London Soho eatery named restaurant of the year

A spot in central London has been named the UK & Ireland’s best independent restaurant, and we bet you’d never guess the winner. It’s Spitalfields and Soho's own Crunch.

Crunch is a relatively humble sandwich bar that sells ambitious concoctions slid between slices of chunky brioche bread. It’s no triple Michelin star fancy sit down spot, delicious as it may be. So where's the accolade come from?

Crunch has won Deliveroo’s restaurant of the year. The regional winners were chosen by votes from more than 160,000 members of the public, while the overall winner Crunch was selected by a panel including Deliveroo CEO Will Shu, food critic Jimi Famurewa and nepo baby TV presenter Tilly Ramsay.

Perusing Crunch’s menu, some of the more mouth-watering picks include the Buffalo Cauliflower sandwich with butter-buffalo sauce and parmesan cream. And the Katsu Sando with Tonkatsu pork, shichimi togarashi mayo and Japanese apple jam.

These are clearly next-level sandwiches. But they’d better be, with prices starting at £11.50.

“We poured our hearts into every single sandwich we've made for our customers, so this award is for our amazing team and all the customers who've supported us from the start of this wild journey,” says Crunch co-founder Michael Medovnikov.

The brioche-based sandwiches have been a mainstay of Old Spitalfields Market since June 2023, following popular pop-ups including one at the Prince Arthur pub by Old Street station. A second permanent venue in Soho, on Dean Street, opened just recently in late February 2025.

Crunch had to face-off against other regional winners in a Bake Off style event, during which the chefs were given 45 minutes to prepare their signature dish.

Here are the other runner-up winners, all of whom are no doubt worth a visit if you end up in the area:

• Seed, Belfast
• Big Mannys Pizza, Aberdeen
• Oowee Diner, Bristol
• Get Baked, Manchester/Leeds

There were also a whole host of London-specific awards for different food categories. Here are the winners:

• Best Pizza: BONA Sourdough Pizzeria, Forest Hill
• Best Chinese: Three Uncles, multiple locations
• Best Middle Eastern: Gokyuzu, multiple locations
• Best Japanese: Bone Daddies, multiple locations
• Best Breakfast & Coffee: B Bagel, multiple locations
• Best Indian & Nepalese: Kricket, multiple locations
• Best Chicken: NUGS, Romford
• Best Sushi: Kiyoto Sushi, multiple locations
• Best Burger & American: Bleecker Burger, multiple locations
• Best Salads & Healthy Cuisine: Ottolenghi, multiple locations

You can check out the other winners for other parts of the UK over at the Deliveroo awards website. But you may come away feeling hungry.

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