No.1 Lieutenant suggested we go to Nopi in Warwick St., Soho, a new restaurant from Yotam Ottolenghi and his team. I have always loved their flour-less lemon drizzle cake from the delicatessen in Notting Hill, so I was looking forward to the visit especially as No.1 was eating meat again.
I am usually wary of going to a restaurant in Soho as there is often a lack space for disabled facilities. This is due to the age of many of the buildings and the fact that it’s in the City of Westminster and they appear to give exemptions very easily. I am going to explore this in an upcoming article!
Despite my ‘Soho misgivings’ I rang in advance regarding access and they said there was a portable ramp to get up the 2 steps at the entrance. They also didn’t have a disabled toilet but I could use the one next door in The Sanctum Soho Hotel. We arrived on a warm day for March and the restaurant definitely had a Mediterranean feel with whitewashed exposed brick walls. The ramp was fine and there was plenty of space at the table. It’s a tapas style menu so we chose a selection of dishes including ‘Baby Octopus’ and the ‘Roast Rib Eye’. Both were delicious and the octopus was very tender. There was quite a bit of chilli in some of the dishes so be warned if you have a weak palate like mine. This is obviously because their USP is ‘the robust, sunny flavours, typically from the Middle-east and Asia’. It’s a good place for lunch as the dishes are quite light.
However the disabled toilet/ storage room next door was an adventure. It is accessed via a gate lift and had to be emptied before use! There was also a heavy armchair blocking my path. When I eventually got into the room there was plenty of space but only one grab rail and I need two, as do most people. I therefore braced myself and went on the hunt for a toilet elsewhere!?! ( As an aside the emergency pull was also inaccessible – see the picture).
Nopi is a pleasant and stylish restaurant but only gets 1.5 BBS Ticks due to the difficulty in using the facilities.
We visited it today, we didn’t check in advance and the experience was the same. When asked if they had a disabled toilet, on repeating for a second time they offered use of the lift to the lower ground toilets. Clearly this was not the intended use of the lift given the state of it. When we arrived, instead of being offered a seat at one of the empty tables to wait we were shown to the very clearly
designed cardboard table, not good for a person with mobility problems. That said the food was well worth the visit and lived up to our hopes. Shame on Westminster for allowing the exemption and Nopi for not trying to make the situation better three years on.
All too common I’m afraid and mostly with establishments that can afford the change to ‘Accessible’!!