Soho House to open second Diner in London with Brendan Sodikoff
Situated on the former site of Boheme Kitchen & Bar (BKB), which Soho House Group also owned. The new, 75-cover restaurant will offer a blend of French and American food with booth and counter-top dining.
It is the brainchild of Sodikoff and Soho House Group’s chief executive Nick Jones – Soho Diner follows the Electric Diner, which the pair launched together in December 2012.
“After 14 years, I felt it was time to refresh BKB and give the site I'm fond of a new lease of life,” said Jones. “I hope that the Soho Diner will become a great addition to the area and that Old Compton Street regulars will be excited by the new menu.”
The restaurant will open from 11am through to the early hours, with a ‘simple and stripped back’ menu offering classics such as the Au Cheval cheeseburger and steak and chips; as well as new dishes, including the Philly cheese steak sandwich, honey chicken drumsticks and quinoa, spinach and almond salad.
Brunch will be served on Saturdays and Sundays, with the likes of waffles and pancakes on offer, along with lighter options such as poached eggs with avocado. The dessert menu will be very much American in style, with chocolate brownie, banana split and ice cream milkshakes all available.
Cocktails on tap
A number of existing Soho House Group personnel will oversee the new venture, with restaurant manager Morgan de Quillien coming in from Chicken Shop and head chef Leon Lawrence continuing on from his work at BKB.
Soho Diner will also feature a separate bar area, which the Group claims will be the first in London to serve ‘cocktails on tap’. A range of cocktails, including mojito, Root to Mule, Grey Goose Le Fizz, Old Fashioned and Cosmopolitan, will be freshly made on-site, ready to pour on order.
A range of both draft and bottled beers will also be available, including local craft varieties such as Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Belhaven Stout and Anchor Steam. As at the Electric Diner, the Soho restaurant will play a handpicked daily changing playlist of tracks, on a vintage reel-to-reel deck.
Soho House Group’s existing public restaurants in the UK are Cafe Boheme, Cecconi's, Chicken Shop, Dean Street Townhouse, Dirty Burger, Electric Diner, High Road Brasserie, Hoxton Grill, Pizza East, Pizza East Kentish Town and Pizza East Portobello.
Meanwhile, 33-year-old Brendan Sodikoff owns six successful restaurants and bars and a doughnut shop in Chicago.
Soho Diner will open on 19-21 Old Compton Street in early July.
