Quo Vadis

Quo Vadis has held the same stretch of Dean Street since 1926, when Peppino Leoni opened his restaurant across a run of Georgian townhouses at the heart of Soho. The buildings are older still: No. 29 dates to around 1692, and Karl Marx lived with his family at No. 28 in the 1850s, a history the upstairs private rooms now carry in their names. Today the restaurant and members' club are run by Sam and Eddie Hart, with Jeremy Lee cooking a seasonal, resolutely British menu. The ground-floor dining room sets the tone, all red leather banquettes, white linen and walls hung with Lee's collection of line-drawn artwork beneath stained-glass windows that face the street.

The second floor is given over to private events, with four handsome rooms that can be taken individually or as a suite. The Marx Room is the largest, bright and high-ceilinged in deep green panelling; the Blue Room is darker and more theatrical, with tufted velvet seating, a snug library annexe and an after-dinner ease to it; the Leoni Room is the lightest and most intimate. Above the restaurant, the members' club spreads across the first floor, its rooms wrapped in a hand-painted Soho mural and lit by amber globe lamps.

Taken as a whole, the upper floor works for an evening that runs long. The full private floor can be hired exclusively for up to 100 standing, with an in-house sound system and a DJ setup available once dinner gives way to drinks. It is a rare central Soho address that pairs a Grade I listed townhouse and a near-century of history with the licence and the room to keep a party going.