Best Restaurants Soho

The Best Soho Restaurant – Incredible Valencian Gastronomy at Arros QD

When looking at the best restaurants Soho has to offer, don’t miss out on the fine dining experience of Arros QD. We’re based in Fitzrovia, a mere stone throw away from most Soho locations. Launched by top Spanish chef Quique Dacosta (thus the QD in our name), our recipes are Valencian-inspired to give diners an authentic taste of Spanish cuisine.

Quique’s passion for rice has put a masterful twist on traditional flavours, pushing the boundaries of innovative recipes. Many of our delicious dishes are shared, including our iconic paellas, cooked in an open kitchen over a six-metre wood fire stove. As you enter our establishment, you’ll sense the aromas, the heat of the fire, the comfort of our guests and the welcoming atmosphere which makes dining with us such as enjoyable experience.

Our stunning décor was designed by Lázaro Rosa-Violán, creating dramatic surroundings in which to sample our Mediterranean feasts. Unwind away from busy London life in our top restaurant setting on the edge of Soho.

We’re open from Monday to Sunday and have a wide variety of menus for you to try, including our tasting menu, lunch menu and dinner service. Our extensive wine list enhances each dish, put together by an expert team.

Want to dine with us at the best London restaurant near Soho? Reserve a table at Arros QD now.

Top London Restaurant in Soho – Visit Arros QD

If you want the best for lunch in Fitzrovia or an exquisite dinner in Soho, make your reservation now with Arros QD. Back in June 2019, we finally opened our doors to the public; the first restaurant opened by Spanish chef Quique Dacosta. Having earnt multiple Michelin stars in his homeland, he wanted to bring his love of rice cooking to England’s capital. The mere mention of his next project drummed up much excitement on the London restaurant scene before we even opened, and we haven’t disappointed since our launch.

Our focus is on the culture of rice cooking, leading a paella evolution in the heart of London. From the flavour of the rice to the stock in which it is cooked, every element of our flavours reflects the essence of the ingredients carefully chosen for the recipes.

Hoping to achieve a global experience, Quique has aimed to combine the heart and soul of Spanish flavours with contemporary ideas. The authentic tastes of the Mediterranean are evident in every part of our menus, from the savoury and sweet dishes to the wines we’ve chosen to pair with the dishes.

A Stunning Backdrop in One of London’s Best Restaurants

Our food doesn’t just speak for itself. We want the culinary experience to start when you enter our doors. That’s why we ensured such an experienced, talented designer such as Lázaro Rosa-Violán was on board with us when creating the Arros QD look, feel and setup.

On our ground floor, you’ll immediately see our open kitchen operate, where our skilled chefs work their magic on everything from our paellas to other wood-fired delights. It’s a world away from the busy London streets, serving up a buzz and excitement like only we know how. Upstairs is where you’ll discover our classic dining spaces.

All of our décor has used wood-fired cooking influences, from our wooden tables to the colours used for our furnishings (think golden hues, burnt oranges and striking blacks). Our stunning lighting creates the ideal atmosphere for exciting dining experiences, and we have added modern touches throughout, including our glazed wine cellar backdrop, which our guests love.

Paella & Valencia – Historical Roots

While paella is now famous all over the world, and you can find many different variations available, its roots are proudly Valencian. It’s always been a wholesome dish, its origins dating back centuries when rice and meat would be cooked together over a flame to feed labourers and farmers. As the delicious taste was recognised, the evolution began. As Valencia is a coastal city, seafood became a highly popular addition to the pan, which you’ll still see in many of the paella recipes sampled today.

Paella is often mistreated, as its potential often missed by those who try to recreate the best of Spanish recipes. That’s something we aim to change, transforming the way rice fits into the fine dining experience. This dish isn’t just something you see served at festivals or in amongst other cuisines on menus. It’s our speciality, so you can expect to find one of the best restaurants paella London has seen.

We’ve used paella’s origins and continued to help it evolve. You’ll see authentic, traditional rice options on our menus, as well as contemporary recipes in which you can try something completely new. We hope you feel inspired when sampling our delicious menus.

We’ve Created the Best Paella in London – Here’s How!

There’s no simple answer to the question ‘how do you create the best paella?’ The different factors involved should come together like a magical recipe, creating flavours and textures which delight. Our best paella London is created via a secret ingredient…fire! Many people underestimate the role it has to play in achieving such rich yet delicate flavours, but we wanted to harness its power as much as possible.

We prepare everything for our paellas from scratch, ensuring quality remains high throughout. Our traditional and contemporary rice dishes are clearly marked on our a la carte menu so that you can choose whether you want to have a more classical style rice or something completely new. We have diners coming back time after time to choose different options, appreciating the blend of more traditional and modern ingredients. We want to inspire new ideas, as well as providing a feeling of familiarity and contentment.

We cook over wood and fire on our impressive stove, which you’ll see in our open kitchen space. There are different kinds of wood which bring out different flavours, infusing into the rice and stock. We’ve carefully selected which types of wood should be used for each dish so that the smoky tastes created never overpower the food. We’re one of the top restaurants in London thanks to the mouth-watering results. You can try a variety of paellas at our restaurant, including those made with vegetables, Quique Dacosta´s black ash rice, black squid ink rice, lobster, fish, Iberian presa, chicken, rabbit and many more delights.

While we’re passionate about the evolution of paella, no ingredient is simply added for the sake of it. Each part of our recipes has been delicately selected to achieve the perfect blend of flavours. Our trained chefs put their skills to work over our wood fires, ensuring the expert techniques used bring out the best in every dish.

The Magic in the Base of the Pan – Socarrat Rice

When guests ask us what our favourite part of a paella dish is – many of the Arros QD team would agree it’s got to be the socarrat. Often wrongly mistaken as rice which is burnt and stuck to the base of the pan, it’s actually made from caramelised stock. This crispy layer can be peeled away from the base and enjoyed for the richness of its flavour.

Such is our love for the socarrat, we deliver this delicious part of paella as a separate dish if you want to try it by itself too. Created using stock and bomba rice, it’s a highlight of our menus. We include ones which have been made with rice and seafood stock, as well as offerings with shrimp, teriyaki chicken or artichokes. Each is paired with an aioli which will bring out the flavours even more, giving paella fans a tasty treat not found at many of Londons top restaurants.

Mediterranean Tasting Menu – Unique Dining Experiences

We know how beloved tasting menus are for anyone looking for the best restaurant in London. We treat our diners to a Mediterranean tasting menu unlike any other you’ll have seen, walking you through some of our stand out flavours and dishes. Our chefs have created a tasting menu which is full of creativity, delivering an exciting experience from your first bite of the food to your last. You’ll easily detect the high skill involved in these smaller plates, and we take you on a journey through incredible Valencian cuisine.

We’ve carefully thought about every part of the tasting menu dining experience, from which dishes to include to the order in which they are served and how they are presented. While we consistently review what we deliver, we also want you to get a taste of our main menu options, as well as some of our favourite flavours. We take you through culinary delights from skewers and small dishes to our paella and amazing desserts.

Our tasting menu is available at both lunch and dinner service, for a minimum of two people.

Best Soho Restaurant – Lunch & Dinner Options at Our Fitzrovia Location

We have many guests join us who are looking for the ideal place to dine in Soho, thanks to our nearby location on the edge of Fitzrovia. We’re a mere five-minute walk away from Soho, giving us excellent connections to this thriving area of London. As neighbours, Soho and Fitzrovia share many of the same values, providing a diverse mix of establishments and entertainment options. They are epicentres of activity both during the day and at night, whether looking to live, work or play.

You can easily reach our restaurant via the wealth of transport links in the city. Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road underground stations are close by to our location on Eastcastle Street. We’re also within walking distance of many exciting areas such as Covent Garden, Leicester Square and Oxford Street. Therefore, we’re the perfect choice for those looking for a tasty meal before or after seeing a show, as well as those who want to dine at the best restaurants Fitzrovia has to offer.

Take a look at our lunch menu if you want to choose from a set range of dishes at great prices. This is ideal for before or after theatre dining, offering smaller plates to share, as well as a shorter list of mains and paella options.

Reasons to Dine at the Best Restaurant Near Soho

When trying to identify the best restaurants London can offer for what you need, there are a variety of qualities to look out for. This includes London restaurants which deliver a unique twist on traditional options, have a story to tell and that quality is felt throughout every part of the dining experience. This includes the way you’re greeted when you enter, the style and feel of the place, and the incredible food offered.

Here are just a few of the reasons Arros QD is one of the best restaurants near Soho.

Sample the Best Paella in London

We’ve shown just how much heart and effort is put into our rice cooking, creating dishes which we hope will blow you away. We feel rice hasn’t been given a chance to thrive in the fine dining industry, so we hope our menus can start to change that fact. Leading the UK paella evolution through our delicious dishes and expert wood-fired cooking techniques, we hope to impress those who already love Spanish cuisine, as well as inspiring new audiences.

Quality, Quality, Quality

We want high quality to be something synonymous with the Arros QD brand, so have reviewed every part of the guest experience to ensure this is something you feel throughout your time spent with us. From our immaculately dressed staff who greet you at the desk to our stunning interiors, knowledgeable servers and melt in the mouth dishes, we hope you feel well looked after. Our ingredients are sourced from quality suppliers, often locally, before we wave our Mediterranean wand across the recipe. Our menus are continually reviewed so that we use in-season produce for the highest quality food. Let us know if there’s anything we can do to ensure your visit to us is even more special.

A Beautiful Setting to Relax & Socialise

We hope you feel the buzz and excitement of our restaurant from the moment you step inside. We’ve put a lot of careful planning into creating an environment which you’ll want to spend time in, from the visuals and comfort at the table to the joy of being part of an open kitchen experience. We hope to ignite every one of your senses, from the sights and smells around you to the taste of our food, as well as how you feel while in our restaurant.

A Specialist Team

Everyone on our team plays a role in the huge success of Arros QD, sharing in a passion for our cuisine and the experience given to diners. The fact we can offer a consistent service across all seven days of the week is a testament to the hard work of our team, including our managers, who ensure you get the best London restaurant experience. We also have a specialist UK team on board to ensure we remain at the top of our game, including chef Richard De La Cruz, Jose Balado (wine expert) and Managing Director Aurelien Pottier.

Extensive Drinks Menus

We don’t just believe in high-quality food, but in delivering impressive wines, spirits and cocktails too, ensuring your food is enhanced through the range of drinks we offer. Arros QD is proud to work with some of the finest wine experts in the business, and they’ve put together a wine menu which is going to inspire.

Our wines pay tribute to well-known regions across the world, many connected to the Mediterranean sea to ensure this influence remains clear. We have offerings from famous winemakers, as well as some new names on the block, giving you a lot of choices when perusing the menu.

If you’re in the mood for a cocktail or two, don’t miss out on our exciting menus. We’ve divided our mixology lists into four categories – Fruities, Fizzies, Memories and Discoveries, giving you the chance to sample some classic flavours as well as new ones. You’ll find innovative twists throughout each cocktail recipe, giving you a vast range of exciting options to choose from.

Get in Touch with Arros QD – Enquiries & London Dining Reservations

Get in touch with our knowledgeable team to help create the best dining experience for you and your party. We’re happy to answer any questions you have about our menus and restaurant, including the fulfilment of dietary needs and special requirements for celebrations, group dining and events.

To contact the Arros QD team, we’ve made things easy by giving you a variety of options to get in touch. Speak to someone on our team by calling +44 (0)20 3883 3525, or you can email us at info@arrosqd.com, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. For press and PR enquiries, please contact arrosqd@saucecommunications.com.