Last Updated on October 29, 2025
Cocktails and Japanese food with a West End view
London at ground level lights up for Christmas but the cityscape vista from Radio Rooftop’s bar on The Strand offers sparkling views of London landmarks all year round. With a peripheral vision of near 360 degrees from St Paul’s in the east to The Shard, Somerset House, Festival Hall, the London Eye, Big Ben and the BT Tower to the north. After dusk, it’s a glittering backdrop to enjoy cocktails and sushi.
Located above the former Marconi House where the BBC broadcast their first radio programs in 1922, Radio Rooftop bar keeps the electromagnetic legacy alive in a skyline space inspired by hotel bars of Tokyo and Singapore. There are two terraces with outdoor sofas, and a covered area with heaters whilst the indoor bar has tall tables and raised banquette seating booths perfect for watching the mixologist shake cocktails.
Giant planters signal the discrete entrance to Radio Rooftop, accessed via a dark glass tiled corridor in adjacent Aldwych, the lift is shared with the ME hotel underneath. We tried their Festive Menus (£58/£75pp) which are priced between other set menus at £40 (Pre-theatre) and £110 (Tasting). Most dishes – although not all exactly the same – are from the usual All Day Menu priced individually in the region of £16-30. A view might be this is steep for food but for the elevated setting and dressy atmosphere right in the West End, this is a lovely, unstuffy venue. The cocktails and wine were more keenly priced and the pre-theatre menu served 12-5 pm would kick off a night to remember.
Our opening cocktails were equally well received; “Tokyo Rose” (£20) served in a tall glass mixing Ukiyo Japanese blossom gin, rose, lychee, raspberry, and watermelon was refreshing and fruity without being overly floral.
“It’s Giving Geisha” (£20) in a Nick & Nora glass channelling Cosmopolitan vibes with Belvedere vodka, lychee and acai liqueurs, raspberry and pressed lemon. They are missing a trick not yet calling a cocktail “Radio Gaga” although other cocktail name puns that delighted me included “I just called to say I Yuzu” and “Papaya Don’t Preach”.
For the table to share there’s Nigiri Selection comprising strips of salmon, akami (red tuna), and seabass upon the customary rectangle pebbles of sushi rice. The fish was soft and easy to bite into without breaking up the soft rice.
Green spiralled “Grilled Asparagus & Avocado Dragon Rolls” zig-zagged with teriyaki sauce and dotted with sparky umeboshi paste were pleasing to both eye and mouth. The asparagus still had bite to it, and slithers of avocado clung around the huge rolls. A substantial veggie choice.
We seem to have missed the set menu Japanese rice bowl with egg yolk, pickled ginger and furikake listed on the set menu although I don’t think we had bandwidth for it and in any case, pickled ginger, furikake and wasabi came with the sushi. The pickled ginger was upliftingly intense, a tsunami over the synapses that came back in waves even when nibbled sparingly. Kapow! Not what you get in plastic boxes.
Hot dish choices next, we tried “Chicken Yakitori with Sesame & Teriyaki Sauce”, a pair of skewers each of chunky thigh meat bundles separated by green pepper and scattered with sesame seeds and sticky sauce. These were filling and satisfying.
We were served two “Wafu Crispy Duck Bao with Cucumber & Spring Onion”, having not eaten many bao buns in my life I will quote my companion who said they were good but denser and less cloud-like than in Japan – which made them quite filling. We agreed the sticky salty pulled threads of duck filling were deliciously packed with umami flavour.
As a follow-up cocktail, I tried “Far East Side” (£19) of Junmai Daiginjo sake, tequila, elderflower liqueur, cantaloupe melon, pressed lime and winter melon bitters in a tumbler. I was less wowed by this finding it a little too much like fruit barley water but you live and learn.
My companion had “Kung Fu Pandan” (£21) comprising smoky Mezcal Vida del Maguey with coconut tequila, pandan, more coconut, pineapple, and pressed lime in a tall glass – a riff on Pina Colada.
There are four desserts on the main menu at Radio Rooftop, two of which are on the festive set menu. As matcha cheesecake was absent we were served matcha flavour mochi amongst the usual selection of “Mochi – Mango & Passion Fruit, Coconut, Salted Caramel, Pistachio”. Not normally being excited about mochi, these stretchy cushions of ice cream were equally packed with flavour with the toasted caramel and grassy matcha ones being our favourites.
Radio Rooftop clientele early evening included a likely pre-Christmas work do for a dozen dinner-jacketed professionals although by 9 pm they’d left for their trains and the DJ had started spinning samba lounge tunes. With a turn of the knob, lights were dimmed and a younger more buoyant crowd replaced the older penguins. We liked the low fabric ceiling resembling an upside-down “Karesansui” Zen garden of raked sand that subtly evoked Japan and cushioned the acoustics making it easy to tune into conversation. The music was never too loud. By the time we left, the DJ had picked up his needle and someone else was singing along to a lively guitar.
With pulsating waves above this corner of the West End, Radio Rooftop is a magnetic venue transmitting sophisticated energy. Their strapline boasts, “Above the noise, we make our own.” Broadcast received and understood!
Radio Rooftop
336-337 Strand
London WC2R 1HA
££££/****
We are collating a series of reviews of Restaurants and Bars in London with a view. If you are based in the City rather than Covent Garden and Radio Rooftop Bar, why not check out our feature on Savage Garden
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