Former KILN head chef Meedu Saad turns childhood memories, North African flavours and the elemental appeal of fire into one of Soho’s most distinctive new restaurants.
FACT Dining Award London winner KILN has long demonstrated the possibilities of cooking over fire. Now, its former head chef Meedu Saad has taken that experience and channelled it into something altogether more personal. Five years in the making, Impala is a restaurant shaped by childhood summers in Egypt, Cypriot grills in Haringey and the flavours encountered during a career spent in professional kitchens. The result is neither straightforwardly Egyptian nor conventionally North African. Instead, Saad cooks from memory, allowing geography and technique to overlap.
That sentiment begins with the name. Impala refers to the cherry-red 1964 Chevrolet in which Saad spent childhood summers travelling around Egypt. Those journeys, alongside memories of river fish cooked around community ovens in Ismailia, seafood grilled beside the Red Sea and spit-roasted lamb in North London, provide the restaurant with its culinary compass.
Hidden within a 1960s concrete building on Dean Street, Impala is surprisingly discreet for a restaurant that has quickly become one of Soho’s most talked-about tables. Its name is etched quietly into the glass above the entrance, beyond which a moody dining room unfolds through raw concrete, timber and handcrafted details. Four large skylights provide natural light by day, while evenings belong to candles and custom lighting from Joe Armitage. Thick red curtains divide the space, wine bottles line the perimeter, and repurposed cinema horns add a little eccentricity.
The room may be atmospheric, but the kitchen provides the theatre. An open charcoal grill sits at the heart of proceedings, with chefs working shoulder to shoulder as flames flare and ingredients blister over the coals. The smell of smoke settles gently across the room without becoming overpowering. Importantly, fire is not treated as a spectacle; it is another seasoning, deployed carefully rather than indiscriminately.
The meal begins with Aish Baladi, whole grain and bran, two puffed rounds of Egyptian bread arriving warm from the oven. Their coarse, deeply browned exterior gives way to a softer centre with a noticeable nuttiness from the grain. Torn apart by hand and dragged through olive oil and harissa, it is an uncomplicated opening that establishes the restaurant’s preference for bold ingredients presented without unnecessary decoration.
More surprising is the Kibbeh of white crab and sun-dried wheat wrapped in shiso leaf. Designed to be folded and eaten almost like a taco, the broad shiso leaf initially brings freshness before the sweetness of crab and earthiness of wheat take over. Then the heat arrives. It builds steadily rather than striking immediately, giving an otherwise delicate mouthful considerable depth.
The Arrowhead spinach and aged feta börek with wild honey and fennel pollen pushes further into the realm of richness. The pastry is beautifully crisp, containing tangy feta and spinach beneath its burnished exterior. Honey coats the surface, catching within the folds and creating a sticky contrast to the brittle pastry, while fennel pollen introduces a faintly floral, aniseed quality.
Fire comes into focus with the Hot grilled squid salad with cumin seeds, olives and harissa from Djerba. The squid possesses the char you hope for from a restaurant built around a charcoal grill, its edges singed while the flesh remains tender. Cumin provides warmth and the Tunisian harissa brings a measured chilli hit. Draped beneath a jumble of fresh herbs, it tastes vivid and spontaneous, although the precision required to achieve that texture suggests otherwise.
Then comes the dish that defines dinner. Birds tongue pasta slowly braised with spiced oxtail may sound peculiar, but the name refers to lisan al-asfour, the small, rice-shaped pasta commonly known as orzo. Here, each tiny piece absorbs the cooking liquid until glossy and deeply savoury. Shredded oxtail seems to disappear into the sauce, bringing richness and an almost stew-like intensity. Warm spices prevent the dish from becoming heavy, yet it remains unapologetically robust cooking. It is comforting, concentrated and easily the strongest plate of the evening.
Much has been made of Impala’s duck roasted in molasses, but we take a different route four our main with the Monkfish wrapped in grape leaves and grilled over the coals. It arrives almost like an oversized Egyptian warak enab, the grape leaves darkened and smoky from the grill. Inside, the monkfish remains firm and succulent, its clean sweetness working against the tang of the leaf wrapping. Chilli provides warmth, while samphire supplies a briny snap that draws the dish towards the coast. It is an intelligent use of an ingredient capable of standing up to direct heat.
Dessert is refreshingly concise. There is only one, a Date and pistachio tart, but by this point we concede defeat. Impala feeds generously, and restraint sometimes means knowing when to stop.
The wine programme complements the food rather than competing with it, with a list curated around thoughtful sourcing and sustainable practices. Yet it is the service that leaves the strongest impression beyond the cooking. The team is relaxed, warm and genuinely personable. However, given how deeply many dishes are tied to Saad’s memories and Egyptian culinary traditions, slightly more storytelling as plates arrive would further enrich the experience.
Impala succeeds because its influences never feel assembled for effect. The cooking moves confidently between Egypt, Tunisia, the Mediterranean and North London, connected by smoke, spice and Saad’s own experiences. Soho has no shortage of restaurants cooking over charcoal, but few currently possess quite this sense of identity.
Where: Impala, 13-14 Dean Street, Soho, London, W1D 3RS
Contact: https://impalasoho.com