Bar Crispin

Kingly Street tends to get overlooked in favour of the bigger names on Carnaby Street a few doors down, which is probably why Bar Crispin still feels like a discovery even a few years after it opened in 2021. It’s the smaller, all day sibling to Crispin in Spitalfields, run by the same pair, Dominic Hamdy and Oliver Hiam, and it swaps the East End original’s set menus for a looser format built around natural wine and small plates.

The food, overseen by head chef Fabien Spagnolo, who came through Jason Atherton’s Pollen Street Social, plays a supporting role to the wine list, and that is roughly how it should be read. A crumpet topped with aged beef tartare is the dish regulars order back, along with charred mackerel finished with mojo verde and lovage. Grilled pork collar with a smoky glaze turns up on the evening menu and holds its own against the pairings rather than the other way round.

The room is narrow and warmly lit, more wine merchant than dining room, with a bar you can perch at for an hour with a glass of something obscure and a plate of cheese, or settle into for a full sequence of small plates on a Saturday night when the place gets properly loud. Staff know the list well enough to steer you towards better value bottles rather than the showiest ones, which counts for a lot.

The catch is price. This isn’t an expensive restaurant by Soho standards, but the wine mark ups are real, and a casual glass and plate visit adds up faster than the room’s size suggests it should. Go in expecting that rather than treating it as a cheap pre theatre stop.

For anyone who wants Crispin’s cooking without booking weeks ahead for the Spitalfields dining room, Bar Crispin is the easier, more flexible version, and a genuinely good excuse to explore Kingly Street beyond the shops.