In a climate where some publications host continuously updated lists of recently closed restaurants, making the century mark is no small accomplishment. London’s Quo Vadis is among the rare few to hit a 100 years – and is celebrating in suitably jubilant style.
The Soho restaurant and member’s club is adapting its now-beloved Quo Vadis and Friends guest chef program into the Legend Series, with a plummy line-up of guest chefs slated to join chef-proprietor Jeremy Lee in the kitchen throughout 2026.
Familiarly known as The Great Dane of Dean Street, Quo Vadis was first opened by Peppino Leoni and has passed through many hands in its lifetime, including the infamous Marco Pierre White. A well-to-do set quickly flocked and the restaurant’s reputation was set. Restaurateur brothers Sam and Eddie Hart took over in 2007, with Jeremy Lee joining in 2012.
“It is a great honor to be a custodian of The Great Dame of Dean Street on her 100th year, alongside Sam Hart and Crispin Somerville – 100 years of good folk crossing the threshold bringing such joy, mirth, and merriment to Quo Vadis,” Lee told Elite Traveler.
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The Legend Series kicks off on Friday, January 23 with a Burns Night supper in collaboration with Lee and Kate Tiernan, of the recently closed cult restaurant FKABAM. Marking the duo’s ninth Burns Night residency at Quo Vadis, the dinner will take over all of the building’s three floors (unlike most of the events, which will be in the private dining room).
February will be the turn of Margot and Ferguson Henderson, the undisputed culinary power couple, from whom came institutions such as St John. Their son Hector Henderson, who runs the kitchens at Rochelle Canteen, will join them.
The rest of the year reads as a who’s-who in the world of top chefs. There will be Jackson Boxer (currently noted for making one of London’s best burgers at Dove); Merlin Labron-Johnson from Osip in Somerset; Cynthia Shanmugalingam (Rambutan), Ravinder Bhogal (Jikoni), Anna Tobias (Café Deco), and author Anna Jones, who will all cook together; and partners in business and life, Angela Hartnett and Neil Borthwick.
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The restaurant’s bumper year will close how it always does: with the annual Quo Vadis Christmas Carols.
“The Quo Vadis and Friends Legends series has been a lovely plan that has borne such great fruit, with each dinner promising to be an incredibly jolly affair,” Lee added. “We are thrilled and delighted to welcome back dear friends we’ve loved cooking with in the past and in their restaurants, alongside a few names we have so hoped and dreamed would cook with us.”
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And how to get a seat at one of these supper clubs? Tickets are released monthly via Quo Vadis’ newsletter, The Rocket, with club members given a 48-hour headstart.
