The latest in London’s soy sauce spattered deluge of Japanese, Thai and fusion restaurants, The Greyhound Café is rather audacious for its well-to-do Fitzrovia location – perched in that corner of London behind Oxford Street, where women saunter in expensive coats, with even more expensive dogs, it brings a more rough and ready East London aesthetic to one of the city’s richest districts.
It certainly gets a solid 10/10 for looks – it’s urbane and sexy, low lighting and heavy, confident marble tables paired with a food menu that’s more reminiscent of i-D Magazine than a menu in a Thai restaurant; sturdy matte pages plastered with high-exposure, Terry Richardson-esque shots of gorgeously laid out cuisine. No laminating or Microsoft WordArt here!
The clientele is a specific mix that are unique to these kind of au courant London restaurants; grime artists in t-shirts and chains having animated boozy meetings with suited record execs, rich and glamorous Middle Eastern expats sipping frosty wine, raucous international rich kids in Balmain and Balenciaga.
There are a couple of stumbles from the effortless chic vibe however – the words “Friends, Flirt, Fun, Food, Fashion” are scrawled on all the plates (dangerously close to the “Live, Laugh, Love” sign above your mum’s fireplace) and “KEEP CALM AND EAT MORE CHILLIS!” is emblazoned on the back of the menus (“Keep Calm” stuff is so 2011!)
The wait staff, in charming fisherman’s uniforms, are noticeably lovely – smiley and attentive without being invasive, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Cafe‘s eccentric menu. It’s part streetfood, part nouvelle cuisine, with a smattering of traditional dishes that would be familiar to anyone who’s eaten Thai food in the UK.
We went for two of their most popular main dishes – the scallop pad Thai and the rib eye yang fai – both of which were perfectly adequate and tasty; the steak was expertly cooked and seasoned, and it’s difficult to screw up what is essentially just scallops with noodles.
The stars of the show were the side dishes – crab and corn pops, rib eye satay served with little squares of toast and some eye-popping chillis, and Todmun Pops – spicy fish balls served with Thai pickles. All three indulgent, inventive and bursting with flavour.
It’s unlikely to charm London’s snooty gastronomical elite, but if you’re looking for a surprisingly affordable, cheerfully trendy central London restaurant with a delicious, crisp house white wine (let’s be honest, who isn’t) then this is the one for you!
The Greyhound Café is 37 Berners Street, W1T 3LZ. For opening hours and menus, head to greyhoundcafe.uk.
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