The best restaurants in Soho

Though based on Taiwanese street food dishes, the kitchen pushes far beyond those boundaries. The restaurant’s name derives from gua bao: fluffy white steamed buns, in this case filled with braised pork, sprinkled with peanut powder. Other sorts of bao (bun) are more slider-like. Yet buns are only half the story. Xiao chi (small eats) are given equal prominence, and the drinks list (well-matched beers, chilled foam tea, glorious peanut milk, and ten-year-aged oolong teas) is distinguished. 

The move from Frith Street to a new home alongside the Hart Brothers’ Quo Vadis hasn’t dented Barrafina’s allure – or shortened the seemingly endless queues outside this no-bookings star of London’s tapas scene. Fans still clamour for perches at the L-shaped marble counter, while the chefs continue to dole out dazzlers such as oozing tortillas and milk-fed lamb’s sweetbreads to go with picks from a knockout list of Spanish wines and sherries.

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 over the open kitchen and plump for one of the innovative grills. Our favourite was 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.

Here’s a delightful distraction in the heart of Soho – a French fantasy complete with stripped furniture, objects d’art and a menu that’s as Gallic as ‘La Marseillaise’. Whether you fancy the oozing camembert or a mighty helping of braised lamb shoulder with anchovies and soubise sauce (made from onions), the cooking is all about fine ingredients and bourgeois sensibilities. Thankfully, the genial French-speaking staff are quite unlike their more brusque Parisian counterparts.

The buzz is as important as the food at Jacob Kenedy and Victor Hugo’s enduringly popular restaurant. Dine at the bar and you’re in for a fun time – especially if you sit by the window, where you can watch celebs swan into the clamorous dining room. The menu is a (slightly confusing) jumble of small and large plates celebrating the best of artisan regional Italian cooking – all supported by an enticing selection of cocktails and an impressive all-Italian wine list.

Like a breath of sea air wafting through a Soho side street, Bonnie Gull mixes the brand’s now-familiar bucket-and-spade seaside aesthetic with some ritzy urban touches – swathes of marble, modish brass light fittings and so on. Fastidiously fresh fish is the kitchen’s forte, from Shetland mussels with ’nduja and crème fraîche to Brixham brill with lemon olive oil. Really affable service seals the deal.

You know where you are with the Burger & Lobster chain – and this flashily decorated Soho branch is no exception. Obviously, everything hinges on the titular combo of hand-minced burgers (made from Nebraskan beef) and lobsters (shipped over from Nova Scotia), although B&L have tweaked their offer of late, adding a veggie black bean burger and a brioche roll with chilled lobster and Japanese mayo to the menu. There are also some lush desserts if you still have room.

A beautiful blast from the past on twentieth-century Shaftesbury Avenue, Café Monico comes on like a swanky grand café from the belle époque era – complete with a covetable upstairs gallery overlooking the action. The music’s loud and jazzy, service is sharp and the menu offers up a greatest-hits selection of French brasserie fare, like the confit duck leg, with continental add-ons, such as the tiramisu. Bravo!

Martin Morales (aka Mr Ceviche) knows how to give his restaurants the X-factor, and the technicolour Peruvian party happening inside this sober Soho townhouse is no exception. Casita Andina is the love-child of Ceviche and Andina – its menu combines the pisco sours and ceviches that made us fall for Morales’ first-born with the superfood-laden dishes popular at its follow-up. From your first pisco sour through to the modern takes on the tamal, shambar and pachamanca, to the picarones (traditional doughnuts) for dessert, there’s never a dull mouthful.

The Peruvian party hasn’t stopped on Frith Street since Ceviche showed up: Martin Morales’s restaurant-bar (and his joie de vivre) seems to have struck a chord with Londoners. Pisco cocktails alone are worth a visit, but the food is just as impressive. Obviously the star of the show is ceviche. Order with corn cakes, fresh and vibrant salads packed with avocado and lightly spiced chicken dishes and you’ll be feeling higher than a gap-year student on a Peruvian journey of self-discovery.

From those devilishly clever mavericks at Camden’s experimental Chin Chin Labs, this Soho venue is famous for its out-there ice creams but bills itself as a Dessert Club – so expect plenty of saccharine surprises along the way. Perch at the bleacher-style bench in the centre of the lurid marble and gold room and indulge in wacky Willy Wonka treats galore. Anyone up for the compressed strawberry ice cream topped with chocolate fudge sauce?

Good times beckon at Chotto Matte – a vast Frith Street rendezvous that takes Japanese-Peruvian fusion (aka Nikkei cuisine) and really cranks up the volume. On the ground floor is an enormous bar (a seething mass of suits and glamour pusses, drinking cocktails against a vivid manga-style mural), while the upstairs restaurant serves up new-style sushi, tostaditas, robata-grilled bits and tempura.  

Generous tacos served with lashings of old-school hospitality is the deal at Corazón – an unassuming, cosy and sincere taqueria custom-built for Soho’s hungry hordes. Head to the bar and counter for cocktails and nibbles; sit in the main space for a full-on nosh – perhaps chicken tostadas followed by tacos filled with slow cooked pork shoulder. Gentle prices, genial service.

Escape Carnaby’s touristy throngs at this bubbly rendezvous from the Salt Yard Group, where most punters sit elbow-to elbow at long communal tables. Everyone’s here for the hybrid Spanish/Italian tapas menu, which promises acorn-fed porcine treats galore, alongside artisan cheeses and creative morsels such as confit salt cod with chives and ’nduja. Iberian wines and sociable staff ensure an upbeat, uptown vibe.

Out of the same stable as Salt Yard, Dehesa and Opera Tavern, Ember Yard builds on the strengths of its forebears, using Italian as well as Spanish tapas-style dishes and techniques as inspiration. What sets Ember Yard apart from its siblings is an even greater emphasis on the grill – if you’ve ever eaten in the Basque country (or even, er, Dalston), you’ll know what we mean. Get up close and smoky by sitting near the glowing coals. 

Whether you’re already hooked on the (not so cheap) thrills of super-premium Kobe beef – or simply want to try it for size – this bijou Japanese eatery should do the trick.  Inside, it looks the business (dig the ornate typographic chandelier), while the menu offers a range of elegant dishes best sampled via the full omakase menu. Lunchtime bento boxes also keep things serene ’n’ clean. 

The counter seating and stools at this pared-back branch of Fernandez & Wells may not encourage lingering, but there are few better drop-ins for a coffee in Soho. This place bustles throughout the day, staff are polite and eager to please, and their caffeine fixes are absolutely spot-on. If you’re peckish, they do a great selection of inventive sandwiches and tempting homemade cakes too.

This Sri Lankan stunner may have a chilled aesthetic, with its vintage/modern interiors, no-bookings policy and focus on street-food dishes. However, it’s from the team behind Gymkhana, Bao and Bubbledogs, so bet your bottom rupee that a slick experience awaits. The queue set-up is dignified and the food is worth the wait: the eponymous savoury pancakes are crisp and chewy in all the right places, the karis are full of flavour, and starters such as goat roti are unmissable. But no dessert menu? Sacrilege!

A longboard outside the door talks up the breezy surfing vibe at this addition to the surging poké roadshow – an airy spot with a clean Asiatic look and a menu of Hawaiian-style raw fish salad bowls. Choose one of the ready-mades or build-your-own from the colourful pick ’n’ mix assembly line. Seating is limited, but Honi is just fine for a grab-and-go lunch or an early-evening refresher.    

With a flaming charcoal grill in its centre and a menu offering a mish mash of Asian creations, Inko Nito on Broadwick Street is the laid-back Japanese fusion restaurant you need in your life. Breadcrumb fried chicken comes with a yoghurt and peanut dip, and the maki rolls, like the one with korean fried cauliflower (dubbed ‘The KFC’), are innovative.

In case you’ve been out of touch, poké is the latest craze – an on-trend alternative to high-carb sandwiches and expense-account sushi in the shape of virtuously healthy Hawaiian-inspired raw fish salad bowls. The Island chain is one of the frontrunners, offering a build-your-own bowl in a tiny interior that marries a South Pacific beach-shack vibe with a heavy R&B soundtrack.

There’s no stopping the Ivy’s bandwagon at the moment, so it was only a matter of time before it pitched camp in Soho. This Broadwick Street brasserie is a colourful cosmopolitan prospect, a shoo-in for business lunchers, shoppers, families, theatregoers and everyone in between. Expect an all-day menu of crowd-pleasing Ivy classics and elevated ‘dinner party’ cooking – plus just about any beverage you care to name. 

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.

This sequel to the 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, most baked in clay pots over Thai tao (charcoal barbecues). It’s pure theatre for food lovers, and the resulting 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.

A spin-off from the original shipping-container pop-up in Brixton (now closed), Kricket’s Soho site adds a stylish, sophisticated vibe to its short menu of brilliantly conceived Anglo-Indian small plates. Try the keralan fried chicken or the ‘coronation’ smoked mackerel. Spiced-up cocktails and masala chai also cut the mustard.

Though its food certainly passes muster, it’s this restaurant’s concept that earns it bucket-list status (you won’t hear us saying that very often). Hidden behind/beneath its sex-shop façade, La Bodega Negra continues to befuddle first-timers – especially as the ‘shop assistants’ play along even after you’ve worked up the courage to enter. The dining room is so dark, sultry and downright Mexican that you half-expect Salma Hayek to sashay past. Order some cocktails, ignore the prices and let the good times roll.

It had to happen, didn’t it? We’ve had gourmet burgers, gourmet hot dogs and gourmet fried chicken. Now it's the kebab's turn. And the kebabs here are beautiful. They have an almost Scandinavian look, being served ‘open sandwich’-style, the contents painstakingly arranged over a thin, house-made flatbread. It almost seems a pity to roll them up. Fillings change with the seasons, with preserved, charred and fermented ingredients adding to the Nordic vibe.

This restaurant is a carb-fest with a difference: Leggero is totally gluten-free. Standout dishes include the ‘bruschetta trio’ – featuring gorgonzola, honey and broccoli cream – and the fresh handmade tomato pappardelle. It’s somewhere gluten-free diners could happily take friends for dinner, without dreading the inevitable comparisons with how food is ‘supposed’ to taste.

Three quarters of a century after opening its deli, Soho’s Lina Stores has launched this restaurant proper. Go hard on the pasta: think al dente pici (hand-rolled, worm-like), gnudi (ricotta and semolina dumplings) and squid ink spaghetti. There’s a trattoria-esque downstairs area but the best seats are at the street-level counter.

This offshoot of the Borough Market original has atmosphere by the bucket load – and you can expect a properly effusive Spanish welcome too. Food-wise, Lobos is all about meat – or, more specifically, prime cuts of Ibérico pig, which might turn up as croquetas, meatballs, grills or sliders (with anchovy mayo and pickled cabbage).  There are also plenty of non-porcine tapas on offer.

Japanese home-cooking from the people behind Kanada-Ya, this clean little restaurant is dishing up simple plates at affordable prices. Nothing’s compromised to suit a Western palate: take the dessert of matcha roll cake with green tea cream and azuki yokan (a jelly made from red bean paste). But there are classics here too, like panko-breaded pork with tonkatsu sauce.

Nopi’s chef-owner is Yotam Ottolenghi, who struck culinary gold with his game-changing Ottolenghi cafés. This is a more formal, more grown-up take on proceedings that shares the same look and ethos – right down to the inventive fusion of Middle Eastern cuisine with bold forays into the Mediterranean and Asia. Nopi isn’t the greatest bargain in town, and two-hour table slots are strictly enforced – but the wide-ranging wine list has some excellent (if pricey) selections to wash down the decent food.

Pastaio on Ganton Street is like the Italian version of a large ramen joint (only serving pasta). The music is loud, there’s an open kitchen billowing steam and row upon row of communal tables. It’s all about the pasta, with lashings of butter and parmesan. Go for the carbonara made with bucatini (thick spaghetti) or the weekly-changing special of stuffed pasta.

Introduced to London by Alan Yau and Rocco Princi in 2008, this smart outpost of a Milanese bakery chain remains a popular all-day option. It’s a good-looking room, and the food is varied enough to keep diners coming back for more: as well as cakes, pastries and breads, there’s a choice of filled focaccia, hot dishes, slices of pizza and lots of attractive salads. Prices are higher than average, but it’s all quality, seasonal stuff. The bakery is (somewhat chaotic) counter service, while the adjoining pizzeria offers table service and a marginally calmer atmosphere.

You know what they say: practice makes perfect. And Harry Edmeades, aka Señor Ceviche, has had plenty of practice. In 2012, after a stint at Lima’s renowned ceviche restaurant El Mercado, the 25-year-old British chef came back to London and started Don Ceviche, a pop-up with just five ceviches (raw fish cured in citrus juice). Then he spent another two years perfecting and expanding the menu before launching this ‘proper’ restaurant. 

Like Bone Daddies and Flesh & Buns before it, Ross Shonhan’s Shackfuyu is another self-styled rock ’n’ roll take on modern Japanese cuisine. Originally billed as a long-term pop-up, it’s now gone permanent and that’s great news all round. There’s nothing on the menu we don’t fancy – from the tuna tacos with avocado to the wagyu beef laced with a ginger soy dressing.

If you like fun food, then do the Shuang Shuang – this stylish Chinese hotpot specialist ticks all the boxes when it comes to playing with your dinner. First, you don a plastic bib; next, you choose a broth; then, you mix your own dip. After that, you go crazy plucking filling ingredients from the revolving belt, in ironic Yo! Sushi style. The many filling options – from scallops to fish balls, luncheon meat and tripe – also make Shuang Shuang a refreshing antidote to one-dish menus.

Jason Atherton’s Michelin-starred Soho enclave is one of his more frenetic outposts – a sprawling dining room with exposed brick walls, traditional white-washed copper ceilings and a menu of reimagined modern cooking delivered by a profoundly skilled brigade. Sharing jars, steaks and sundaes sit alongside pitch-perfect dishes such as roasted Cornish hake with aubergine, capers and bone marrow butter. Savvy Soho drinkers use a separate entrance to access the Blind Pig cocktail bar upstairs.

Brindisa began as an importer of quality Spanish ingredients in the late 1980s, but its founders later segued into hospitality, launching the first of their small chain of tapas restaurants in Borough Market in 2004. This branch is the first to shift focus from tapas to cooked meats – roasts, grills, and slow-cooked braises – in a modern take on the Spanish asador. The handsome, low-lit dining room features sleek tiling, copper light fittings, and a central marble-topped bar-cum-kitchen.

Fun-loving music, good-time vibes and smokin’ hunks of meat sizzling over the fiery coals – that’s the instantly addictive deal at this windowless basement dive dreamed up by chef Neil Rankin (of Smokehouse fame). Impossibly juicy steak keeps it simple, while assorted tacos play fast and loose with their exotic fillings – take the smoked goat. Delirious puds, meanwhile, are guaranteed to finish you off.

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 geezers. The daily-changing menu – cooked up by Neil Borthwick (ex-head chef of Merchant’s Tavern) – is crammed with seasonal French and British fare. It all tastes brilliant – gutsy, stripped back and practically cutting-edge.