Arcade Food Theatre

Nine kitchens opened here on 22 April 2022 and seven trade now, and the two that survived are the two chefs keep naming.

Why go

This is the ground floor of Centre Point, and the building swaps chefs the way a restaurant swaps a menu. It opened in 2019 as Arcade Food Theatre, shut inside eight months when the pandemic hit, and reopened under JKS Restaurants, the group behind Bao, Berenjak, Hoppers and Gymkhana, with a new name and nine new kitchens (Time Out). Today the site describes "seven global kitchens, two bars, and open counter dining in one dynamic space" (Arcade), and the names on them are the point: Feroz Gajia of Bake Street cooks the burgers at Manna, Ana Goncalves and Zijun Meng of TA TA Eatery run the grill at Solis, and Luke Farrell's Plaza Khao Gaeng builds southern Thai curries from pastes and herbs he grows in Dorset greenhouses. Saborcito and Sushi Kamon were on the 2022 line-up and are gone. That turnover is the craft signal here, and it is also the warning.

Order this / avoid

• Order: the beef massaman at Plaza Khao Gaeng, which Ben Allen of Parakeet names as "most outrageous value" in London, alongside the "beer tower" and morning glory. ref Then a smash burger at Manna if there are two of you.
• Avoid: planning around a counter you read about. Check the current roster before you commit.

What locals & experts say

• Jimi Famurewa, restaurant critic, asked by TOPJAW where he eats alone: "Best spot for solo dining: Arcade. So many amazing options. You can get curries from Plaza. The beef massaman curry is one of the best things you'll put in your gob." ref
• Ben Allen, head chef at Parakeet (March 2026): "Most outrageous value? Plaza Khao Gaeng. The beef massaman curry there. Beer tower. Morning glory." Plaza now trades at Borough Yards and Covent Garden as well, so this praises the counter rather than the hall. ref
• Luke Hunns, head chef at Chiltern Firehouse, relayed by the TOPJAW presenters in April 2024: his best burger in London was Manna, "like an American smash-style burger, and one of the places to get those is in Arcade." Reported speech rather than his own words, and Manna also trades at Arcade Battersea. ref
• No bylined critic has reviewed the current seven-counter line-up in anything reachable on 30 July 2026. The votes above are what is carrying this entry.

Good to know

• Where: 103-105 New Oxford Street, in the Centre Point block at WC1A 1DB, on top of Tottenham Court Road station. Camden's register files the hall itself under 101-103.
• Sites: Arcade runs three London halls now. This is the Tottenham Court Road flagship; Battersea Power Station has eleven brands and three standalone restaurants, and Covent Garden is the newest. Each carries a different roster, so a recommendation attaches to a building.
• Booking: reservations through the hall, which is worth doing for a group. Solo diners walk up to a counter.
• Name: the row still says Arcade Food Theatre, which was the 2019 identity. It traded as Arcade Food Hall from 2022 and now as Arcade Tottenham Court Road.
• Hygiene: Camden inspects each unit separately, so there are nine records at this postcode rather than one. The hall itself rated 4 in November 2024; the bars, Plaza Khao Gaeng, MEXA and Shatta and Toum all rated 5 across 2025; Gracey's and Supa-Ya rated 4 in December 2025; the Main Kitchen and Manna both rated 3, in September and June 2025. Nothing sits in the sub-satisfactory band, and the spread is worth reading before you choose. ref

Jeff's take (his words)

Jeff saved Arcade Food Theatre with no note. His raw saved-places export carries an empty Note for this row, so nothing above is in his voice and no order is attributed to him.

Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)

should-visit — Worth the detour, and worth knowing which counter to walk to. Nine kitchens opened here on 22 April 2022 when JKS relaunched the Centre Point site, seven trade now, and the roster has largely turned over in between, which is the whole proposition: a building that swaps chefs rather than a restaurant that keeps them. Two counters have survived it and both are what the industry names. Jimi Famurewa picks the hall outright for eating alone: 'Best spot for solo dining: Arcade. So many amazing options.' Ben Allen calls Plaza Khao Gaeng's beef massaman the most outrageous value in London, and Luke Hunns' best burger in the city is Manna's smash. Plaza grows its own curry herbs in Dorset and holds a Bib Gourmand of its own. It holds at should-visit because a hall is only ever as good as the counter you pick, Camden's ratings across the units run from 5 down to 3, and no critic has reviewed the current seven.