Vapiano (Restaurant)

Top 10 things to know about Vapiano Soho:

1) All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.

2) These are, of course, the words of William Shakespeare, and I like to think that he was expressing our need for a bit of theatre in London restaurants.

3) Vapiano Soho, of the Vapiano pizza and pasta Italian chain in London, brings a bit of theatrics to the whole eating experience by preparing and cooking your meal in front of you.

4) So as the curtain opened on our meal, my companion and I happily watched as the first our starters of beef carpaccio (great flavour) and mixed antipasti (large enough to be a main) were laid out in front of us like props in some great scene.

5) For the second act, or main course as non-theatre folk may refer to it, we watched as our pasta dishes were made at speed, with additional audience participation as we were asked to pick out our desired type of pasta from the variety of shapes and sizes on display.

6) You also get an additional flourish of entertainment by being handed a card on arrival upon which all your food is noted. You take your card along with you to get your pasta and your drink and obliging tap it at various points, effectively becoming a mobile bill. Then, you simply pay at the end. Ergo, no bill-splitting drama.

7) Luckily, you don’t have to pay extra for the razzamataz. The pizza and pasta dishes are generally south of a tenner, which, for a Soho restaurant, seems reasonable to me.

8) Helpful waiters were on hand to support my companion and I, and our fellow diners - from groups of tourists, to the after work brigade - to work out the rules of the stage, so I did perform an embarrassing faux pas, like someone angrily waiting to be served pasta instead of going to the counter to get it myself.

9) For the show finale the novelette dolce - yogurt, fresh raspberries and meringue - was heavenly; although not, unfortunately, made in front of me, which seemed a bit of a let down at the last hurdle.

10) Overall, this is a reasonably priced and easy going restaurant in Soho, with some little twists to make it more interesting then your average Italian chain. A good show, bravo....read more