Overview
Location: Soho
Price per head: £55 – £75
Our opinion: Over priced
Summary: A meal that didn’t live up to expectations despite the good reviews we had heard.
Restaurant Review
Soho is an incredible place. I have lived in London for over 7 years but still feel like a wide-eyed tourist when I go to Soho. There is so much going on. It’s busy and it’s hectic and there are people everywhere. Music pours out of bars. Punters stand outside pubs and down inordinate amounts of Guinness. There are brightly lit rickshaws trying to scam tourists on every corner, and, frankly, there are just as many rip off restaurants trying to do the very same thing.
There are lots of restaurants in Soho. There are lots of terrible restaurants in Soho. And there are also a lot of very good ones. If you want to guarantee a nice meal, and want to avoid getting ripped off, unfortunately you need to do your prep. Everywhere is always rammed and if you want decent food you are going to have to either book or queue, or get extremely lucky.
We have been fortunate enough to have eaten at a reasonably large number of spots in Soho over the years. We love to do restaurant research so always head there with a plan which means that, whilst spontaneity takes a hit, we more often than not end up having a decent meal. Our research had us wanting to try 10 Greek Street, so Louise and I went out for dinner there on Friday.
This restaurant is pretty popular and quite highly rated. I have had friends go and say good things, so I was intrigued to see what it has to offer. They serve a daily changing seasonal menu featuring predominantly European style dishes. Described as “easy-going” the dishes are generally interesting whilst not pushing any culinary boundaries.
They have an extensive wine list which has a good range of prices by the glass, by the carafe and by the bottle. They also have a “little black book” of more special wines that you can request if you are interested (we didn’t, but we expect these are much pricier bottles). They also let you bring your own wine if you are happy to pay the £20 corkage fee, and on Friday Lunch times they drop corkage down to £5!
We booked about a week before we were due to visit and had no trouble getting a table which was a real treat for London. I have heard similar experiences from others too.
The restaurant exterior is pretty unassuming and easily missed if you aren’t looking for it. A tiled wall makes way to a wide window, allowing passers by to peer in and observe what the restaurant customers are feasting on in the dimly lit room.
Inside is small and cramped. It is a narrow room and they have really tried to fit as many tables in there as possible. The back of the main room opened out into an ever so slightly wider area with some bar seating and the kitchen. The day’s menus and wine specials are scribbled on blackboards. There is a buzz in the room, it’s busy, and the closeness makes it feel even busier. And the noise, my word the noise. I don’t know if there was just a particularly loud bunch in the room the day we ate there, or whether the acoustics of the room were off, but it was uncomfortably loud.
Overall, noise aside, the space is pleasant. It has followed the same formula as dozens of other small plates restaurants across the capital, but that is no bad thing. A lot of them are very nice. We sat down and ordered food and wine.
The Food
The waiter explained to us that they recommend treating the meal as a small plates sharer vibe. We live in London so this was a familiar concept to us. The menu is separated into some snacks and starter size dishes and then some larger ‘main’ plates. They also offer a few simple sides. Upon reflection I think you could go to this restaurant and share 3 or 4 dishes between 2 people (like we did) or go and have a starter and a main each.
Overall we thought the food was ok. There were some parts of the meal that we thought were delicious, and other dishes that were a slight let down. I came out ever so slightly disappointed because I had heard such great things and I don’t think the meal overall lived up to the hype. It may have been that we were just unlucky with what we ordered, but I personally won’t be rushing to go back. We ended up spending £57 each on the meal (including half a bottle of wine) and I came out feeling a little hungry. Louise was stuffed so maybe I was just being greedy that day…?
Let’s take a look at what we ate
Pulled pork, n’duja, tomato & fior di latte pizzetta
A little pizza is what we were expecting and a little pizza is what we got. For me the base was undercooked, it had absolutely no colour to it at all. The tomato sauce was wonderful, it was rich, sweet and packed with flavour. The rest of the toppings were also very tasty, with good quality cheese and meats. Overall it tasted good, but so it should have given it was a pizza with tasty ingredients on it. It wasn’t a particularly clever dish, they were a little stingy with the toppings and it felt like it needed another 20 seconds in the oven, so for me it wasn’t an impressive start to dinner.
Wild mushrooms, trofie, burrata, Kale & walnuts
Trofie is a type of pasta, small twisted tubes. This sounded like a simple pasta dish with some ingredients which Louise and I both adore, so we had high expectations. It arrived and was a reasonable portion to share between us and it appeared to have lots of yummy looking mushrooms in it. Louise takes the first bite, I watched her face hoping to see it light up in delight, but it never happens. Oh oh. I tried it and it was criminally under seasoned, like terribly so.
We sprinkled a good lot of salt on and gave it a mix and tried it again and there is a vast improvement. However, this wasn’t hard given how bad it initially was. It became a reasonably nice bowl of pasta, yet it still lacked any real personality and was overall rather plain. This dish really should have been a lot better.
By this point I was really starting to worry.
Venison pie, Jerusalem artichokes, cavolo nero & fried sage
They needed to deliver on this dish, and fortunately they did. If they hadn’t redeemed themselves this blog would have been a lot harsher than it has been. The pie itself was shaped like a dome, and came in a beautiful dark golden brown colour. It was laid on top of the artichokes and the kale and topped with some crispy sage leaves. A rich jus had been poured round the outside and over the vegetables.
The pastry itself was surprising. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t what I expected. It was quite thin and not particularly flaky. However, it soaked up the juices nicely and tasted good. The venison filling was meaty and juicy and packed with gamey flavour.
The standout element of the plate of food however were the artichokes. They kept their shape but melted in the mouth and delivered a remarkably deep, caramelised flavour. I don’t know what they had been cooked in but they were bloody fantastic. If I could have ordered a bowl of these as a side I would have.
Baked frangipane, Yorkshire rhubarb and yoghurt sorbet
Louise was excited to see frangipane on the menu so we had to order this. The frangipane itself was fantastic, really nutty and caramelly in flavour with soft fluffy textured bits mixed with crispy parts. The rhubarb was nice enough, could it have been a bit softer? I think that’s just a matter of opinion. The sorbet was a disappointment for us. It was very tart and didn’t add much to the dish. As Louise put it “just stop fucking around and be ice cream instead”.
Overall a nice pudding, but not out of this world.
Wine
We shared a carafe of Ronsel do Sil Mencia Vel Uveyra. This came to £23 and was a nice wine overall. It was medium bodied and incredibly fruity which went well with the venison.
Conclusion
We went in with high hopes and came out a little disappointed. The food wasn’t as nice as we have heard it can be, and it felt expensive for the quality and quantity we got. I won’t be rushing to go back, but am willing to go again to be proven wrong if someone feels strongly that I have drawn the wrong conclusion here.
