I tried some of London’s best food hidden in plain sight on its busiest streets

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Mirror reporter, Cyann Fielding, set out on a guided culinary adventure of her own city and was shocked to be able to try foods from all over the world on her doorstep

The UK’s great cities are positively overflowing with places to eat. Unfortunately I regularly find myself facing the avalanche of delicious possibilities without a clue or what to do, overwhelmed by sites such as TripAdvisor hammering me with suggestions.

It can be hard to know where to eat with such a surfeit of choice. There is a happy solution to this problem that also helps you discover a new side to your city — a food tour. I recently set off on one in central London, to discover what hidden, overlooked treats Soho has to offer.

Guided by the brilliant, yellow umbrella holding Charlie of Secret Food Tours, our hungry group set out on a food adventure in the drizzly rain on a humid summer evening.

Despite having lived in Central London now for two years, I still find it hard to know where to eat. With the combination of so much choice, expensive prices and no guarantee whether you’ll actually like the food, I more often than not find myself returning to the same spot or trusted chains.

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But this is something I have never enjoyed. As a big support of independent businesses and local tourism, I have always wanted to discover the hidden finds of dishes that leave you desperate to tell your friends about. Yet, until this tour, I only had a couple of places in mind that I would genuinely recommend.

As we trudged through the streets — and my tummy grumbled — I was eager to see where we would be taken. Soho has long been a hub in central London for queer culture, vibrant nightlife and of course, amazing food. As the streets of Chinatown overlap Shaftsbury Avenue and on to the narrow alleys of Berwick Street, I was pretty confident that we would experience some great food.

Our first stop took us to Bar Kroketta, and if you couldn’t tell from the name, they served a range of croquettes. As I am veggie, I had different to everyone else on the table, but I was not left disappointed. The use of fresh ingredients was evident in a joint that specialises in deep frying everything. Also, make sure to check out the Bamboo cocktail, with vermut, fino and orange bitters. It is small, but very classy.

I must have walked past Amathus at least 1,000 times, and always thought it was your standard off-license, but wrong I was. Enter for a library of alcohol, this little-but-large shop is stacked floor to ceiling with different spirits and wines from around the world. Here we tried different gins, and how drinking gin in Soho wasn’t always an innocent pastime…

Shuffling from restaurant to café, we also passed the Sounds of the Universe record shop. Whilst it appears to be a regular vinyl store, it is also the place where the Rolling Stones first rehearsed between March and April 1962. This wasn’t the only building with a musical history. You will also find Ronnie Scott’s jazz bar in the area, which was the site of Jimmy Hendrix’s last ever performance.

Moving on to the next source of nourishment, we headed to Cecconi’s Pizza Bar. Dimly lit with old style Italian poster, Cecconi’s felt like an intimate love affair with food. As a big fan of arancini I was very excited to see it placed in front of me. The truffle black treat made me feel like I was sitting in Italy, not the heart of London.

Without delving into the detail of every stop (something our guide Charlie asked us not to do for fear of ruining the fun for future tour attendees) we also had delicious sweet and sour dishes from a inconspicuous restaurant in Chinatown — a hidden gem I would have never seen or considered if it hadn’t been for the tour. We would go on to cruise past a French patisserie, where our guide collected eclairs for us to devour after the tour.

When we arrived at Bun House, I was disappointed by the name giving away what our next dish would be. But that didn’t matter. These delicately crafted buns, full of flavoured vegetables or meat hidden inside, have become my new comfort food.

Without giving too much away, the same location also had a sweet treat to die for… Think a Hong Kong twist on French toast with a finishing touch from Devon, UK. Ending the evening with a tipple exclusive for the tour, from Mr Foggs, seemed the perfect way the think back over the past few hours and enjoy the warmth of a full tummy.

Never would I have said Soho was one of the best food scenes in the world, but after the tour I was left feeling giddy to return to the streets of this multicultural hub and explore more. Each street is full of delights and cuisines from across the globe, made even more authentic by the fact they are run independently or by a family.

Whilst arguably you can never experience a country’s cuisine quite as good as going to the country itself, the collection of restaurants in Soho are established direct from the people who have been eating and creating their focused cuisine all their lives. It was remarkable to see, smell, enjoy and learn about.