Heathrow Soho commute
 

I hope experienced or frequent commuters to and fro from Heathrow can advise me.
I have a 12 hr (8:30am to 8:30pm) layover on a Friday at Heathrow on my way to Sri Lanka from Canada in mid January. My connecting flight is with Srilanka Air
Im a bit of foodie and would like to do a 'progressive' lunch at a few specific restaurants in London's Soho district.
Is it safe to take the tube in and out to Piccadilly giving myself 3.5 - 4 hrs. for the return trip to pass through security. Is there any risk of delays or it being too busy. I wont have luggage.

You will have plenty of time to head in to London and back out . . . but >> . . . would like to do a 'progressive' lunch at a few specific restaurants in London's Soho district.<<

Which restaurants? Most nice London restaurants don't really lend themselves to a 'progressive' meal. First of all there is the matter of needing a firm booking. Especially if they are high profile/'foodie' places you will almost certainly have to pre-book. Then there is the time involved - service is not rushed and most nice restaurants only serve lunch from 'around' 11:30 or noon to 'around' 2:30 PM. Of course that doesn't apply to casual, walk in types places or many pubs, but your post sounds like you are looking for something else entirely. So -- which restaurants do you mean?

Janisj, thanks for your input and I will definitely make appropriate reservations. Specifically I've been following Chef Ottolenghi and am on a few of his facebook fan pages. 2 restaurants Im interested in booking are Nopi and Scully, both have a communal 'chef's table' or 'kirchen bar' over looking the open kitchen. These may be enough but also considering Palomor and Honey & Co.

Janisj, thanks for your input and I will definitely make appropriate reservations. Specifically I've been following Chef Ottolenghi and am on a few of his facebook fan pages. 2 restaurants Im interested in booking are Nopi and Scully, both have a communal 'chef's table' or 'kirchen bar' over looking the open kitchen. These may be enough but also considering Palomor and Honey & Co.

I do think it It would be tough to fit in lunch at both Nopi and Scully (both start lunch service at noon) saying nothing of trying to squeeze in Palomar and Honey & Co. Nopi, Scully and Palomar aren't really the sorts of places one would drop in, have one dish and then move on to the next place, repeat. And all three only serve from noon to either 2:30 or 3PM, Honey & Co is a long way from the other three.

I just don't think the logistics are in your favor -- why not pick one and enjoy it?

Isn't a lunch reservation at Nopi limited to 1.5 hours? I have a reservation there for lunch and I have this limit, but it is New Years Eve so I am not sure if that has something to do with it. Regardless of limit, I don't see why you couldn't go to Nopi and have two or three small plates and then to Scully to do the same. 12 to 1:30 at Nopi, sit down at Scully at 2pm, Janis why do you not think it would work?

I agree trying to get one or two more places in might be a bit much.

Thanks for all well meaning advice but my chief concern was getting to and fro from Heathrow. I like planning things a little outside the box so don't even try to discourage me. Three are within 8 minutes walking distance of eachother. �� Its just a bit of fun. Watch this space. Ill let you know what happens. ����

After you posted about Scully I checked it out and it looks fantastic. I didn't know about this place! I have made a reservation for December 12. Its the day after I arrive and I will be jet lagged so hopefully won't be too out of it :) thanks for the heads up and looking forward to hearing about YOUR experience!

Let us know how it goes MsLizzy, sounds good!
Agree that Honey & Co is a bit out of the way, and it's tiny. At Nopi you might get a place at the communal table without reservations. Same at the bar at Palomar; there's often a queue, but if you're on your own its easier.
Thing about reservations is that they may ask for CC details in case of a no-show.
I've been to Nopi, Palomar, Honey & Co. Palomar is my favorite out of those. The polenta dish....
Will put Scully on the list for next time.

Pick up a take-away Ottolenghi for the flight back? Only I don't think there's a take-away in Soho - nearest probably in Belgravia, Motcomb Street. The lemon mascarpone tart would do nicely instead of airplane food. And the chocolate bark.

I’d make a reservation at Palomar, it is a busy place and I had to book 3 months in advance for a Saturday night booking. Other times won’t be so busy.
Good thing about Palomar is that the dishes are small, you can try a couple, then move on.

I ate at Palomar midweek January and had seats at the bar one day in advance (first seating dinner), so january lunch should be ok. Best to book if you want to be sure, of course.
If you're on your own I'd book a bar seat at 12:00, you can watch the chefs at work.

Many restaurants use Opentable for bookings; don't know if that would work if you make multiple lunch bookings on the same day?

This is all great to know! Several of my fb Ottolenghi foodie friends are highly recommending Scully too. Apparently the bathroom in Nopi is worth the price of admission. Several of the posters from the UK and The Netherlands have applied and become interns for a day or a week in his restaurants and loved the staff and experience.

Hi MsLizzy, we ate at Scully earlier this week, it was fabulous! Having been to the other restaurants on your list as well, I would stick to just Palomar and Scully. There were so many delicious dishes, it would be really hard to choose just a couple. At Scully the 'arepa', the broccoli with salted egg yolks, the gorgeous tomato salad. The pork belly was outstanding too, but heavy if you want to try several dishes.
I think Honey & Co is more standard middle eastern - excellent, but not as inventive as Scully. Perhaps drop that one. Palomar is still one of my favorites.
And at Palomar and Scully you can sit at the bar and see the cooks at work.

Scully is indeed fabulous. Went a couple of weeks ago and am going again on Thursday. I also tried Palomar but didn’t like it. It was really disappointing especially after Scully was so awesome.

Maybe just an off night but I would not return.

Palomar doesn't have off nights. The food is excellent but the cuisine won't appeal to everyone. Personally it is one of my favourites for middle eastern food in London.

I've been to Palomar several times and always had great meals. Scully is different; more inventive, with unusual ingredients and asian influences.
Icecream with miso caramel and black sesame cookie. Pork belly with bonito flakes. All beautiful and delicious.

What a great conversation. Thanks guys/gals. At this time I have made two reservations: Nopi @ 12 and Scully @ 2 ... 8 minutes walking between them ... and both at the kitchen or chef's bar. Palomar is also close by but I think that would stretching my stomach too far. I can always walk by ....

just found this thread and really want to know how the story ends!

Hope you manage to post before you get back from Sri Lanka, where you will love the food. [if you have been before, you will know this of course].

Annhig, Ive not been to SriLanka before. Im on a tour and many meals are on our own so I hope to eat great authentic cuisine and not tourism hotel foods.
Any suggested dishes to.get started?

It's a while since we were there, MsLizzy, but I remember the fish curries being lovely, and the breakfasts. The hoppers are particularly good - they are a sort of rice pancake with an egg in the middle served with an optional curry sauce. These are not to be confused with "string hoppers" which are a wheat flour pancake eaten with curry and "sambal" which are accompaniments to curries made with fruit or vegetables, often including coconut. They also have things called "short eats" which are snacks of various sorts. And if that all gets too much, you can probably find somewhere to make you a toasted ham and cheese sandwich - the ones in the Queen's Hotel in the middle of Kandy were great.

If you are a tea drinker you are in the right place, except that they like to serve it with hot milk which takes a bit of getting used to.