A look inside Sola, and a sneak peek at the excellent cheese trolley
Remind us about Sola?
SOLA comes from chef Victor Garvey and showcases what it calls "creative Californian cooking" in a small Soho restaurant. It's one of only a few fine dining restaurants in Soho (there's quite the contrast between the serene restaurant itself and the bustling streets outside) and it's had a Michelin star since 2021.
Why are you returning now?
We've been lucky to visit SOLA on various occasions, offering us a rare opportunity to see how a restaurant's food and service develop over time.
So what was the menu for this visit?
There are a couple of options on offer. There's the full-on tasting menu for £169 for 7 courses or the lunchtime option of four courses for £99. Note that both options come with lots of extras, with some courses split into multiple dishes. We decided to go full-on and opt for the tasting menu.
Here's how that turned out:
Kicking off with some excellent canapes. Those alpine strawberry and foie gras meringues (left) were superb.
Cauliflower chawanmushi with cauliflower couscous, sultana, white balsamic, and aged smoked cheddar espuma
Kindai bluefin tuna with avocado, tosazu and shimeji. For those of you who haven't had bluefin tuna in a while because of sustainability concerns, this is the world's first sustainably farmed bluefin tuna.
Since day one of Sola, they've been flaming langoustines on volcanic rock. It's still an impressive sight.
In seconds those langoustines are cooked so you whip them off and add them to this broth
Dayboat scallop seared and crusted in furikake with a crystal dumpling of carabinero, nashi pear soubise. There are also seaweed souffles, samphire, salty fingers and it comes with a bisque of pear cider perfumed with myoga and the Breton curry spice kari gosse.
Suckling pig with jasmine, mustard and pink lady apple. Plus, because we're going all bouji here, why not have some caviar on top too?
Wagyu with morel, sugar snap peas, and Jerusalem artichoke
The cheese plate. It's five cheeses for £25 (although we were given an extra to try). We'll also award Sola extra points for offering plenty of bread and crackers to go with all of this.
Finishing off (petit fours aside) with this inspired chocolate dessert - a Xoco milk chocolate cremeux with whipped Isigny creme fraiche, salted caramel, hazelnut croustillant, and N25 aged Kaluga caviar.
What about drink?
The drinks pairing at Sola was always going to be great, particularly when you know that Head Sommelier Tara Ozols picked up the Michelin award for best sommelier in the UK and Ireland this year. We opted for the Celebration Pairing (£200) which falls between the standard (£140) and premium (£300) pairings. It included cocktails to start, and standout choices included a Toku sake with the tuna dish, an Ashes & Diamonds Cabernet Sauvignon “Rancho Pequeño Vineyard” with the wagyu course and a fabulous Howards Folly Carcavelos from Lisbon to go with the cheese.
Overall thoughts
On a crazy hot day in London, it was sheer bliss to step into the air-conditioned calm of SOLA and be treated to a couple of hours of really inventive dishes and wine pairings. We've always liked the way the SOLA team manage to combine fine dining food with a light touch service - it makes for a particularly relaxing restaurant experience.
It's easy to see why the restaurant continues to propel its way upwards on that National Restaurant Awards list.
More about SOLA
Where is it? 64 Dean Street, London W1D 4QQ
How to book: Book online
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @solasoho
Hot Dinners ate as guests of SOLA. Prices are correct at the time of writing.
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