With prices per square foot in Soho reaching ever more ludicrous heights, the D&D restaurant group (owners of 26 other prime spots in London) has turned its cavernous holding on Wardour Street into a high-end restaurant/bar/lounge/music club aimed squarely at well-heeled media types. No one’s going to miss mock-Cuban venue Floridita that was here before, though this big-but-slightly-bland replacement feels like a slightly missed opportunity to do something really exciting. After all, the site was once home to London’s rock ’n’ roll mecca, the Marquee Club.
The basement area, now 100 Wardour’s ‘Restaurant & Club’, still has a stage for live music. It was loungey jazz on our visit, though the programme stretches to pop and electro (all unknown artists). The extensive menu has an intercontinental flavour, from decent robata-grilled skewers (baby octopus, grilled corn-on-the-cob) to a crisp-skinned salmon with sweet harissa potatoes that was downright delicious. The kitchen puts care into the little things: top marks for a side of pak choi garnished with subtle lemon and chilli.
As the eye-popping champagne list suggests, this a place for belt-busting, diet-destroying client dinners. There was only one veggie option, but a gamut of calorie-stacked desserts. It’s all proficient, polished and pleasant, if a bit old-fashioned. And though there are plenty of places in Soho that are more cutting-edge than this, not many of them serve dinner right through to 2am. 100 Wardour Street: it’s hardly rock ’n’ roll, but we don’t mind it.