Aulis London

The Verdict

Twelve seats. Fifteen courses. £195 per person. Aulis London is among the hardest-to-book chef's table experiences in the capital, and for serious food enthusiasts, it earns that difficulty. Ranked #151 in Opinionated About Dining's Leading Restaurants in Europe in 2024 and climbing to #231 in 2025 (a rank shift that reflects increased competition more than any drop in quality), this Soho alleyway counter delivers a level of ingredient-led precision that few London tasting menus can match at this price. Book it if you want a genuinely intimate kitchen experience with a clear point of view. Skip it if you need a conversation-friendly dining room or flexibility on arrival time.

What Aulis London Is

Aulis occupies a discreet address at 16 St Anne's Court, a pedestrianised alley running between Wardour Street and Dean Street in Soho. The frontage is deliberately understated: a plaque and black-painted facade are the only signals from the street. Inside, the format is a 12-seat Italian slate counter facing an open kitchen, preceded by a compact bar-lounge where pre-meal snacks and drinks are served before you take your stool. There is no printed menu. Dishes are passed over the counter and explained by the chefs as they go.

Head chef Charlie Tayler runs the kitchen with what multiple sources describe as relaxed warmth and technical assurance. The supply chain is a genuine differentiator: regular deliveries from Simon Rogan's certified organic farm in Cartmel — known as 'Our Farm' — underpin the menu's seasonal character, supplemented by produce from elsewhere across the UK. The result is a cooking style built around inherent simplicity, fermentation, and precise balance rather than theatrical complexity for its own sake.

Dishes verified from source give a clear sense of the register: a mini truffle pudding caramelised in birch sap with fermented black garlic and shaved Welsh black truffle; Launceston lamb belly glazed in house miso with perilla and pickled green elderberries standing in for capers; Newlyn crab custard with rosehip vinegar sauce and marinated trout roe; raw Orkney scallop with wild chamomile, buttermilk, and smoked pike roe; turbot with a sauce built from smoked turbot bone stock and lovage oil; 45-day dry-aged Hereford beef accompanied by Parker House rolls made with 100% beef fat. Desserts follow the same seasonal logic: frozen Tunworth cheese ice cream with London borage honey; strawberry with buttermilk custard and apple marigold. This is cooking that uses British ingredients as the argument, not the decoration.

Sommelier Charles Brown manages wine without a printed list. His recommendations are reported to be consistently well-matched and worth engaging with, whether you want guidance or a full flight. A non-alcoholic pairing is also available and has drawn positive attention in its own right.

Late-Night Angle

Aulis is one of the few serious tasting-menu venues in London that runs late on weeknights. Tuesday through Thursday service begins at 7 PM and runs to 11 PM. Friday and Saturday offer both a lunch sitting (12:30 PM to 3:30 PM) and an evening sitting that again runs to 11 PM. Monday and Sunday are closed. For food enthusiasts who prefer dining late , or who want a post-theatre tasting menu format without a strict early-finish , Aulis's 7 PM start and 11 PM close gives genuine flexibility that venues like CORE by Clare Smyth and The Ledbury don't always match. The pacing of a 15-course menu over a full evening also means there's no pressure to rush, which suits the format well.

Booking and Logistics

This is a hard booking. Twelve covers across two or three sittings per week means availability is genuinely limited, and demand reflects the venue's reputation. Book as far ahead as you can , several weeks minimum is a reasonable baseline for most diary windows, and peak periods (autumn, pre-Christmas, Valentine's) will require more lead time. The venue's original approach of only revealing the address after booking has been retired; you can now find the address publicly. That said, the experience retains a deliberately private feel once inside.

The format is fixed: a single tasting menu at £195 per person, no alternatives. If you need dietary flexibility, confirm in advance , the kitchen's approach to seasonal, ingredient-led cooking is not easily adapted on the night. Group bookings are constrained by the 12-seat capacity; the entire room seats 12, so private hire of the full counter is possible in principle, but standard bookings for parties of more than four or five will be tight to accommodate without a dedicated arrangement.

Ratings at a Glance

• Google: 4.9 / 5 (178 reviews)
• Opinionated About Dining: #151 Europe (2024), #231 Europe (2025)
• Star Wine List: White Star recognition

Practical Details

How to Use the Rest of Your Trip

Aulis is in Soho, which puts you within easy reach of Casa Fofò, 10 Greek Street, and Clipstone for less formal meals on other nights. If you want to extend the Simon Rogan thread, the original source is L'Enclume in Cartmel, the three-Michelin-star benchmark against which Aulis London is leading understood. For comparable precision-led British cooking outside London, Moor Hall in Aughton and Gidleigh Park in Chagford are worth planning around. Within the capital, Chiltern Firehouse and Bill's offer entirely different registers for days when you want something lower-key. For country-house comparison in the UK, consider Hand and Flowers in Marlow or hide and fox in Saltwood. If you're building a broader tasting-menu itinerary across Europe, La Rei Natura by Michelangelo Mammoliti in Serralunga d'Alba and Oak in Gent operate in a comparable register. See our full London restaurants guide, London hotels guide, London bars guide, London wineries guide, and London experiences guide for further planning.

FAQs

• How far ahead should I book Aulis London? Several weeks minimum, and realistically more like two to three months if you have a fixed date in mind. With only 12 seats across a handful of sittings per week, availability disappears fast. If you're planning around a specific occasion or a peak period like December or February, book the moment your date is confirmed.
• What should I wear to Aulis London? Smart-casual is the working assumption at this price point (£195 per head) in a Soho chef's table setting. The atmosphere is described as serene and unfussy rather than formal, so a jacket is not required but very casual dress would feel out of step with the experience. Treat it like a serious dinner, not a special-occasion restaurant with a dress code.
• Can Aulis London accommodate groups? The whole room seats 12, so groups of more than four or five will take up a significant portion of the restaurant on any given night. If you want to book for a larger group, contact the venue directly about potential full counter hire. Standard online booking for groups of six or more may not be direct given the size constraints.
• Is lunch or dinner better at Aulis London? Dinner on a weeknight gives you the fullest version of the experience , the 7 PM to 11 PM window means no time pressure and the kitchen is in full evening mode. Lunch (Friday and Saturday only, 12:30 PM) is the better choice if you want to stay in daylight or prefer to keep your evening free, and the menu and price are the same. Neither sitting is objectively superior; the format and menu are identical.
• What should a first-timer know about Aulis London? There is no printed menu , dishes are explained verbally as they arrive, which is part of the format. You are seated at a counter facing the kitchen, not at a conventional table. The experience runs for several hours across 15 courses, so arrive having eaten lightly. Wine guidance from sommelier Charles Brown is worth engaging with, as there is no wine list to browse independently. At £195 per person before drinks, budget for a total spend of around £250-300 per head with a wine pairing or selective bottle.