Cafe Kitty

Cafe Kitty is the café-restaurant inside Underbelly Boulevard, the theatre and cabaret venue on Walker's Court, and it cooks like a place that knows its audience has a curtain to make. The food leans on big flavours, Theatreland classics and global favourites, built for a laid-back lunch, dinner, or a meal wrapped around a show.

The menus are structured for the neighbourhood's rhythm. Pre and post-theatre sittings offer a two-course meal and a three-course option, and the kitchen stays open late, in step with Soho after dark. Dishes range from whipped cod's roe with flatbread through comfort classics with a twist, portions built for people who have somewhere to be, generous but quick to arrive. The drinks list keeps pace, with proper cocktails alongside wine and beer.

Theatreland dining inside a Soho landmark

Walker's Court is one of Soho's most photographed corners, a neon-lit cut-through between Brewer Street and Peter Street, and Underbelly Boulevard has given it a proper stage. The venue comes from Underbelly, the team long known for their purple-cow tents at the Edinburgh Fringe, who brought that festival instinct to Soho. Eating at Cafe Kitty puts you a staircase away from the venue's cabaret, comedy and theatre programme, which makes the two-course-then-show run about as smooth as a night out gets in the West End. The room itself keeps things playful, closer to a supper club than a canteen.

How the visit works

Book around your show time and say so, the kitchen understands deadlines, or drop in late once the applause dies down. It sits naturally on any tour of Soho's restaurants, and if the night calls for a grander room afterwards, Bar Américain at Brasserie Zédel is a short walk through Piccadilly's edge.