Wednesday 2 January 2019

Quo Vadis, Soho, London restaurant review



The signature dish.

It draws in the crowds but I wonder if it gets a bit boring hammering out the same plate time and time again?

Take for example the soufflé Suissesse at Le Gavroche, the bone marrow and parsley salad at St John or the beef shin papardelle at Trullo.

Quo Vadis is the home to another of the UK’s most iconic signature dishes - the smoked eel sandwich.


Quo Vadis is a private members club and restaurant in Soho. Headed up by the charismatic Jeremy Lee, the place oozes class. The menu comprises of seasonal British dishes like braised pork cheeks with prunes and red wine (£19.50) or wild duck with damson and elderberry (£10).

Fresh bread was served with thick creamy butter. It was nice and moist but it could have been a touch more robust of crust


To start, I ordered the aforementioned smoked eel sandwich (£9.50). It more than lived up to its reputation. Two dainty slices of buttery toast were stuffed with warm smokey eel pieces, bracing horseradish cream and piquant dijon mustard. Alongside the horseradish and mustard, the punch of pickled onions balanced beautifully the richness of the fish.


Mrs G started with a fragrant salad (£12.50) of tender squid pieces, bitter leaves of puntarelle, citrusy bergamot and briny capers. It received a big thumbs up.

The most apt word to describe my main course is handsome. A bronzed edifice of suet crust (£17.50) was filled with tender shreds of chicken and rabbit, al dente carrots and salty bacon bathed in a well-seasoned gravy.

A minor quibble but it would have been nice if the sauce was a bit thicker to provide a more suitable dip for the bowl of buttery mash and any stray nuggets of pastry.


Anyone with a penchant for haute Nandos should head to Quo Vadis and order their baked marinated coquelet (£18.50). A gorgeously golden bird with tender flesh and crisp skin was coated in a punchy herb marinade.


It was accompanied by a dollop of breath-threateningly good aioli and rustling bronze chips.


Desserts kept up the high standard.

A lovely selection of British cheese (£9.50) saw nutty and savoury Montgomery cheddar and mild and creamy Sparkenhoe Blue joined by quince jelly, fresh grapes and oatcakes.


Exemplary profiteroles (£9) saw a trio of crisp and light choux buns stuffed with smooth ice cream and liberally drenched in rich chocolate sauce.


We had a delicious meal at Quo Vadis. If you’re looking for refined comfort food in the middle of London then I’d recommend it.

The Details:

Address -
Quo Vadis, 26-29 Dean St, Soho, London W1D 3LL
Web - https://www.quovadissoho.co.uk/
Telephone - 020 7437 9585

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