Soho

• The Groucho closed after police suspend licence over rape allegation

  

  Updated 2/12/24 with more information

  It's survived numerous scandals and been one of the cornerstones of Soho's louche late-night scene since it first opened in the eighties, but now The Groucho is facing its toughest trial yet. Members were stunned yesterday to find the club doors locked and a notice on the outside stating that the Metropolitan Police had issued a summary review

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• The viral sensation Spud Bros is popping up in London

  

  They have become a massive viral hit on TikTok, with enormous queues developing around their Preston truck and now Spud Bros have arrived in London.

  Their original Preston baked potato truck, despite being a fixture of the town's Flag Market for 70 years, surged in popularity when Jacob and Harley Nelson took over the promotion of the social feed. Going for a more irreverent tone,

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• Test Driving Long Chim - chef David Thompson returns to London with a casual Thai restaurant

  

  David Thompson, once best known for Nahm restaurant, is back in London with a more casual take on Thai food. We wend down to try out Long Chim.  

• Soho's hottest new speakeasy Zum Barbarossa is underneath The Seafood Bar

  

  The Seafood Bar in Soho has always had a pretty impressive lower ground space, but now it's undergone a complete transformation for their brand new speakeasy Zum Barbarossa. 

  It's actually the second outpost of the bar, as they previously launched it in Amsterdam, but this one really benefits from the location, particularly the original brick-arched alcoves that really give

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• Italian restaurant Artusi Soho takes the reins at Underbelly Boulevard

  

  Cafe Kitty only lasted nine months as the Soho Underbelly Bouevard's dining spot, but now another high-profile restaurant is giving it a shot.  This time, it's Peckham's Artusi (also behind Marcella in Deptford), who will be taking it on as Artusi

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• It's Bagels pick Soho for their next opening

  

  23/10/24 - updated with the opening date

  Looks like Londoners' appetites for NYC-style bagels are firmly in the ascendant as news reaches us that the super popular bagel bakery It's Bagels is now heading into the West End.

  The bakery, which debuted in Primrose Hill in 2023, opened a second branch this summer in Notting Hill which was also a big hit. So the idea that they are also about to take Soho by storm

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• Breadstall takes its pizzas inside with a restaurant in Soho

  

  For years, Sebastian Vince's Breadstall has been one of the most popular pizza places in Battersea and he's spent all that time operating out of a (very big) stall on Northcote Road. However, he's finally getting ready to expand in a very big way as Breadstall is coming to Soho. It'll be opening on Berwick Street (near the market). 

  Breadstall is known for its enormous biga

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• Velvet Taco are bringing fish & chip and shepherd's pie tacos to London

  

  If you've never thought about putting shepherd's pie or fish and chips in a taco, then you just aren't thinking out of the box enough. Because that's what's going to be on offer when US taco chain Velvet Tacos comes to London. They've picked the UK as the first country to open outside of America.

  If, like us, you hadn't heard of the company before, their USP is making tacos with "globally inspired flavours". That

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• Test Driving the Mr Lyan and Bébé Bob team-up - cocktails, caviar, doughnuts and schnuggets

  

  There's a new menu at Bébé Bob where they've brought in Mr Lyan on cocktail duty alongside some very fancy bar snacks. We took a seat at the counter to test them out.

• Viral Basque cheesecake folk La Maritxu are heading to Carnaby

  

  I think we can safely say that anyone opening a Basque cheesecake shop in London right now is on to a good thing. Certainly, that was the experience of La Maritxu which went down a storm with its original cake shop in Connaught Village. Within days there were queues down the road and a slew of videos on TikTok rhapsodising about it. 

  Now the three Spanish sisters behind this one dish wonder are

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• Noodle Inn draws the crowds in Soho with its hand-pulled noodles

  

  If you've been wandering around Soho over the past week or so, you may have wondered what's been drawing crowds down Old Compton Street. Well, we're here to tell you about London's new white hot noodle spot, Noodle Inn.

  It's the latest opening from Alex Xu the restaurateur behind Kung-Fu Noodle in Chinatown. And if you like a bit of kitchen theatre when you go out to eat, then this new spot couldn't be

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• Patisserie Lidl is popping up in Soho for London Fashion Week (with its Croissant handbags)

  

  Dubbed the viral bag of the season, the Nik Bentel x Lidl Croissant bag took just two minutes to sell out when it launched a few weeks ago. The American designer, whose previous kooky food bags retailed for hundreds of dollars, made the headlines with his leather bakery bag (made to look like the store's pastry paper bags) and a crescent-shaped leather purse inspired by the supermarket's pastry

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• Chef David Thompson to bring Long Chim pop-up to Hovarda in Soho

  

  In news that should get your Thai-food taste-buds tingling, acclaimed Australian chef David Thompson is bringing a modern Bangkok-inspired menu to London, with the launch of Long Chim. Meaning ‘come and try’, Long Chim currently has outlets in Sydney, Perth and Dubai (and previously in Melbourne and Singapore).

  If this is all ringing vague bells for you, we reported a couple of years back that the London Long Chim ...

• Bébé Bob has brought in Mr Lyan for a cocktail menu with caviar bar snacks

  

  There are so many things right with what we're about to tell you, that our one proviso is that when rushing to book you make sure to leave a table free for us. We loved Bébé Bob when we first visited it, and we've been longtime fans of uber-mixologist Ryan Chetiyawardana. The phrase match made in heaven has never sounded so

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• New York's 7th Street Burger is popping up in London

  

  Back in the spring you may recall that Hot Dinners paid a much overdue visit to New York. And one of the things we particularly enjoyed while we were there was a late-night visit to the very popular 7th Street Burger. The smash burger joint was, while we were there, certainly among the best-reviewed

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