Thomas Straker Brings His London Room to SoHo

Thomas Straker has crossed the Atlantic. On October 10, the London chef opened Straker's at 59 Grand Street in SoHo, his first restaurant outside London and his first international opening. The address carries history: it is the former home of Lucky Strike, Keith McNally's storied Manhattan restaurant, which closed in 2020 after 31 years of trading.

The move completes an unusual arc. Straker trained in serious kitchens, as a sous chef at the Michelin-starred Elystan Street in London and as executive chef at Casa Cruz, then rose to fame during the pandemic making food and recipe content for YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. His first restaurant, Straker's in Notting Hill, opened about four years ago; an all-day restaurant and deli, Acre, followed in 2025. A large online following came with him to New York, but SoHo will judge the cooking, not the audience.

The opening doubles as a homecoming: Straker was born in America and grew up on a farm in Herefordshire, in the west of England, an angle he does not resist. "Moving to New York is a massive move for the brand, Straker's," he said. He has thought about it for a long time, he added, and intends to do everything in his power to make the restaurant a success.

The room

Design studio Post Company has reworked the space around an open kitchen-bar, where diners can watch the chefs work. Behind it sits a smaller, more intimate dining room for the back of the house. The walls carry serious art: works by Keith Haring, Damien Hirst and Brian Clarke hang through the room.

Flatbreads and a few New York additions

The menu imports the London signatures intact. The mussel flatbread with chilli butter is here, the dish that made his name with his online audience. Bluefin tuna belly carpaccio is here too. Around them, the kitchen cooks for the room it is in: seasonal, ingredient-led plates built to be shared and reordered, rather than a tasting-menu procession.

Around those signatures, the menu localises. Lucky Lime oysters are served on the half shell. A red shrimp and foie gras tostada brings an American note to the small plates. Wood-roasted grouper comes with salsa verde. The structure is familiar on purpose: small plates, flatbreads, and time to let the evening run.

What SoHo is being offered

The offer is a neighbourhood restaurant with a famous chef, rather than a tasting-menu temple. SoHo has no shortage of dinner destinations; a room built around an open kitchen-bar, made for repeat visits rather than occasions, is built for regulars, and regulars are what the old Lucky Strike address used to run on.

Back in London, the group is using the moment. Straker's two Golborne Road restaurants, Acre and Straker's, are introducing large-format wines and seasonal menu changes built on game and harvest produce. Conor Strutt, formerly of Noble Rot, has joined as head of wine, and will introduce a magnum-only wine list this autumn for larger tables. The New York room is the headline, but the London rooms are being tuned to match it.

The test

British chefs have crossed to New York before, with mixed results. The ones who last tend to bring a clear idea and then let the city edit it. Straker's idea is clear enough: ingredient-led cooking, a room people want to sit in, and a menu that rewards a second visit within the same week. Whether SoHo adopts it as its own will be decided the slow way, table by table, long after the opening week's attention has moved on.