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There’s too much choice in the world, isn’t there? Choosing a job, choosing what to watch on TV, even choosing dinner – it’s exhausting.

Sohaila in Shoreditch won’t be your career advisor or recommend you a good box set, but every Monday in October they’ll sit you down for a ‘Menuless Monday’ and give you an evening of choice-free bliss. After a couple of questions about allergies and dietary preferences, that’s it. No more decisions, just a seemingly endless cavalcade of delicious Mediterranean food, from green soups to crunchy pork belly to an oxtail stew so rich you could stand a spoon up in it. 

It’s a format that could be nerve-wracking in a lot of restaurants, especially with a fixed price and no knowledge of how much food you’ll even be given. Luckily, as we found when we visited last year, Sohaila doesn’t serve anything that isn’t top-notch. From the moment the first pitta bread touches our plate to the point when we mop up the last of an incredible chocolate tart, nothing we taste is anything less than incredible.

The freedom for the kitchen to pick and choose dishes also throws up some pleasant surprises – there’s very little chance we would’ve ordered a soup based on lamb and seasonal greens, but when it arrives, it’s one of the highlights of the meal. Likewise, dishes arrive together to be paired like wines, something not possible when the customer is in charge. That rich oxtail we mentioned earlier? It comes at the same time as a stuffed Courgette which acts as the perfect crisp and zingy contrast to the buttery smooth, melt-in-your-mouth beef.

Across the dishes, we’re served fish, lamb, pork, and beef, but honestly it’s the plant-based offerings which leave the biggest impression. Some kind of delicious mushroom, stuffed like a ravioli, is placed in front of us and swiftly devoured, as is a spinach filo parcel, fermented cheese, and a selection of some of the best yoghurt dips we’ve maybe ever had.

All of this delicious food is topped off by Sohaila’s perfect relaxed wine bar ambience and their real secret weapon: the staff. Dishes are explained well enough that you know what you’re eating without feeling like you’re getting a lecture on seasonal ingredients, and likewise with the drinks, which are an incredibly well-chosen selection of natural Mediterranean wines. If you really want to lean into the menuless experience, the staff are more than happy to select these for you throughout the meal as well. 

Great food, great wine, and with Sohaila’s standing as a social enterprise, a great cause as well. Honestly, at this point we’d be happy for the restaurant to pick us a job and a boxset too. If they’re anywhere as near as good at that as they are at picking food and drink, we’d be happy to never make a decision again.

For more information on Sohaila, see here. 

232 Shoreditch High St, London E1 6PJ