The Soho Guide: Where To Eat, Drink & Disappear
Members' clubs above dim-sum counters, jazz basements beside 24-hour pho. Our field notes from the square-mile that never sleeps.
The brief
Soho is a village behaving like a city: barely a mile across, and you could eat here for six months and still miss the best bowl on Brewer Street. This is the working map — the places we send friends, the tables we book on a Wednesday, the rooms we don't quite tell everyone about.
Where to eat
The serious ones. Mountain for whole-fish and fire, if you can get the counter. Kiln for the clay-pot glass noodles when you want it loud and fast. Berenjak Soho for kebabs cooked properly and bread straight off the sides of the oven.
The reliable ones. Pizza Pilgrims before a show. The Breakfast Club when somebody in the group needs pancakes and there is no arguing with them. Homies on Donkeys and Yard Sale for the walk home.
The institution. Bar Italia at any hour that isn't a sensible one.
Where to drink
The French House for a half of lager, no phones, and the best people-watching in W1. The Devonshire if you have the patience for the queue and the Guinness to justify it. The Dog and Duck and The Coach and Horses for old Soho with the paint still on it. Café Boheme when you want a table on the pavement and a martini before dinner.
Late. The Blue Posts on Rupert Street, then The Glasshouse Stores, then whatever door on Berwick Street is still open.
One rule
Do not book Soho for eight o'clock on a Friday. Come at six on a Tuesday instead and the same rooms will feel like they're yours.