Impala thrills Soho diners, Parker Bowles raves

A restaurant review is not usually news. But sometimes one lands at exactly the right moment and turns a buzzing opening into a full-blown scene. That’s what happened with Impala in Soho this week. Tom Parker Bowles gave the restaurant a rave in the Mail on Sunday, and the timing matters because Impala was already building the kind of momentum that can tip a new place from “industry favorite” to “good luck getting a table.” ### What is Impala, exactly? Impala is a new Soho restaurant from chef Meedu Saad, the former head chef of Kiln and still one of its co-owners. It opened in March 2026 on Dean Street and sits inside the Super 8 orbit — the same group behind Brat, Mountain, Kiln, and Smoking Goat. That matters because London diners already associate that group with fire, smoke, and restaurants that feel instantly like they’ve been there forever. (hardens.com) ### Why did Parker Bowles’ review land? Because he didn’t just say it was good. He said the menu was “as thrilling to read as it is exhilarating to eat,” and Harden’s roundup singled out his review as joining a growing chorus of critical praise. The dish he seemed most knocked out by was veal sweetbreads glazed in Bordelaise and charred on the grill — which he described as one of the best pieces of offal he’d tasted. That kind of line sticks. (impalasoho.com) ### What kind of food is getting people excited? Basically, food that refuses to sit still in one category. Saad has described Impala as drawing on childhood trips to Egypt, a North London upbringing, Turkish Cypriot restaurant experience, and classical French technique. Critics keep circling the same point — this is North African-inflected cooking, but not in a tidy museum-piece way. You get combinations like pastilla with pickled walnut, white beans with bottarga, and bird’s-tongue pasta with spiced oxtail. (hardens.com) ### Why are people talking about “authenticity”? Because Impala is hitting a live London argument. A lot of restaurant culture still rewards food that can be explained in one clean label — regional, traditional, canonical. Impala is doing something messier and more modern. David Ellis at the Standard called it “fusion food without the naffness” and argued that chasing authenticity can limit culture rather than protect it. (hardens.com) That’s a big reason the place feels bigger than a single review. It has become a proxy fight over what counts as serious cooking now. ### Is this just one critic, then? No — that’s the real story. Parker Bowles added fuel, but he wasn’t starting from zero. The Standard raved in early April. Hot Dinners called it the restaurant everyone was talking about. Harden’s said Parker Bowles had joined a “chorus” and noted Giles Coren had also praised it. So this week’s excitement is less a sudden discovery than a confirmation that Impala’s early hype has held up under repeated visits. (standard.co.uk) ### Where does Michelin fit in? The funny part is that Michelin is mostly in the background here. As of May 12, 2026, Impala does not appear to have its own Michelin Guide listing, even while Soho is full of Michelin-starred and Bib Gourmand spots nearby. So the online chatter about Michelin versus neighborhood cooking is really about recognition lag — whether institutions are slow to catch restaurants that feel culturally important before they feel formally classified. (standard.co.uk) That’s an inference, but it fits the gap between Impala’s press heat and Michelin visibility right now. ### Why Soho? Because Soho is where this kind of argument becomes visible fastest. It’s dense, competitive, and full of diners who bounce between old standbys, hype openings, and Michelin destinations in the same week. A restaurant that feels both deeply personal and unmistakably “London-coded” can catch fire there quicker than almost anywhere else. Impala’s room, grill, and anti-phone gloom all help too — it’s built to feel like an event. (guide.michelin.com) ### Bottom line? The news is simple — Tom Parker Bowles loved Impala. But the reason it matters is larger. His review didn’t create the buzz. It validated a growing sense that Meedu Saad’s first solo restaurant is one of London’s defining new openings of spring 2026, whether Michelin has caught up yet or not. (hardens.com) (standard.co.uk)