yeni

Should You Book Yeni?

Getting a table at Yeni takes effort. The room on Beak Street is small, the cooking has earned Michelin Plate recognition in both 2024 and 2025, the word is well out in London. Book at least three weeks ahead for a weekend table; mid-week is easier but rarely spontaneous. If you can plan around the lead time, it is worth it. If you want Turkish food tonight, Mangal Ocakbasi takes walk-ins more readily. If you want Anatolian cooking at this level of technical intention, there is nowhere closer to book in London.

What Yeni Is

Yeni sits at 55 Beak Street in Carnaby, a pocket of Soho that moves fast and eats well. The restaurant brings the culinary approach of chef-owner Civan Er, who built his reputation at Yeni Lokanta in Istanbul, a restaurant that put modern Anatolian cooking on the map in Turkey. The London address is not a satellite project or a diluted export. It runs a daily-changing menu of sharing plates cooked, in part, over oak in a Josper oven; a setup that produces the kind of char and smoke you cannot replicate on a standard range.

Visually, the room is spare and focused. The Josper sits at the centre of the kitchen's identity, if you can position yourself to see it work, do. The plates that emerge have the markings of fire cooking: colour, crust, intensity that tells you immediately this is not Turkish-inflected European fusion. The techniques are Anatolian in origin; the ingredients are sourced with care for the London market. The result reads as specific, not generic.

The menu changes daily, which means there is nothing to pre-order by name. What holds constant is the format: sharing plates, a commitment to Josper-cooked protein and vegetables, a kitchen that treats Anatolian method as a serious culinary reference rather than a loose inspiration. For the food-focused traveller or London resident who knows the category, that consistency of approach matters more than any fixed dish.

The Drinks Program

Yeni's drinks list is built to match the kitchen rather than compete with it. The wine selection leans into Turkish and broader Eastern Mediterranean producers; a deliberate choice that gives the program a point of view most London restaurants at this price point skip entirely. If you are the kind of diner who eats at Zahter or follows producers from Anatolia, the Aegean, or Thrace, the list here will hold your interest. If you default to French or Italian, it will stretch you usefully.

The cocktail program plays a supporting role rather than leading one. It is coherent and well-made, drawing on the same register of ingredients the kitchen uses, but Yeni is not a cocktail-first destination. The drinks work leading as an extension of the meal. For a food-and-drink explorer, the wine list is the more interesting half of the program, the specificity of origin and producer gives it depth that a generic modern European list cannot match at this price tier.

For comparison, Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library operates at the same price tier with a deeper, more elaborate wine archive, but the focus there is French and classical. Yeni's list is narrower in volume and broader in geographic curiosity. Neither is a substitute for the other.

Value and Positioning

At ££££ in London, Yeni is not cheap. But the price tier here reflects what the kitchen is doing, not a room upgrade or a tasting-menu ceremony. You are paying for technique, sourcing, the relatively rare thing of a chef with a clear cultural point of view cooking to that standard in Soho.

Compared to Restaurant Gordon Ramsay or CORE by Clare Smyth at the same price band, Yeni operates with less ceremony and more informality. The sharing plate format means the pace is yours to control. If you want the full occasion-dining structure of a starred European tasting menu, this is not the right room. If you want cooking that is technically serious but not theatrically formal, Yeni is a strong call at the price.

For context on what the ££££ tier gets you elsewhere in the UK, compare the structured tasting experiences at Waterside Inn in Bray or L'Enclume in Cartmel. Those are different formats entirely, longer, more sequenced, more service-intensive. Yeni is a sharper, faster, more urban version of the same price commitment.

Who Should Book

Book Yeni if you are a food-focused visitor to London who wants to eat something that cannot be replicated in Paris or New York. The Anatolian framework, the Josper-led technique, the Turkish wine list make this a distinct proposition in a city that is otherwise well-stocked with competent modern European restaurants. If your goal is ticking off a Michelin name at this tier, there are higher-starred rooms elsewhere. If your goal is eating something with a specific identity and a clear culinary argument, Yeni is worth the booking friction.

For group dining, the sharing format works well for tables of two to four. Larger groups should confirm format and capacity directly with the restaurant. Solo diners who are comfortable at a table rather than a counter can eat here without issue; the room does not penalise the single cover the way some tasting-menu formats do.

For broader context on eating well in London, see our full London restaurants guide. For where to stay nearby, our London hotels guide covers the full range. If you are building a full day, our London bars guide and experiences guide are worth a look.

Quick reference: Book 3+ weeks ahead for weekends; mid-week offers more availability. Sharing plate format, daily-changing menu, ££££ price tier, Michelin Plate 2024 and 2025.