Anthea Gerrie Fulfils The Dream Of A Lifetime Dining At Soho’s Legendary Quo Vadis
It took me a lifetime to get to Quo Vadis, a Soho legend for a century, but I finally made it in the year the august restaurant turned 100. Only to find it is not august at all – rather a modern, colourful room bright with buzz and a refreshingly unpretentious menu by Jeremy Lee, one of Britain’s most beloved chefs.
Quo Vadis is famous for more than just having fed celebrities, politicians and the great and good of many countries since its establishment in 1926. Not that Karl Marx ever ate there, but a blue plaque marks the first floor of 26-28 Dean Street where he lived with his family in the 1850s and started work on Das Kapital would doubtless have been scandalised to know the building was once a brothel, and that the first floor dining room of the original Quo Vadis restaurant is now a private members’ club.
Founded in 1926 by Peppino Leoni, who called it after the famous cinematic epic of the same name, there is a notable Italian influence in everything from the house negroni to the pasta dishes. But before you even get to the food your eye is delighted by the room, with its playful scribbles by resident artist John Broadley, who has decorated the menu as well as the walls.
Bright colours and excellent lighting make what is now a pretty small public dining room with only 40-odd covers feel intimate but never overcrowded, while banquettes and white tablecloths pay homage to the restaurant’s classic origins.
It’s a brave chef who fields a daily pie as a signature item, not to mention the inclusion of a smoked eel sandwich among the offerings, but although many a pie came out of the kitchen the night we were there, we decided to try more complex offerings. The menu can only be described as a mix of British and Italian, paying tribute to both Lee’s Scottish heritage and the ingredients Signor Leoni must have cherished and fielded a century ago – figs, finocchio and salsa verde are all present.
Fresh oysters are always hard to resist in Britain, so rich in sumptuous native species and adjacent to Ireland, ditto. Pricey at £4.50 each, perhaps, but so worth it as seemingly the only way of getting served the sumptuously treacly crusty brown bread and salted butter we could have eaten for a starter on its own. I went for a palate-sharpening celeriac, apple and kohlrabi remoulade, lent added texture by walnuts and black olive crumb (£12.50).
A short selection of starters also included a marbled meat terrine with chutney, that French brasserie classic leeks vinaigrette and the redoubtable British soup of the day. The oysters were paired with a perfect martini, while the QV signature aperitif of Campari and blood orange juice made a tasty complement to the salad.
British and Italian met again in a main course of rabbit braised with figs, fennel, bacon and herbs (£40) and a homegrown bollito misto – generous tranches of poached tongue, chicken breast and beef brisket in a broth bowl topped with a dollop each of salsa verde and scarlet salsa rossa (£38.50). No sides were needed beyond a dish of excellent pommel frites (£7.50), and both the spiced carrot and leek salad and a melange of bitter leaves seemed unnecessary and a tad dull.
Not so the fine desserts – a rhubarb and custard mille-feuille and a stunning walnut tart served with brown bread ice-cream – shades of the 70s in both dishes, perhaps intentional in the centenary menu telling the Quo Vadis story over the decades.
While there is plenty of more affordable wine by the glass, it was impossible to resist one of California’s finest reds, the 2022 pinot noir by Au Bon Climat, a highly acclaimed winery in the Santa Maria Valley – £27 for a large glass containing a quarter-bottle. But there are also decent glasses starting at £8 as well as fine bottles running to three figures and many for less.
Tell Me More About Visiting Quo Vadis
Quo Vadis, 26-29 Dean Street, London W1D 3LL
Reservations: +44 (0) 20 7437 9585
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