Hoppers Soho
Skye Gyngell named the bone marrow curry here in 2019. Niklas Ekstedt named the same dish in 2025, asked a different question by different people.
Why go
For a dish that keeps coming up. Gyngell, who runs Spring, said The Bone Marrow curry at Hoppers is exceptional, I'll go there especially for that
(The Gentleman's Journal); six years later Ekstedt, asked by TOPJAW for the best curry in London, answered Hoppers. That's really nice. The bone marrow curry.
Andrew Wong and Nieves Barragán Mohacho give the same venue as their answer.
The room takes its shape from Sri Lanka's village toddy shops, and the drinks follow the food: a tropical drinks list which has Genever and Arrack at its heart
(venue). Hoppers, dosas, kothus and roasts. Arrack is on that list because of where the cooking comes from, which is a different thing from a bar programme reaching for something unusual.
One caveat sits over all of it, and Andrew Wong raised it himself: "Even though the brand now has multiple sites, each restaurant still retains a warm neighbourhood feel." None of the four chefs names Frith Street. They name Hoppers, and JKS runs four of them.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the bone marrow curry, then an egg hopper for the yolk sitting in the middle of the pancake. Arrack to drink.
- Avoid: arriving as a party of five expecting a table. Bookings stop at four, and nobody is seated until everyone in the group has turned up.
What locals & experts say
- Andrew Wong, chef-owner of A. Wong, in the Michelin Guide's My London series (June 2026):
It's amazing to see Sri Lankan food celebrated at Hoppers, and I love the magic of the egg hoppers.
2 - Wong had said much the same nineteen months earlier, in a November 2024 interview, and he added the part about the cooking:
Hoppers is a Sri Lankan restaurant that truly opens our eyes to the intricacy of subcontinental cuisine and what you can do with ingredients like lentils.
He read the value and the habit it produces:It also has a lively energy and is reasonably priced - locals love it so much that you could easily go two or three times a month.
His order was the same both times, the egg hoppers, and he adds thatTheir curries are also excellent.
Treat the price as a November 2024 impression. That is one man twice, and this entry counts him once.3 - Skye Gyngell, chef-patron of Spring (2019):
The Bone Marrow curry at Hoppers is exceptional, I'll go there especially for that.
6 Niklas Ekstedt picked out the same dish on TOPJAW in June 2025, and Nieves Barragán Mohacho gave Hoppers as her best-curry answer in May 2024. - No critic has reviewed this address. Nothing branch-attributed to 49 Frith Street surfaced on 1 August 2026, which is why the confidence here is medium despite four chef picks.
Good to know
- Sites: four, and the room on this page is 49 Frith Street W1D 4SG. Shoreditch, St Christopher's Place and King's Cross are separate rooms and nothing about them is claimed here. The branch was confirmed against the Google place id printed on the venue's own page.
- Booking: reservations for two to four only. Larger parties join a virtual queue, leave their details and get called back, and only complete parties are seated.
- Timing: split service Monday to Thursday, straight through from noon on Friday and Saturday, and to 9pm Sunday.
- Michelin: a Bib Gourmand is widely attributed to Hoppers and this entry does not record one, because the cached standings hold stars only and no bylined trade coverage confirming a current Bib for the Soho site was found. Read the empty field as unchecked rather than as an absence.
- Operator: JKS Restaurants, fifteen central London rooms across the group.
- Hygiene: FSA rating 4, Westminster, inspected 9 June 2025. Components are food handling 0, structure 10, management 10, where higher is worse. The kitchen practice scored clean and the mark is carried by the other two.4
Verdict
should-visit — Skye Gyngell named the bone marrow curry here in 2019 and said she would come for that alone. Niklas Ekstedt named the same dish in 2025 without being asked about her. Two chefs, six years apart, landing on one plate is worth more than any listicle, and two more industry voices, Andrew Wong and Nieves Barragan Mohacho, put Hoppers at the top of their curry answers as well. The room is built on Sri Lanka's village toddy shops, and the drinks list follows: genever and arrack rather than a cocktail programme. Hoppers, dosas, kothus and roasts. The catch, stated plainly, is that not one of those four chefs names the Soho branch; they all say Hoppers, and JKS now runs four of them, so what the votes prove is that the kitchen and the format are good. Practical: reservations run to four people only, everyone else joins a virtual queue, and they will not seat a party until all of you are standing there.