Toba

Pino Edward Sinaga moved out of a Camden Market stall and into the room Ikoyi had just vacated in St James's Market, and cooks his late mother's recipes in it (The Guardian, Andy Hayler).

Why go

Sinaga is from northern Sumatra, and the restaurant takes its name from Lake Toba, the caldera lake in the Batak heartland up there (Andy Hayler). What lands on the table is pan-Indonesian rather than strictly Batak: rendang from the Minangkabau side of Sumatra, sate ayam off a charcoal grill, nasi goreng, a lamb shank gulai kambing, and about fifteen dishes Sinaga chose to bring west from the stall (Toba). The room seats 36 with five chefs working the pass on a Saturday night. Grace Dent put the case for the cuisine better than a menu can: its pleasure is "in the devilishly good detail and in the things casually strewn: crisp shallots, peanut sauces, the zing of a makrut lime leaf, a humble boiled egg smothered in chilli". Harden's survey diners mark the food 4 out of 5 and the ambience 2, which is the shape of the place in two numbers.

Order this / avoid

• Order: the beef rendang, which Andy Hayler scored 15 out of 20 on a night when nothing else went above 13 (Andy Hayler). The sate ayam, "blackened by Toba's fierce charcoal grill then doused in a heavenly peanut sauce and scattered with the crunchiest shallots" (The Guardian). Then the gulai daun singkong pete, which Dent calls "the best thing on the menu", with yellow rice and the trio of sambals. Cassava cake to finish.
• Avoid: the morning glory, "bizarrely tiny for GBP 12.50" (The Guardian), and the wine list unless you have checked the price, since it runs at an average 3.4 times high-street retail. Beer is the sane order.

What locals & experts say

• Grace Dent, The Guardian, 31 March 2023: "It was so slick that, on first sight, I feared the food would be an afterthought ... But Toba is very decent." She went back within the week: "St James's Market may be soulless, but places like Toba and its neighbour Fallow keep dragging me back for the dependably good food." ref
• Andy Hayler, March 2024, who pays for his meals and scores each dish out of 20: "The star dish of the evening was beef rendang ... Good beef rendang is a joy and this was a very good version (15/20)." His verdict on the whole: "an enjoyable if quite fully priced meal, but then you are sitting in smart premises just yards from Piccadilly." ref
• Harden's, 2026 survey: "Extremely flavourful Indonesian food from Pino Edward Sinaga, based on his mother's recipes, justifies a visit to this unit in slick (but some feel oppressive) St James's Market." Its 2025 edition added the value line: "For its location, it's great value too." Component marks: Food 4, Service 3, Ambience 2. ref

Good to know

• Timing: closed Monday. Tuesday to Friday 12:00 to 14:30 and 17:30 to 21:30, last seating 21:15. Saturday runs to 22:00 with last seating 21:45. Sunday is brunch only, 11:30 to 15:00.
• Booking: through SevenRooms on the venue's site. Tables are small and close together, so a large group will be tight.
• Format: the kitchen calls it a sharing restaurant and expects you to order several dishes across the table. Most things carry chili heat by design.
• Money: dishes ran 12.50 to 28 pounds at the last documented visit, set menus started at 36.50, and Hayler's bill with beer came to 86 pounds a head.
• The room's history: this is Ikoyi's old site, which is now on the Strand. Fallow is the neighbor.
• Hygiene: the FSA register lists Toba as awaiting inspection, with no rating and no inspection date recorded as of 30 July 2026. That is a hole in the register rather than a mark against the kitchen. ref

Jeff's take (his words)

Jeff has no note on this row. His raw saved-places export carries an empty Note against Toba, so jeff_note stays empty and no opinion here is attributed to him.

Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)

could-visit — A Camden Market stall took over the room Ikoyi vacated and cooks one man's mother's recipes in it, which is a better story than most of St James's Market can manage. Grace Dent went twice in eight days and called the food dependably good; Andy Hayler scored the beef rendang 15 out of 20 and the rest of dinner between 12 and 13, which reads as a kitchen with one great dish and a solid supporting cast. The gulai daun singkong pete, tofu and tempeh with stink beans in yellow coconut sauce, is the dish both a critic and the vegetarians in your party will want. Against that: 36 tightly packed covers, an ambience mark of 2 out of 5 in Harden's survey, a wine list running at 3.4 times retail, and a bill that can reach the mid eighties a head. Indonesian cooking is thin on the ground in London and this is the best-documented room doing it, which is a sentence rather than a promotion. Go if Piccadilly is on your route, order the rendang and the cassava leaf, and drink beer.