Yauatcha Soho

Yauatcha opened on Broadwick Street in 2004 as Alan Yau's all-day dim sum teahouse, and it remains one of Soho's defining Cantonese rooms. The ground floor is a bright tea house wrapped in blue glass that frames the street outside, its shelves stacked with tea canisters and a marble bar pouring cocktails and wines by the glass. Downstairs, the lower ground floor is the room the restaurant is known for: a candle-lit dining hall beneath a fibre-optic star ceiling, with an illuminated aquarium running the length of the back wall and deep banquette seating in Yauatcha blue.

For private events the two floors work in tandem. The lower ground floor takes up to 115 seated and the ground floor a further 75, so the whole venue can be taken exclusively for a seated dinner or a standing reception. The intimate ground-floor bar, seating around 30, suits pre- or post-dinner drinks, and the kitchen builds tailored menus and canapes around the group. It held a Michelin star from its opening year until 2019, and still trades as a Soho institution for celebrations, launches and corporate dinners.