Restaurant in London, United Kingdom
Casual live-fire dining that earns repeat visits.
A live-fire Mexican-barbecue restaurant in Soho that consistently punches above its casual price tier. Ranked in OAD's top 500 casual restaurants in Europe for three consecutive years, Temper is one of London's most reliable bookings for quality without the reservation friction of the city's formal rooms. Weekday lunch is the optimal slot.
If you have been to Temper before, you already know the answer: yes, go back. The Mexican-barbecue format at 25 Broadwick Street in Soho holds up on repeat visits in a way that most casual London restaurants do not, because the kitchen is structured around live fire and whole-animal butchery rather than a rotating menu of trend-chasing dishes. Opinionated About Dining has ranked it in the top 500 casual restaurants in Europe for three consecutive years (2023, 2024, 2025), which is the kind of sustained recognition that removes guesswork. Book it for lunch mid-week if you want the most relaxed version of the experience.
Temper is a live-fire, whole-animal barbecue restaurant with a Mexican accent, overseen by chef David Lagonell. The format is casual — counter seating, open kitchen, the kind of room where you can smell the wood smoke before you sit down — but the cooking operates at a level that comfortably outpaces its price tier. That gap between the relaxed format and the quality of execution is exactly what makes it worth prioritising over flashier Soho options.
The OAD Casual Europe ranking climbed from a recommendation in 2023 to #429 in 2024 and #463 in 2025. Rankings do not always move in a straight line, but three years of consecutive recognition in a list that covers the full continent tells you the kitchen is consistent. A Google rating of 4.2 across 2,421 reviews confirms that the experience holds at volume, not just on a quiet Tuesday. For a Soho casual, that review count is substantial enough to trust.
What separates Temper from the standard London barbecue offer is the Mexican framing. The kitchen uses the whole animal and builds dishes around tacos, salsas, and fire-cooked proteins rather than the American low-and-slow model. That means a more varied plate, more acid and brightness to balance the smoke, and a menu structure that works well for groups who want to share across several rounds rather than commit to a single main.
Timing matters here. Temper is open Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 9:45 pm, and Sunday noon to 5:45 pm. Monday is closed. The lunch service on a weekday gives you the leading conditions: the room is quieter, the kitchen is fresh, and the open-fire setup means aromas from the grill are at their most direct without the evening crowd adding noise. If you are coming on a Friday or Saturday evening, expect a lively room , the Broadwick Street location pulls a dense Soho crowd and the open kitchen means you hear as well as smell the cooking. Sunday lunch is worth considering if you want a shorter window: the 5:45 pm close means the kitchen does not stretch into a long evening service, and the pace tends to be more deliberate.
Booking is direct. This is not a three-week-wait situation. You can typically secure a table with reasonable notice, which makes Temper a reliable option when you want quality without the logistics of the city's harder-to-book rooms. For comparison: getting into CORE by Clare Smyth or The Ledbury requires planning weeks or months ahead. Temper does not ask that of you.
For food and travel enthusiasts who are working through London's restaurant scene, Temper answers a specific question: where do you eat well in Soho without spending £££££ or fighting for a reservation? The answer here is consistent enough to recommend without heavy qualification. If your interest runs to the formal end of the London dining spectrum, the full London restaurants guide covers the broader range. But for casual excellence with a clear point of view, Temper is a dependable choice.
Temper sits in a different category from the formal London rooms it often gets mentioned alongside, and that is the point. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, CORE by Clare Smyth, and The Ledbury all operate at the ££££ tier with booking windows that can stretch to several months. If you want tasting-menu formality, multi-course precision, and the kind of service infrastructure that comes with a Michelin-credentialed room, those are your options. Temper does not compete on those terms and does not need to.
For the Soho casual tier, Temper competes on execution and consistency, and on both it outperforms most alternatives at a comparable spend. Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library and Dinner by Heston Blumenthal offer theatricality and prestige, but at a significantly higher price point and with considerably more booking friction. If your evening does not require a tasting menu or a destination-level price tag, Temper returns more per pound spent.
The clearest peer comparison within the casual fire-and-meat segment in London is with the broader barbecue and grill category rather than with the ££££ fine-dining set. Temper's Mexican framing gives it a more distinctive identity than most competitors in that segment, and the OAD recognition sets it apart from restaurants that do similar food with less consistency. If you are building a London itinerary that also includes destinations outside the city, the Waterside Inn in Bray, L'Enclume in Cartmel, or Moor Hall in Aughton cover the formal end of the UK spectrum. For London itself, explore the full London restaurants guide, London bars guide, and London hotels guide to build around your visit.
Casual. Temper is a live-fire barbecue restaurant in Soho, not a formal dining room. Smart casual is fine, but there is no dress code pressure here. Wear something you are comfortable in , the open kitchen means the room carries smoke and heat, so heavy layers are not ideal.
It depends on what kind of occasion. For a birthday or celebration where the priority is great food in a lively, informal setting, yes. For an anniversary where you want hushed service and a tasting menu format, look instead at CORE by Clare Smyth or The Ledbury. Temper delivers quality and atmosphere, not ceremony.
Yes, and the counter seating makes solo visits particularly comfortable. The open kitchen gives you something to watch, the service is relaxed, and you are not made to feel like a table of one is an inconvenience. Weekday lunch is the leading slot: quieter, easier to get a seat at the counter, and the kitchen is at its most focused.
Counter and bar seating is part of the format at Temper, and it is one of the better ways to experience the room. You get a direct view of the live-fire kitchen, which is where most of the energy sits. If you are a solo diner or a pair, request counter seats when booking.
For casual fire-focused cooking in London, Temper has few direct equivalents at the same quality level. If you want to step up to formal dining, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal or Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library offer prestige and occasion, but at a much higher price and with harder booking. For a broader view of what London offers across all categories, the full London restaurants guide is the right starting point. Outside the UK, Lazy Bear in San Francisco operates in a comparable live-fire casual space if you are cross-referencing international peers.
Lunch, specifically on a weekday. The room is calmer, the kitchen is not under evening-service pressure, and the open-fire setup is more immersive when it is not competing with a packed Saturday-night crowd. Sunday lunch is also worth considering , the service closes at 5:45 pm, which keeps the pace deliberate. If dinner is your only option, go early in the week rather than Friday or Saturday to avoid the peak Soho crowd.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Temper | Mexican - Barbecue | Opinionated About Dining Casual in Europe Ranked #463 (2025); Opinionated About Dining Casual in Europe Ranked #429 (2024); Opinionated About Dining Casual in Europe Recommended (2023) | Easy | — | |
| Restaurant Gordon Ramsay | Contemporary European, French | ££££ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| CORE by Clare Smyth | Modern British | ££££ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| The Ledbury | Modern European, Modern Cuisine | ££££ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library | Modern French | ££££ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Dinner by Heston Blumenthal | Modern British, Traditional British | ££££ | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
A quick look at how Temper measures up.
Casual clothes are fine — Temper's OAD Casual ranking reflects the format. Jeans and a jacket work, but no one is turning up in a suit. The live-fire, counter-seating setup at 25 Broadwick Street sets the tone: comfortable and unpretentious.
It depends on what kind of occasion. Temper works for a low-key birthday or a food-focused celebration where the meal itself is the event. If you need white-tablecloth formality or a private room atmosphere, The Ledbury or CORE by Clare Smyth are better fits. Temper's strength is flavour and energy, not ceremony.
Yes, and arguably this is one of the better formats for it in Soho. Counter seating means you can watch the kitchen, eat at your own pace, and skip the awkward two-top dynamic. Ranked on OAD's Casual Europe list three consecutive years, Temper has the credibility to make a solo lunch feel like a deliberate choice, not a fallback.
Counter seating is part of the format at Temper, not an afterthought. The whole-animal barbecue setup is designed to be watched, so sitting at the counter puts you in the best position. Walk-in availability at the counter is worth attempting mid-week at lunch, when Tuesday through Friday from 12pm sees lighter covers than Friday or Saturday.
For live-fire and meat-focused cooking in London, Brat in Shoreditch is the closest peer in terms of format and critical standing. Smokestak in Shoreditch also competes on the barbecue side. If you want Mexican specifically without the barbecue focus, Kol in Marylebone operates at a higher price point with a Michelin star. Temper sits at the casual, accessible end of that range.
Lunch is the practical pick: Tuesday through Saturday from 12pm, the room is quieter and walk-in chances are higher. Sunday lunch runs until 5:45pm and is the only option that day. Dinner on Friday or Saturday is the busier, louder version of the same experience — book ahead. The food format doesn't change significantly by service, so the choice is really about atmosphere and planning.
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