| Quo Vadis | |
|---|---|
| Restaurant information | |
| Established | 1926 |
| Current owner(s) | Sam and Eddie Hart |
| Food type | Modern British |
| Dress code | None |
| Street address | 26-29 Dean Street |
| City | Soho, London |
| Country | England |
| Website | quovadissoho.co.uk |
Quo Vadis is a restaurant and private club in Soho, London. It primarily serves modern British food.[1] It was founded in 1926 by an Italian named Pepino Leoni and has passed through numerous owners since then, including celebrity chef Marco Pierre White, and is currently owned by Sam and Eddie Hart, also the owners of Fino and Barrafina.[2] The restaurant is named after the Latin phrase Quo vadis?, meaning "Where are you going?"[3]
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The restaurant was founded in 1926 by Pepino Leoni.[4] Prior to this, the building is notable for being the workplace of Karl Marx, and the location in which he wrote Das Kapital.[2][5]
In 1996, the restaurant was bought by Marco Pierre White and Damien Hirst, and featured paintings by the artist as well as a bar designed by him. The pair later parted company after a public falling out, following which White replaced Hirst's paintings with some of his own.[6][7]
In November 2007, head chef and owner Marco Pierre White sold the restaurant, along with two others, to restaurant group Conduit Street. Quo Vadis was then sold on again to Sam and Eddie Hart, who immediately closed it down. Both White and the Hart brothers endured criticism as Christmas bookings were cancelled.[8][9] The Hart brothers re-opened the restaurant in 2008 following extensive restoration work and, in 2009, it won Tatler magazine's Restaurant of the Year award.[10]
In July 2008, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay named Quo Vadis as his favourite restaurant, describing the Hart brothers as "restaurateurs in the fullest sense of the word". The Evening Standard characterised this praise as a "thinly veiled attack" on Marco Pierre White, with whom Ramsay has an antipathetic relationship.[11]
On the front-right of the restaurant is curious sight of a human nose. Whether this references to ancient Rome legend where traitors had their nose cut off and fed to animals is uncertain.
Quo Vadis under its current ownership has received generally positive reviews. Tatler has listed it as one of its top 20 restaurants,[12] The Times reviewer Giles Coren gave the restaurant a score of 9 out of 10, describing the food as "all done beautifully"[13] and The Telegraph's reviewer, Jasper Gerard, gave it 8 out of 10 and said that visitors would "adore the cooking".[14]
Tracey MacLeod of The Independent was less positive, giving the restaurant 2 out of 5 for ambience and service, although 4 out of 5 for food. She described the waiters as "skittish" and said that the Hart brothers were "not natural hosts".[15]