Artisan Sandwich Deli in Soho: £8 Panini at Lina Stores

Every panino at Lina Stores costs £8. This artisan sandwich deli at 18 Brewer Street, Soho, London W1F 0SH, lists nine fillings on its current delicatessen menu, from porchetta with grilled aubergine and smoked scamorza to mortadella with salsa verde, and it sells them to go from 10am Monday to Saturday and 11am on Sunday. The shop has traded from the same address since 1944, and it is cashless.

Lina Stores takes its name from its founder, Lina, whom the company's history page places in Acqui Terme near Genoa. She opened the shop at 18 Brewer Street in 1944, on the corner of Brewer Street and Green's Court, and the pistachio-green exterior dates from that opening. The history page also admits the name is a typo: the sign was meant to read Lina's Store.

The business has grown into a group of Lina Stores restaurants around London, but Brewer Street remains the deli where it started. The location page describes it as trading from the same address for 80 years, selling produce imported from Italy alongside fresh pasta made on the premises. That pasta has supplied Soho restaurants for decades, and the spinach and ricotta ravioli have sat in the display since the first year.

The panini menu reads like a tour of the counter behind it. Porchetta e Melanzane layers Italian roast pork, grilled aubergine and scamorza with sea salt. Mortadella e Salsa Verde is the simplest and arguably the best, thin-sliced mortadella with a green herb sauce and basil. Bresaola Gorgonzola e Limone pairs cured beef with blue cheese, lemon, chicory and mint, a sharper choice for anyone tired of ham.

For something sweeter, Tacchino Taleggio e Marmellata di Peperoncino puts turkey and soft Taleggio with chilli jam. Cotto Radicchio e Gorgonzola adds pear and honey to cooked ham. Two vegetarian options round it out: courgette with basil pesto, pecorino and mint, and a caprese with tomato, mozzarella and basil. The menu notes that fillings may vary on the day depending on what ingredients are available, so the board on the counter is the final word.

This is a shop first and a cafe second. The Brewer Street page describes a daily selection of homemade food to go: cakes and pastries with coffee in the morning, then cooked pasta, salads and panini at lunch. Because the fillings depend on what came in that day, arriving before the lunch hour gives you the widest pick of the nine.

Pay by card or phone, because the deli no longer accepts cash. If you are taking lunch elsewhere, ask for a portion of fresh pasta and a jar of sauce at the same time and you have dinner sorted. The salumi and cheese counter carries more than 40 types, including Prosciutto di Parma, an 18-month San Daniele and a peppercorn Salame Felino, ready to take home for an antipasti spread.

The dolci list is short and fairly priced. The orange and almond cake, the pistachio and olive oil cake and the tiramisù with mascarpone, coffee, Marsala and savoiardi are each £3.50, and a plain croissant is £2.25. The pistachio cake is the one to pair with an espresso after a porchetta panino, since it echoes the green of the shopfront and is not overly sweet.

Skip the plain croissant. At £2.25 it is the cheapest thing on the list, but you can find a croissant on every corner of Soho, and you came to an Italian deli. Spend the extra on a slice of crostata or a second panino to try a different filling. If you are with friends, buying three panini and cutting them in half is the quickest way to cover the board.

Beneath the delicatessen sits Bar Lina, the group's small aperitivo bar. The website describes modern twists on classic Italian cocktails and bar snacks that come up from the deli counter, in a low-lit room that you can book. It turns the address into a two-part visit: panini at lunch, or a glass of wine in the shop in the early evening before heading downstairs.

If you want a sit-down meal rather than a sandwich, the group's Soho restaurant is a few minutes away on Greek Street. On Marylebone Lane there is another Lina Stores site, which is handy if you are shopping on the west side of Oxford Street. But for the original shop and the panini counter, Brewer Street is the one to visit.

Brewer Street runs through the middle of Soho, so a panino here fits neatly into a walk. Head south toward Piccadilly Circus and you pass the theatres of Shaftesbury Avenue within a few minutes. Go west and you reach Golden Square, a quiet garden square with benches around its garden, an easy place to unwrap a sandwich.

North of the shop, Berwick Street Market has run on its street since the 18th century and still fills with lunchtime food stalls on weekdays. Walking up through Soho to Oxford Street from Brewer Street takes about ten minutes, which makes the deli an easy detour from a shopping trip. Carnaby Street and its side lanes are a short walk west.

Lina Stores, 18 Brewer Street, Soho, London W1F 0SH. Open Monday to Saturday 10am to 7pm and Sunday 11am to 6pm. Cashless: all major credit and debit cards. All panini are £8 on the current menu, and pastries are £3.50 apart from the £2.25 croissant.

The nearest Tube is Piccadilly Circus, with Oxford Circus and Leicester Square also within walking distance. Fresh pasta and sauces are available to take home, and the online shop delivers nationwide. Ask Karpo APP to plan a Soho afternoon around a Brewer Street panino and an evening at Bar Lina, or to find a quieter lunch nearby if the counter is busy.