Soho Archives - opentable.co.uk blog

Dine after dark: London’s best late-night restaurants

OpenTable January 30, 2018

With restaurants serving burgers, breakfasts, tacos and pizza until the early hours, London’s late-night dining options go far beyond fast food. If you’re in the market for a midnight feast, here are 12 restaurants to keep in mind.

Pizza East – For a late night feast in Shoreditch, you can always rely on Pizza East. The kitchen is open until 1am on Friday and Saturday and ticks all the comfort food boxes, whether you fancy pizza, lasagne, or their famous lamb meatballs.

Bar Italia – This family-run café has been at the heart of Soho for over 60 years and it’s still going strong. It’s open until 5am every day except Sunday, so you can pop in for coffee, grab a panini, and soak up the late-night buzz.

VQ – Open 24 hours a day, VQ now has four London restaurants offering late-night salvation in the form of pancakes, cheeseburgers, sticky ribs, and lots more besides. We’re big fans of their milkshakes and mocktails.

El Camion – A Mexican restaurant (with a quirky basement bar) that serves tacos, burritos and quesadillas until 2am (Wed-Sat). If you’re not already tipsy when you arrive, their Margaritas will get you well on your way.Continue Reading

Dine with Pride: Rainbow bites to try this weekend

OpenTable July 7, 2017

This weekend, thousands of people will descend on the West End to celebrate Pride in London. If you’re planning to watch the parade or party the night away, let’s face it – you’re going to get hungry. Plan ahead and book a restaurant in Soho or check out these Pride-inspired dishes and drinks. From glittery hot dogs to rainbow houmous, there’s something for everyone to get stuck into.

Rainbow houmous at The Real Greek
For one day only, The Real Greek in Soho will be transforming their classic houmous into the rainbow dip of your dreams! They’re using natural ingredients to enhance the colour and flavour of the dish – spinach, yellow pepper and turmeric, red pepper, and beetroot – and every order comes with free crudités for dunking
Ab Fab cocktail at Old Bengal Bar
In celebration of Pride, bar manager Tomas Vykopal has created the ‘Ab Fab’ cocktail – a blend of Ketel One vodka, watermelon liqueur, blue curacao, pineapple juice, sugar, and lemon juice. Enjoy it on the terrace with a few bar snacks or head next door to New Street Grill for dinner. (Note: The cocktail is available on Saturday 8th July only)
Rainbow desserts at Balls & Company
Escape the busy parade route and head to Balls & Company, a meatball restaurant on Greek Street. They’ve created a special trio of desserts for Pride – a Psychedelic Pavlova, Whiskey Rainbow Marshmallow, and Tongue Twister Rainbow Doughnuts. The desserts will be on sale outside the restaurant this Saturday.
Pride Duos at Bite Me Burger Co
Over at Bite Me Burger Co, they’re celebrating with Pride Duos – a set of two mini burgers that come as an identical pair. For just £8, you’ll get two mini-burgers of aged beef, gorgonzola, truffle aioli, rocket, pancetta and balsamic onions. Treat a mate or scoff them both yourself – the choice is yours.
Purple Rain hot dog at Bubbledogs
The team at Bubbledogs have excelled themselves with this Purple Rain hot dog. It’s topped with southern BBQ sauce, buttermilk coleslaw, and a ton of edible purple glitter. Head to Trafalgar Square this Saturday to try it for yourself or order it via Deliveroo. (Don’t forget a side of fries with rainbow aioli.)
Rainbow salad at Oslo
At Oslo, a bar-restaurant and music venue in Hackney, they’re serving a fresh Rainbow Salad all weekend long. It’s pretty much your five-a-day on a plate, with cherry tomatoes, peppers, carrot, feta, cucumber, spinach, red cabbage, and a homemade basil oil dressing. As an added bonus, £1 from every salad sold will be donated to UKLGIG, a charity supporting asylum-seeking individuals from the LGBTQ community.
Rainbow bao at Bun House
The Cantonese steamed bun café on Greek Street is serving up a limited edition rainbow custard bao this Saturday. You’ll need to be quick – there are only 250 up for grabs – but if you miss out, their regular sweet and savoury buns are just as delicious.
The Dead Happie at MEATliquor
You can’t improve on perfection, but you can roll it in glitter. MEATliquor are giving their iconic Dead Hippie burger a new look for Pride, with a steamed pink bun and a generous scattering of pink glitter. You can order it on Saturday via Deliveroo or catch them at Trafalgar Square where there will be live music, bars and more.

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If you’re out and about in Soho this weekend, you can use the OpenTable app to find and book restaurants nearby.

8 of the best UK food festivals to visit in June

OpenTable June 7, 2017

There are some fantastic food festivals to visit this month, so get your tickets sorted and cross your fingers for sunshine! We’ve rounded up eight of the best but you can find lots more using this handy Food Festival Finder.

Cheltenham Food & Drink Festival – 9-11^th June

Held in the beautiful Montpelier Gardens, this three-day festival showcases some fantastic local and national food and drink producers. This year’s highlights include wine tastings, food talks, and a cooking demo from Theo Randall.

Soho Food Feast – 10-11^th June

This annual food festival brings together some of London’s top restaurants to raise money for Soho Parish primary school. Last year they raised an incredible £49,000! Swap your cash for tokens and try dishes from restaurants like Blacklock, Wright Brothers, Som Saa and Patty & Bun. Once you’ve eaten your fill, you can kick back and enjoy wine and cocktails, live music, cooking demos, and a raffle with some amazing foodie prizes.

Feeling lucky? Head over to Instagram for your chance to win two premium tickets to Soho Food Feast.Continue Reading

Going underground: London’s best basement bars and restaurants

OpenTable March 23, 2017

Some of the best dining and drinking London has to offer is tucked away, out of sight and, unfortunately, out of mind. That changes here, because we’re bringing some of the best underground bars and restaurants to light. Fancy drinking in an old air raid shelter-cum-retro bar, or eating in a former sex shop? Think windows and pleasant views of the outdoors are overrated? Then you’re in the right place.

Cahoots, Soho

Like most cities, London has it up to here with vintage-inspired cocktail bars. Cahoots, though, is an exception. In the event as you haven’t had enough of the Tube on your morning commute, Cahoots goes a long way in emulating it, from the hideous (but accurate) patterns on the seats, to the windows looking out to nothing but billboards and brick walls. Couple that with the fact the space used to be an air raid shelter, and it’s fair to say the post-war theme they’re going for is very much on point.

Brasserie Zedel, Piccadilly

If we told you there’s a good, affordable – yet fairly opulent – restaurant in a basement just off Regent Street, we’d probably get some strange looks. But then, have you been to Brasserie Zedel? The 220-cover restaurant specialises in oh-mon-dieu classic French fare – coq au vin, steak tartare, boeuf bourguignon, and the like – often for under a tenner. C’est incroyable.Continue Reading