This Roberts London film from October 2020 combines two kinds of London food story: a walk through Soho in search of ingredients and a return home to cook seafood spaghetti. The route leads from Charing Cross through Brewer Street and Chinatown, with the original Lina Stores delicatessen providing the central London landmark.
The recipe was inspired by the crab spaghetti associated with Soho House’s Eat Drink Nap. Rather than presenting the dish in isolation, the film records the whole day around it: breakfast and coffee, quiet West End streets, an Italian food shop with deep roots in Soho, and the final plate at the table.
Breakfast before Soho
The day begins at home with coffee, eggs and soldiers before the journey into central London. That domestic opening establishes the rhythm of the film: London food is approached through shopping, cooking and eating rather than as a conventional restaurant review.
Into the West End
From Charing Cross, the walk continues towards Soho. The streets were filmed in October 2020, when central London was moving through a disrupted and unusually quiet period. Familiar landmarks remain, but the reduced crowds give the archive footage a distinctive atmosphere.
Lina Stores on Brewer Street
The pistachio-green frontage of Lina Stores appears at 18 Brewer Street. The delicatessen was established in 1944 and built its reputation on Italian produce, including cured meats, cheeses, olive oil and fresh pasta made on site.
The film predates the business’s later expansion, so the Brewer Street shop remains the focus: a compact Soho institution that connected the neighbourhood with generations of Italian food culture. Its position on the corner of Green’s Court makes the shop one of the most recognisable food façades in the area.
Through Chinatown
The route then crosses into Chinatown. Restaurant signs, food shops and the movement between Soho’s adjoining streets turn the ingredient trip into a wider record of the West End. The short distance between Lina Stores and Chinatown shows how several distinct London food traditions sit within a few minutes’ walk of one another.
Cooking the seafood spaghetti
Back at home, the second half of the film follows the sauce and pasta. Olive oil, garlic, tomatoes and seafood are brought together in the pan before being combined with spaghetti. The aim is a generous, informal dish rather than a formal reconstruction of a restaurant plate.
The finished spaghetti carries the colour of the tomatoes and the flavour of the seafood through the pasta. It is the conclusion to a film that begins with breakfast, travels through Soho for inspiration and ingredients, and ends back at the table.
A London food archive
Viewed now, the film preserves more than a recipe. It records Brewer Street and Chinatown in 2020, the original Lina Stores frontage and a Roberts London format that joined city walking with cooking at home.
That combination remains the value of the film: London is not treated simply as scenery or as a list of places to visit. The city, its shops and the meal made afterwards all belong to the same story.
