at this fashionable Fitzrovia haunt. Fans do hail cooking they say is “lovely”, but it “miscues” too often for comfort, and its harshest critics now place it “essentially at gastropub level”. Even critics, though, suspect the place will “carry on pulling people in”.

The “intimate” dining room above one of Soho’s most historic bars is “the perfect spot for a Soho lunch” (“before a pint at Norman’s” for the full media in-crowd experience). Fittingly, it serves “good French food” – “seasonal stuff done deftly” – which you can “eat while admiring the history-laden walls” that tell the tale of General de Gaulle and his Free French, who kept their spirits up here during WWII exile. The kitchen is now run by Neil Borthwick, Angela Hartnett’s other half. And it was here, 30 years ago, that Fergus Henderson of St John first made his mark as a chef.

“No better place to unwind with a great bottle of wine in central London”, say early fans of this new (since September 2020) heart-of-Soho hideaway: a cosy, underground haunt that was previously known as Trade (a members-only club for those in the hospitality industry) and which was relaunched by the same team as a ‘boutique late-night wine bar’ and restaurant that’s open to all. Master sommeliers Gearoid Devaney and Xavier Rousset stock a walk-in Coravin cellar with well-priced fine wines sold by the glass. The menu is simple stuff – charcuterie, cheese, steak, some tapas-y sharing plates – but really comes into its own in the wee hours as the place is open till 1am early in the week and 3am at weekends. “Small mark-ups on the ‘black book’ wine list with both classics and under the radar gems, plus great cocktails and decent food means it’s worth venturing into this basement hangout”.

Star chef Luke Selby (former head chef of Hide), together with brothers Nathaniel and Theo, now runs this intimate 10-seat counter experience in the cellar of the 275-year-old Blue Posts pub in Chinatown, which melds a love of British produce, Japanese techniques and classic French training. We’ve rated it on limited but outstanding initial feedback and the impossibility of getting a table – bookings are released on the first of every month, at midday.

Briefly branded ‘No 5 Social’, Jason Atherton’s “fun” bistro sits on the other side of the street from his original ‘Social’ mothership. Chef Frankie van Loo’s relatively straightforward menu is well-priced (three courses for £35) and wins solid support.

“An admirable replacement for the Gay Hussar and a great sibling to the original Noble Rot” – this legendary Soho site (founded as the Gay Hussar in 1953, and closed in 2018) has been rejuvenated by Dan Keeling and Mark Andrew and re-opened in September 2020. Even in its heyday, the point of a meal here was to polish off a conspiratorial bottle of wine or two, rather than critiquing its stodgy Hungarian scoff. So its resurrection by a wine-focussed group feels like a true continuation of its former spirit and “there is no end to exploring the wine list” which recreates the excellence of the first Noble Rot; as does its “warm, knowledgeable and impressively passionate service”. The interior was always “really lovely” and retains its still old-fashioned looks, with dark wood-panelling and cartoons from Martin Rowson. Meanwhile “the food quality has been transformed for the better” (thank heavens!) with chef Paul Weaver (aided by input from The Sportsman’s Stephen Harris) “maintaining a more-than-respectful nod to the past” by including the odd Mitteleuropean note in what’s essentially a hearty, modern European menu. “Love it!”

2019 Review: “An old treasure given the Nick Jones treatment… welcome back!” – this resurrected Soho landmark gets the thumbs-up from most who have visited after its swish revamp care of the Soho House group, certainly for its “handsome looks” (including the gorgeous bar). Its “initially underwhelming-looking” brasserie menu can “deliver real joy”, even if overall ratings for the cooking are rather more middling.

“The food is one star turn” (the wine is the other) at this “small and spartan” Soho wine bar, frequented by wine-trade insiders. There’s an “interesting menu, short but imaginative”, with “beautiful combinations of textures and flavours that make a very special meal”. Ask the “knowledgeable front-of-house staff” for tips on the day’s handwritten ‘Black Book’ list of fine wines.

“More relaxed than some other more pompous establishments” – Jason Atherton’s renowned Mayfair HQ maintained strong ratings this year. “So slick and so professional” – “you can’t help but smile when you eat his food”, which is “reliably superb, as is the warm welcome”. “It’s definitely the kind of place men take their girlfriends to propose – fabulously glamorous.”