Legendary Italian delicatessen Lina Stores has been a Soho institution since 1944, with many an ardent pasta fan making a pilgrimage to its Brewer Street corner site. Now, almost 75 years later, the owners have opened a restaurant a few blocks away on Greek Street.
Architects Red Deer, unsurprisingly, took their cues from the original store, echoing its distinctive pistachio green-tiled, black and white facade in the new space’s interior and exterior colour palette. Diners are greeted by a mosaic floor embedded with the restaurant’s name, a green- and white-striped awning, and pale green cement tiles, leading into the two storey 53-seat space.
Art deco aesthetics flow through the ground floor 12-seater bar, with its sleek aluminium and formica countertop, padded green leather stools, fluted glass panels and globe lighting, and continue downstairs into the intimate basement restaurant, which sports a vaulted ceiling and raw whitewashed walls. Graphics, meanwhile, are by London design agency Everything in Between, who added a neat touch to the tiny tables, inlaying each corner with the letters of the restaurant’s name.
When this place is busy, which it invariably is, the poor acoustics mean you may have to speak loudly to your dining companion, but it’s a fair sacrifice for the hearty offerings of pasta, all handmade daily on site, tossed with simple but tasty ingredient combinations. A ricotta and herb gnudi with sage and brown butter was hard to desert, but leave room for dessert as there are top-notch cannoli on offer. Lina Stores’ restaurant looks on course to be another Soho institution.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
51 Greek Street
-
Enter the world of Cave Bureau, and its architectural and geological explorationsNairobi practice Cave Bureau explores architecture’s role in the geological afterlives of colonialism, as part of a team exhibiting at the British pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025
-
All-In is the Paris-based label making full-force fashion for main character dressingPart of our monthly Uprising series, Wallpaper* meets Benjamin Barron and Bror August Vestbø of All-In, the LVMH Prize-nominated label which bases its collections on a riotous cast of characters – real and imagined
-
Maserati joins forces with Giorgetti for a turbo-charged relationshipAnnouncing their marriage during Milan Design Week, the brands unveiled a collection, a car and a long term commitment
-
One Club Row is London’s answer to the Lower East SideLocated at the site of the former hotspot Les Trois Garçons, One Club Row brings back noughties glamour with 19th-century interiors, gourmet bites, and jazz nights
-
Marylebone restaurant Nina turns up the volume on Italian diningAt Nina, don’t expect a view of the Amalfi Coast. Do expect pasta, leopard print and industrial chic
-
Wallpaper* checks in at Treehouse Hotel Manchester: you may not want to leafTreehouse Hotel Manchester offers a nature-infused biophilic sanctuary amidst the city’s ever-growing architectural canopy
-
Dining at Pyrá feels like a Mediterranean kiss on both cheeksDesigned by House of Dré, this Lonsdale Road addition dishes up an enticing fusion of Greek and Spanish cooking
-
London restaurant Tatar Bunar puts Ukrainian heritage front and centreFamily recipes and contemporary design merge at this new east London restaurant by Ukrainian restaurateurs Anna Andriienko and Alex Cooper
-
Corner Corner may be London's most unique entertainment destination yetThe newly-opened venue combines food, jazz and—yes—urban farming beneath one sprawling roof
-
For a taste of Greece, head to this playful new restaurant in London’s ChelseaPachamama Group’s latest venture, Bottarga, dishes up taverna flavours in an edgy bistro-style setting
-
A buzzy Korean pop-up becomes a permanent fixture in East LondonChef Joo Won has turned his Calong pop-up permanent in the arty enclave of Stoke Newington
