Café Deco

Verdict

Café Deco is one of the better-value Michelin Plate restaurants in central London, and considerably easier to book than most of its peers. The cooking is seasonal British contemporary at a ££ price point, the service is warm rather than formal, and the wine list is more considered than the room's bistro feel suggests. If you want technically sound, flavour-forward food without the ceremony or the bill that comes with the city's ££££ bracket, this is a strong booking. The main misconception to correct before you arrive: this is not a café in any meaningful sense. The name undersells it.

About Café Deco

Café Deco sits on Store Street in Bloomsbury, a short walk from the British Museum, and the location explains part of why it remains relatively off the radar for destination diners. The neighbourhood lacks the restaurant-district pull of Mayfair or Soho, which works in your favour: tables are genuinely easier to secure here than at comparable-quality venues across town.

Chef Anna Tobias runs a weekly-changing menu built around seasonal British produce with clear European influences. The format is deliberately unfussy. Dishes arrive looking simple, and the skill lies in the seasoning and the combinations rather than in architectural plating. That domesticity is intentional, and it is the thing most likely to wrong-foot a first-time visitor who expects Michelin Plate recognition to mean elaborate presentation. It does not here. What it means is that the kitchen understands its ingredients and knows when not to interfere with them.

The menu typically opens with shareable snacks — charcuterie, mussels in escabeche — before moving through starters that demonstrate a confident hand with acidity and seasoning: salt cod fritters with aïoli, artichoke vinaigrette, tuna with radish. Main courses are proportioned for appetite rather than aesthetics. A Spanish-influenced stew of sausage, morcilla, bacon and beans sits alongside lighter options like baked brill with potato. Desserts hold their own: crema catalana, rhubarb ice cream, and the kind of cake (chocolate and walnut, for instance) that reinforces the domestically confident register the kitchen operates in throughout.

Service involves the chefs directly. They bring dishes to the table and explain them without theatre. This is not a gimmick: it means questions about provenance or preparation get an informed answer rather than a rehearsed one, and it gives the room a quality of attention that larger restaurants with separated front and back of house rarely achieve at this price level.

The Wine List

The wine program at Café Deco is worth booking for in its own right, particularly if you approach it as a weekly-changing menu pairing exercise. The list skews European and shows real specificity in its selections: expect producers and regions that a list assembled for broad appeal would not risk. A Tarragona Macabeu-Muscat blend and a cherry-ripe Sicilian Frappato are the kinds of choices that signal a buyer with genuine curiosity rather than one filling categories.

For a wine-focused visitor, the combination of an adventurous, largely European list and a kitchen that changes weekly creates a pairing dynamic that rewards repeat visits. The food's emphasis on acidity, cured proteins, and assertive seasoning gives the wine list clear reference points to work from , the aïoli-heavy dishes, the escabeche, the morcilla stew all point naturally toward the kind of textural, mineral-edged European whites and medium-weight reds the list appears to favour. This is the kind of list where asking for a recommendation will produce a better result than picking by grape variety alone.

At the ££ price tier, it is unusual to find a wine program with this degree of considered selection. Restaurants in the ££££ bracket , CORE by Clare Smyth, Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library , offer deeper cellars and sommelier-led service, but Café Deco's list punches above its price category for the explorer who wants something interesting in the glass without the markup that comes with a tasting menu format.

How It Compares to Other London Restaurants

For the broader Modern British and contemporary cooking category in London, see our full London restaurants guide. If you are exploring beyond restaurants, we also cover hotels, bars, wineries, and experiences across the city.

For British Contemporary cooking in a similar vein but different register, Anchor & Hope on the South Bank offers strong, produce-driven plates in an equally unfussy room. Apricity in Mayfair covers some of the same seasonal ground with a stronger sustainability focus and a more urban-cool aesthetic. Outside London, comparable sensibilities surface at Hand and Flowers in Marlow and hide and fox in Saltwood. For British Contemporary cooking in entirely different geographic contexts, Jaan by Kirk Westaway in Singapore and Dog and Gun Inn in Skelton demonstrate the range of the genre. At the three-star end of the British spectrum, The Fat Duck in Bray, L'Enclume in Cartmel, and Moor Hall in Aughton occupy a different register entirely. Gidleigh Park in Chagford is worth considering if you want a country-house format with comparable seasonal seriousness.

Know Before You Go

• Price tier: ££ (mid-range; accessible for central London)
• Cuisine: British Contemporary, weekly-changing seasonal menu
• Booking difficulty: Easy , one of the more accessible Michelin Plate venues in London
• Location: 43 Store St, Bloomsbury WC1E 7DB , short walk from the British Museum and Tottenham Court Road
• Recognition: Michelin Plate (2025); Google rating 4.3 from 308 reviews
• Service style: Chefs serve many dishes themselves; expect informed, direct conversation rather than formal front-of-house performance
• Wine: Largely European list with adventurous selections; ask for a recommendation rather than ordering by varietal
• Group size: Well-suited to tables of 2–4; the intimate room means larger groups should check availability in advance

Frequently Asked Questions

• What should a first-timer know about Café Deco? The name is the main source of confusion , this is a proper restaurant, not a café, and it holds a Michelin Plate (2025). Expect a short, seasonal menu that changes weekly, a room that is small and informal rather than grand, and chefs who bring dishes to the table themselves. At ££ in central London, it is well-priced for the quality on offer.
• What should I order at Café Deco? The menu rotates weekly, so specific dishes cannot be guaranteed, but the kitchen consistently produces strong work with salt cod fritters, cured and smoked proteins, and main courses built around sustenance rather than showmanship. If aïoli appears on the menu in any form, order it. The dessert section typically includes both a dairy-based option and a fruit-forward one , both are worth considering.
• Is Café Deco worth the price? Yes, clearly. Michelin Plate recognition at a ££ price point in central London is a good deal. The cooking is technically sound, the wine list is more interesting than the price tier implies, and the service quality , chefs serving directly , adds genuine value. You are not paying for a room or a brand; you are paying for the food, and it delivers.
• Is there a tasting menu at Café Deco? Based on available data, Café Deco operates an à la carte format rather than a fixed tasting menu. The weekly-changing menu is short, which means the kitchen focuses its energy on a small number of dishes. This suits the format well: you choose rather than commit to a set progression, which also makes it easier to manage dietary preferences.
• Does Café Deco handle dietary restrictions? No specific information is available in our data on dietary accommodation. Given that the menu changes weekly and dishes involve cured proteins, fish, and dairy-heavy preparations, it is worth contacting the restaurant in advance if you have specific requirements. The short menu format means flexibility may be limited on the night.
• What should I wear to Café Deco? No dress code is specified, and the room's bistro feel means smart casual is the appropriate register. This is not a jacket-required environment. The Bloomsbury location and informal service style both point toward relaxed but considered dressing rather than anything formal.
• Is Café Deco good for solo dining? The intimate room and chef-led service make it a reasonable solo option. The weekly menu format means a solo diner can work through several courses without feeling the pacing pressure that larger groups can create. It is a more comfortable solo experience than many small London restaurants at this level.
• Can I eat at the bar at Café Deco? No bar seating information is confirmed in our data. Given the small room size and intimate format, counter or bar seating may exist, but this is worth confirming directly with the restaurant before visiting if that is your preference.