Could Arcade be the future of modern dining experiences? Many would believe so. Go visit at any time of the day and Arcade is packed. Even with a capacity of 350 covers, booking on a week night evening has now become necessary. Far from the JKS Group (the backers of Trishna, Gymkhana, Brigadiers etc.) having over-extended themselves with Arcade, it is an exceptionally well-executed concept. There’s something for everyone.
The area around Tottenham Court Road station has long been crying out for gentrification and good restaurants. Sure, the streets of Soho are but a few blocks away, but with Arcade, something genuinely new has come to the district. The proximity of the Elizabeth Line station also helps. What the JKS Group has done with this large space adjacent to Centre Point is to create a venue where dining is truly democratised: eat what you want, when you want. Inside the main hall there are ten different dining options as well as two additional ones which require prior reservation. There is a strong emphasis on Asian cuisines, with Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, Nepalese and Vietnamese culinary cultures receiving dedicated representation. If Mexican or Middle Eastern is more your thing, then worry not, diners will be catered for. Even for the more conservative, comfort can be found in both burger and ice cream options too. The beauty of the Arcade concept is that regardless of where you sit, you can order from any of the above: keep it simple or mix and match.
For the uninitiated or indecisive, the experience can be quite daunting. Users are recommended to download an app, although physical menus and table service are available too. Once online, it’s simply a matter of reviewing the options, clicking, paying there and then and waiting for the arrival of the food. It should be easy and the need for pointless small talk with servers as well as the potential embarrassment of tipping is totally obviated. Perhaps being regularly on a mobile device takes some of the charm out of dining, but that’s not really the point of Arcade; the target demographic is Millennials and Generation-Z (your reviewer is unapologetically a member of Generation-X) who come here to take in the buzzing vibe. The system mostly works and our one order which, for some reason, initially failed to go through, saw us instantly refunded, although we did still eventually receive the dish in question.
Food-wise, your reviewer and his dining comrade saw only a fraction of Arcade’s multitude of options. We stayed mostly in the territories of Japan, Mexico and Nepal, happily mixing and matching. As one would expect from any JKS venture, both the food standard and presentation were high. What is particularly impressive is how Arcade could seemingly execute so consistently at such scale. Stand-out in our broad selection was an artful seabass ceviche dish (from Mexa), some beautiful tuna sando offerings (from Sushi Kamon) and a punchy lamb belly choila from Arcade’s Nepalese outlet (Tipan Tipan). With the ratio of hits massively exceeding misses – not to mention the reasonable pricing throughout – our lucky dips paid off. We will play again at Arcade.