Test Driving Soraya, looks like the Pachamama Group has another winner with this Persian-inspired restaurant

The main dining room at Soraya

What can you tell us about Soraya?

This is the latest opening from the Pachamama Group, a name which has become ever so slightly outdated, as there are no more Pachamama restaurants left. Instead, this is a perfect example of a group pivoting to something new and doing extraordinarily well at it.

Firstly, they moved away from their previous focus on Peruvian cuisine towards the Mediterranean, opening Nina, Bottarga and Lagana in pretty quick succession. Those all became absolutely massive hits and continue to be hugely popular. With Soraya, they've opened their biggest restaurant yet, and it sees them exploring new territory, as this time it's all Persian-inspired. 

Where can we find it?

While most of the previous restaurants opened in previous Pachamama locations, Soraya is brand new in every sense. They've opened in a big new Marylebone development just off Baker Street (and apparently it might not be their only opening there). As it's a completely new building, they've been able to open a much bigger restaurant than they have before. Soraya can fit in about 200 people and they have had absolutely no problem in filling that space. 

And this is the back room.

Where should we meet for a drink first?

If you're looking for a pub, there's always The Hart nearby, but good luck finding a table there - even on a Saturday night, the vertical drinking was off the charts. Close by, there's a relatively new bar called Dive that should be worth checking out, but you might want to book on busier nights, as we didn't make it in there either. We did, however, manage to get a beer in recently reopened The Beehive as well as a Cosmo that would put many proper cocktail bars to shame. 

Back in Soraya - where should we sit?

Given how busy it is right now, it's a wherever-they-put-you scenario. But ideally, you want to be in the main section of the room, in front of the open kitchen. Beyond that, there are some great round tables for 6-8 if you're in a bigger crowd along with this lovely-looking private room (private-ish, anyway, as it's behind a curtain):

Hidden away right at the back is their private dining room.

And what can we expect from the food?

There's no getting around it, this is all very reminiscent of another very popular Persian-inspired restaurant, Berenjak. Now, obviously Berenjak has a big fanbase, and we ourselves loved the latest Mayfair restaurant. But they've never been that big in size (the original is tiny), so where Soraya succeeds is by taking that Berenjak template and really maximising the whole thing. Ultimately though, all of that would be for nothing if the food wasn't up to scratch - and thankfully it is. 

Kicking things off, you'll be going straight for the flatbread and dips:

The house sourdough flatbread (£5) - you'll need at least one of these to help with dips like...

Hummus, with tahini, lemon, hazelnut, warm brown butter (£9) - a decent hummus elevated by the brown butter mix in the middle. 

Olivieh Salad - chicken, potato & egg dip (£11) - like a Persian take on a Russian salad. We liked this, but to be honest it didn't match the fantastic version we recently had at Berenjak Mayfair. 

Also recommended is the spicy whipped feta dip (£10) and we hear good things about the Kashk Badjeman (£11, smoked aubergine, whey and walnut). But you're also going to want to start with at least one of the snacks. There are meatballs or sweetcorn, but really you have to order this: 

Parmesan Sibzamini - bite-sized fried potatoes with a kashk & truffle dip and topped with Parmesan (£14). Absolute must-haves. 

We were going a little easy at this point, mainly because we had a view on what was to come. Mains are a mix of kebabs and stews and we'd normally say one stew and one kebab or grill dish (plus rice) would be more than enough. But there's also the mixed grill - and that's the showstopper.

It takes in some of the best parts of the grill menu - lamb koobideh, lamb shashlik, chicken joojeh and chicken wings and adds in their house rice, homemade red shatta, green shatta sauce and yogurt dip. It's also enormous.

The enormous mixed grill (£110) - We're not sure that our photo fully illustrates just how huge this platter is. It pretty much took up the entire table. All of it was fantastic, with particular praise for the wonderful chicken koobideh and those lamb chops. 

Khoresh Bamieh - lamb, tomato & okra (£26) - we felt we had to try at least one of the stews. This low-braised lamb dish was wonderful and the okra was our favourite part. 

And after that, there's still dessert to come?

Absolutely. And you're really going to need to save just a little room for at least one of the desserts. The group are known for their excellent cheesecakes, and in recognition of how popular these have been at their previous restaurants, they've put two of these on the menu. There's the brulee cheesecake, which is as it sounds, surrounded in bruleed sugar. But we'd point you instead to the saffron version:

Saffron cheesecake (£15) - As with the mixed grill, we're not sure that the size of this massive slice of cheesecake is coming across, but the glass of wine is there in the back to help give a sense of scale. The saffron truly works well in this (it's only a mild touch of it), while the just-set nature is pitch perfect. 

“Napoleon” Millefeuille - white chocolate, vanilla, crispy crepe millefeuille (£12) - a slightly lighter dessert if the cheesecakes are too much (although there's a lot of buttercream in here), we thought this was great too, with the use of crispy filo rather than puff pastry a clever move. 

What about drink?

The wine list has a specific focus on "ancient wine regions" with Persia given the most prominence, with wines from Macedonia, Lebanon, Romania and more all on the list and bottles starting at £39 for a Romanian Rosé. There are still plenty of European options if your tastes are more in that direction. Cocktails are in the £12-13 range, filtering in various Persian-inspired flavours, like the Before, with bitters, saffron, mango and Prosecco. There's a decent non-alcoholic showing on the cocktail front too (£8-£10)

Overall thoughts

The group's previous restaurants have all been monster hits, and it's clear that that's also going to be the case with Soraya - it's already incredibly difficult to get a booking. But it's worth persevering, as they've brought the panache that's been ever-present at their other restaurants to Soraya. So if you liked those, you'll like Soraya. It also helps that the food is good too. Is it going to please the Persian purists? Probably not, but it more than makes up for that in the whole vibe. Come here if you're looking for a proper night out.