Bun House and Tea Room

A few months after opening Bun House upstairs, husband and wife team Z He and Alex Peffly have opened Tea Room in the basement of the former Moroccan restaurant and hookah joint Maison Toureg in London’s Soho quarter.

Both spaces – designed by He’s interiors studio Five Line Projects – are inspired by the classic cha chan tangs of 1960s Hong Kong: invariably, heaving, atmospheric cafés that are open at all hours, and feed a quickly rotating roster of customers with homey Cantonese fare.

Whilst Bun House is a nostalgic mélange of glazed ceramic garden stools and dark wood carpentry and serves the titular buns alongside Chinese street snacks, down a deep green stairwell, Tea Room frames its menu of lethal cocktails and Cantonese fare against a more noir backdrop of rattan furniture by Sika Design, exposed brick, brass and velvet drapes.

Head chef Zhang Chenquan’s menu is a particularly interesting mix of traditional fare, zhooshed up as sharing plates for Millennial Londoners – to whit, Oolong-smoked quail, claypot rice and tea eggs – all washed down with organic Lapsang Souchong and pu-er, or, if you’re feeling particularly daring, bartender Franky Rodrigues’ baijiu infused with toasted maple, five spice syrup and smoked pear.

Bun House and Tea Room Restaurant, London, UK - Interior tea room sign

ADDRESS

23-24 Greek Street

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Daven Wu is the Singapore Editor at Wallpaper*. A former corporate lawyer, he has been covering Singapore and the neighbouring South-East Asian region since 1999, writing extensively about architecture, design, and travel for both the magazine and website. He is also the City Editor for the Phaidon Wallpaper* City Guide to Singapore.