Standout restaurants in Soho, London

Soho’s colourful history recounts musicians, artists, gangsters and strip-club magnates. This patchwork square mile of Georgian terraces, leafy squares and iconic venues has launched a succession of British icons and subversive subcultures, all contributing to its reputation for grit and glamour in equal measure.

Similarly compelling characters underscore Soho’s dining scene. While rising rates, rapid development and shifting commuter habits mean Soho is a touch tamer than in decades past, sidestep its corporate chains and hypebeast-magnet streetwear stores and you’ll find a thriving roster of restaurants that remain a trusty barometer of Londoners’ dining habits.

With extensive choice, picking a restaurant can feel overwhelming. Use our tried-and-tested list and you won’t go wrong.

The best restaurants in Soho

Koya

Best for: Udon noodles worth queueing for
Location: 50 Frith Street, London, W1D 4SQ
Price: ££

If in any doubt as to Koya’s location, the queue snaking down Frith Street is often the giveaway. Since opening in 2010, this slimline, walk-in-only restaurant has proved a permanently busy, reliably excellent destination for udon noodles, slurped cheek-by-jowl with other happy diners. Specialising in both hot and cold bowls of fat, round ribbons, highlights from Koya’s umami-rich menu include its English breakfast udon dish for early risers (with shiitake mushrooms, pork fat and tamagoyaki egg), smoked mackerel topped with herbs and laid on noodles, and a crunchy chicken kara-age, while pickles, feather-light vegetable tempura and chilled glasses of sake all make excellent accompaniments. Check out our interview with Koya founder and chef Shuko Oda on how travel has shaped her life and work.

Quo Vadis

Best for: A Soho institution reliably serving British classics
Location: 26-29 Dean Street, London, W1D 3LL
Price: £££

Quo Vadis’s neon sign has been a Soho fixture for decades. The restaurant and members’ club currently acts as home turf for effervescent Scottish chef Jeremy Lee, whose CV – including stints at Bibendum and Terence Conran’s Blueprint Café – places him among London’s greats. The cooking here is as charming as the man himself – who’s often seen flitting between kitchen and flower-adorned dining room, engaging with guests as they tuck into his seasonal British cooking. Beautifully inked and illustrated menus lead diners through the classics – a smoked eel sandwich shot through with fiery horseradish and pickled onion, and suet-crusted pies – plus a rotating cast of soups, terrines and baked, braised and grilled dishes, plated with a passion that always makes dining here feel like a special occasion.

Paradise

Best for: Sophisticated Sri Lankan set menus
Location: 61 Rupert Street, London, W1D 7PW
Price: ££££

It’s easy to see the influence of Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa in this brutalist concrete-walled space, sandwiched between some of Soho’s more outré shop fronts. Founder Dom Fernando spent time in his native Sri Lanka to reimagine his offering as a competitively priced (65 GBP) six-course tasting menu (vegetarian, “land” and “sea” options available). Dishes are inventive in spirit, with traditional techniques – including claypot cooking and bamboo grilling – adding colour and charisma to British ingredients. An opening snack medley features flaky kimbuli banis (a twisted pastry) with zingy chilli custard, and a curry-leaf infused steak tartare sets the tone, while the Brixham crab wattalappam and alphonso mango Magnum ice cream are all later standouts.

The Devonshire

Best for: Top tier pub grub
Location: 17 Denman Street, London, W1D 7HW
Price: £££

When The Devonshire reopened in 2023 under the stewardship of popular Irish publican Oisín Rogers, it became London’s most hyped pub almost overnight. While evenings still see the bar downstairs packed with punters wielding pints of what’s been dubbed “the best Guinness in town”, its refined upstairs dining room, wood panelled and effortlessly cosy, has deservedly created a buzz of its own. Here, chef Ashley Palmer Watts (formerly of Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck) and restaurateur Charlie Carroll have pooled their experience into an impressive showcase of British cuisine – think potted shrimp, lamb hotpot, suet pudding – and a grill section underscored by the butchery in the basement. Across an elegant handwritten menu defined by sophisticated iterations of classic dishes, the Devonshire is successfully redefining pub grub in the capital.

The French House

Best for: Gallic gastronomy above a Soho icon
Location: 49 Dean Street, London W1D 5BG
Price: £££

This storied London boozer is steeped in Soho legend – counting Charles de Gaulle, Dylan Thomas and Francis Bacon among its regulars in decades past. Yet the arrival of chef Neil Borthwick in 2018 turned its tiny upstairs dining room into a similarly compelling destination. With its burgundy walls lined with portraits and a no-mobile-phones rule keeping would-be influencers to a minimum, it’s a charismatic canvas for Borthwick’s gutsy Anglo-French cooking – calves brains on toast, magret de canard, rabbit rillettes – presented on a short, hand-written menu that, while offering little to London’s vegan contingent, is a welcome throwback to Soho’s more decadent past.

The Palomar

Best for: Levantine sharing plates cooked over fire
Location: 34 Rupert Street, London, W1D 6DN
Price: £££

The Palomar, immediately south of Shaftesbury Avenue, remains one of Soho’s best in class a decade after opening. Here, with the open kitchen in full view, chefs busy themselves cooking characterful Levantine food over fire, borrowing ingredients from the Middle East and the Med. The feather-light leavened kubaneh, served from a tin, and baharat breads make excellent vehicles for a silky choice of dips including za’atar-dusted labneh and babaganoush, before charcoal-grilled dishes including hake and lemon sole, served whole, and a punchy, harissa-seared chicken labanieh are perfectly proportioned for sharing. For the daytime crowd, a prix fixe menu offers a well-priced selection of star dishes, while the charismatic cocktail list, featuring a martini accented by shifka pepper and a spiced fig old fashioned, provide plenty of reason to linger into the evening.

Bocca di Lupo

Best for: Refined regional Italian cooking
Location: 12 Archer Street, London W1D 7BB
Price: £££

Terrazzo flooring, a gleaming countertop and art deco lighting set the tone at this sleek Italian, where the menu takes you on a vivid journey through Italy’s provinces. You might find Roman influences (fried suppli or braised tripe) or Tuscan rabbit alla cacciatora, alongside standout pasta dishes, charcuterie and grilled fish and meats. Well placed for theatreland (its set menus offering a competitive pre- or post- performance option), Bocca di Lupo remains an enduringly stylish setting. We recommend perching at the bar for a front row view of the action.

Kricket

Best for: Masterful modern Indian
Location: 12 Denman Street, London, W1D 7HJ
Price: £££

Kricket’s Soho outpost (three sibling restaurants lie in Shoreditch, Brixton and Canary Wharf) confidently plates up vibrant, modern Indian cooking amid a lively, two-storey setting of exposed brick, low lighting and inviting rattan booths. Dip in across a menu that includes crunchy bhel puri and pakoras, dayboat fish curries, and Keralan fried chicken, and mop up with brilliant breads from the tandoor oven. Stay a while longer for its clever twists on classic cocktails – including a feisty, jaggery-infused margarita.

Ducksoup

Best for: Intimate dinners and biodynamic wines
Location: 41 Dean Street, London W1D 4PY
Price: ££

This sophisticated Dean Street address – all chequered floors, candlelit tables and chalkboard menus – remains one of Soho’s most romantic bistros. A record player in the corner soundtracks lunch and dinner services, which sees chef Tom Lake serve up weekly changing menus of European-inspired sharing plates led by seasonal produce (stuffed courgette flowers and guanciale-topped clams among the stars on our visit). With its focus on natural and biodynamic suppliers, wine is a strong suit here, with frequently changing by-the-glass options giving further rationale to pop in and prop up the bar.

Kiln

Best for: Fiery regional Thai cuisine
Location: 58 Brewer Street, London, W1F 9TL
Price: ££

Kiln does not take reservations, making it an ideal choice for spontaneous dinners. Get down early to bag a counter spot for a journey to Thailand’s northern regions, which inform the gutsy cooking at founder Ben Chapman’s charismatic diner. Its concise menu sails through vivid, fragrant dishes, often cooked over fire and served with varying degrees of sweet, sour, salt and – noticeably – heat (a warning on the menu states that some dishes come very spicy). Spirited signatures include flame-seared skewers, claypot-cooked crab and pork noodles, and a fresh but feisty mullet laap mee (minced and fried with fermented shrimp paste and an array of herbs), while careful attention to sourcing (including dayboat-fresh fish and Tamworth pigs bred in Somerset) gives every dish wow factor.

10 Greek Street

Best for: Unpretentious British fare
Location: 10 Greek Street, London W1D 4DH
Price: ££

Away from the hype of London’s shoutier establishments and trend cycles, this sophisticated restaurant has been quietly serving excellent food for over a decade. Behind its white-tiled facade, this unassuming spot – billed as a “neighbourhood restaurant” – excels at stylish delicious modern British fare, with a menu of snacks, starters and mains changing daily to reflect the seasons. What can be expected, though, is a series of smart, ingredient-led dishes championing regional producers – think dayboat fish, Dexter beef, Brecon lamb – excellent flatbreads and a hand-written, frequently updated “black book” of wines to pick from.

Rita’s

Best for: Feted fried chicken and mezcal cocktails
Location: 49 Lexington Street, Carnaby, London, W1F 9AP
Price: ££

Rita’s is a brilliant bistro with impressive culinary chops, run by Missy Flynn and Gabe Pryce. Bright tiling, graphic artwork and a mezcal-lined bar (testament to Flynn’s mixologist background) set the tone, alongside a sun-trap terrace during the warmer months. A “modern American” menu flits cleverly across the continent, with Hispanic and Creole influences adding verve to seasonal British produce. The feted fried chicken is reprised in a lunchtime-only Caesar salad, while fermented chile-topped grilled shrimp, a sensational stuffed zucchini served with grits and oak-smoked pork belly are regular stars alongside the chalkboard specials. Special mention goes to a playful cocktail menu that includes mini-martinis, accompanied by jalapeno gildas, and a hibiscus-hued house margarita.

Aulis

Best for: An intimate chef’s table experience
Location: 16 St Anne’s Court, London W1F 0BF
Price: ££££

Tucked away off Soho’s main thoroughfares, this sleek 12-seat chef’s table restaurant is a laser-focused showcase of decorated Lake District chef Simon Rogan’s ingredient-led ethos, which picked up its first Michelin star in 2024. Following snacks served at the bar, each of the menu’s subsequent courses – expect upwards of 14 – comes to life across a smart stone counter as head chef Charlie Tayler and his team diligently shape, torch, tweak and tweeze inventive, intricate assemblies of produce from across the British Isles. As thrilling as it is theatrical, each sitting lasts several hours, with head sommelier Charles Carron-Brown diligently topping up glasses with lesser-known wines tailored to take guests on a journey in step with each dish.

Mountain

Best for: Iberian-inspired dishes cooked over fire
Location: 16-18 Beak Street, London, W1F 9RD
Price: £££

Building upon his wildly successful Brat restaurant in Shoreditch, chef Tomas Parry opened this hugely anticipated spot in central London in 2023. As with its predecessor, Mountain sees Parry channel inspiration from his travels across Spain – in particular the Basque Country – drawing upon relationships with first-class producers from Cornwall and his native Wales across a thrilling menu of flame-licked dishes cooked over coals. Spread over two floors, this is an impressive space, bathed in natural light with terracotta tiles underfoot and warm wood furniture. Star dishes include the John Dory, served whole with charred, caramelised edges, the berry-adorned slow roasted duck, and the Balearic-inspired whole lobster caldereta – a slow-simmered, crustacean-topped rice dish that serves four. To finish, don’t sleep on the Mallorcan ensaimada – fresh from the ovens of the on-site bakery.

Nopi

Best for: Vegetable dishes with a Middle Eastern accent
Location: 21-22 Warwick St, London W1F 9LD
Price: ££

His five million global book sales and counting is testament to the effect that Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi has had on our culinary habits over recent decades. An integral part of his London empire, this warm, welcoming Warwick Street setting – white walled and brightly lit – specialises in sharing plates inspired by Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and Asian cuisine and was billed as his first “grown up” restaurant upon its launch. Head chef Elaine Goad – who climbed the Ottolenghi ranks after starting as kitchen porter – brings colour and vibrancy to lunch, pre-theatre and dinner services, with Nopi’s vegetable dishes – aubergines roasted with tahini, fried mushrooms with Thai basil aioli and Baharat-buttered new potatoes – a particular draw.