Ignore this test 5

Old Soho looms large at Quo Vadis. This elegantly bohemian members’ club heaves with history, despite the fact that its public dining room received a thorough makeover at the start of 2023. Previously a dark and moody mystery, with the restaurant’s floorspace doubled, this once rather poky room is now wonderfully welcoming. Eat alongside glamorous wine-swilling pals and oyster-slurping folk who look like artists – even if they’re not – who feasting on congenial chef Jeremy Lee’s indulgent takes on classic British food. 

Evoking the traditional feel of a Japanese udon-ya, this casual eatery wouldn’t be out of place in Tokyo. A blond-wood counter dominates the long narrow space (chefs on one side, diners on the other) but it still feels spacious and airy. And there’s now a diddy table out the front, too. Koya classics such as udon with mushrooms and walnut miso (kinoko) are available here, as is breakfast – try the ‘English breakfast’ udon: an earthy broth topped with fried egg, bacon and shiitake mushrooms.

Head to the top floor of this old-school boozer to the teeny dining room, which is decked out with black-and-white pictures of salty old Soho geezers. The daily-changing menu – cooked up by Neil Borthwick (ex-head chef of The Merchant’s Tavern) – is crammed with seasonal French and British fare. It all tastes brilliant – gutsy, stripped back and practically cutting-edge.

A small ‘modern Filipino’ restaurant from the same group behind Kentish Town’s culty Panadera Bakery and Mamasons Dirty Ice Cream, Donia offer a brief but masterful menu of rousing, flavour-packed gastronomy. Think prawn and pork dumplings with white crab, thick-cut sea bream kinilaw, massive lobster ginataan with creamy coconut and pumpkin sauce and sensational lamb shoulder caldereta pie. 

Home of the best prawn tempura hand roll in the city, this Winnett Street sushi joint is so humble you could walk past it and never realise it was there. When marking up the dishes you’d like on the paper menu, don’t hold back; as well as those hand rolls, there are street-food snacks, sushi and sashimi.

In little over a decade the French pleasure palace that is Brasserie Zédel has become a London landmark. Long gone is Zedel’s famed two courses for under a tenner deal, but the prix fixe menu remains, it’s just a little more prix-y than before. That said, two courses for £16.95 (or three for £19.75) remains decent value for a zingy mound of dijon-drizzled carottes râpées followed by the house speciality of steak haché – another mound, this time of chopped steak with peppercorn sauce and perfect fries. Slam a creme brulee on the end and you’ve got yourself a fabulous three course dinner for under £20, a real rarity in Soho. 

The sequel to Ben Chapman’s original Thai barbecue joint Smoking Goat is a slam dunk. Sit up at the stainless-steel counter and watch the chefs stoke and tame the fires to produce authentic-tasting northern Thai dishes, baked in clay pots over the charcoal barbecue. It’s pure theatre for food lovers, and the dishes boast memorably intense flavours – from the dry spice rubs used on the fresher-than-fresh fish, to the lashings of ginger and spice in the beef-neck curry. 

This is a place to see and be seen. Interiors-wise it’s all super-cosy with diner-style red leather booths, wood furnishings, a rustic Mexican tiled bar and even a much-coveted central London enclosed garden space out back. If you’re looking for a place to catch-up with pals in central London and want to watch the world go by with some superior snacks and a corker of a cocktail, then this is the place to be.

This boho-chic Persian joint, from the group behind Bao and Hoppers, may be small but it still packs a punch. Take a seat with views of the open kitchen and plump for one of the innovative grills. Our favourite is the poussin: its charred, blackened edges offset its chilli, red pepper, sumac and garlic marinade. Berenjak is vibrant and atmospheric, with eager-to-please staff, and a bill that won’t kill.

Kaneda Pen has set out to create the only dedicated Cambodian eatery in London, starting with this 12-month residency at the Sun & 13 Cantons pub in Soho. It’s long been hard to find Khmer food in the capital, but rather than offering super trad dishes, Kaneda has brought a few soulful twists to the table, such as braised beef tattie mince noodles, a bowl of endearingly sloppy, meaty noods given a Scottish makeover, then lavished with cucumber, a riot of spring onion and ribbons of red chilli. Charred carrot and lumencent chilli are the kings of the pickle platter, and dank and hefty hunks of pork neck and juicy, almost candied, mushroom skewers set the high bar. Sweetness hums through most, if not all, of Mamapen’s dishes. Personally, I’m a big fan of food with the palpable twang of candyfloss, but those with a more savoury tooth might not dig it quite as deeply. Which is a shame, because this is effortless, enticing cookery, done with a coy wink and a classy shimmy.