As first hinted at in an interview with the Standard earlier this year, one of London’s most exciting chefs, Meedu Saad, is to launch his debut restaurant in Soho in the spring.
Impala, named after the cherry red 1964 Chevrolet Impala that Saad drove during his summers in Egypt, is inspired by charcoal grill restaurants from North Africa to north London. Saad will also lean into his classical culinary training.
The chef might be best known for his time leading the kitchen at Kiln, the Soho Thai restaurant where fine seafood and claypot cooking have made the place famous. Joining him from his time at Kiln will be Fanny Derozier, who will lead front of house. She spent seven years at the heralded Thai joint.
Saad said he will channel a lifetime of food and learning into Impala, with the project having been in the works for five years. The restaurant will be found on Dean Street in “an awkward 1960s concrete building”, within which will be an open fire grill and dishes such as baked river fish, spit-roast mutton, grilled sea bass and bream, prepared using the Japanese preservation method ike jime. One standout dish will be dry-aged ducks from Devon stuffed with black lime and chillies from Aswan and roasted over wood embers with molasses. Saad said a trip to his aunt’s house in Egypt led to one recipe, which sees roast river fish paired with toasted rice and ghee.
“Growing up, I saw river fish baked in bran around the community ovens in Ismailia, opened clams over small fires along the beaches of the Red Sea and watched spit roast sheep turning in smoke-filled Cypriot kebab houses in Haringey,” Saad said. “All of these memories are carried through into our cooking today.”
The menu will be an amalgamation of fine produce, with sourcing integral to the operation. Much will come from the UK, notably Cornwall and Devon, and the restaurant will benefit from its own in-house butchery, led by Ozan Yildiz.
Saad has been working with the restaurant group Super 8’s head of sourcing, SongSoo Kim, to prepare for the launch. He mentioned the preserving of green figs in honey and salt-packing greengages and gooseberries from Flourish Farm. Elsewhere are ingredients such as peppers and aubergines, these fermented with walnuts and chilli and preserved in Cretan olive oil; dairy, such as milk and cheese, from Cumbrian farms; and meat from Cornwall by way of farmer Matt Chatfield.
Saad said he’s been growing his pantry to become a collection of spices from across the world. In it are za’atar and hawthorn from the Sinai Desert; chillies from Egypt; and garum made in house from sardines. Fish, meanwhile, will come from Kernow Sashimi, a well-regarded seafood specialist based on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall.
The group’s co-founder Ben Chapman has designed the space alongside longtime collaborator Dan Preston. Publicity material said the room will have “the energy of the Friday markets in Cairo, colliding with a Soho bar.”
Impala will become in spring the newest restaurant in the Super 8 group, which is behind some of London’s best places to eat, including Brat, Mountain, and Smoking Goat. The duo behind Mountain’s wine list, Penny Vine and Martina Lanarch, will also work up the offering at the new venture.
Impala will open on Dean Street in spring 2026. More information is expected soon.
