Think the restaurants in Covent Garden are there solely to cater to tourists? Then the only thing you’ll be eating are your words.
From a gourmet chef’s table hidden in a kebab joint to slap-up steak dinners, lively counter dining spots and a grand cafe-restaurant that looks like it’s just waltzed out of Vienna, Covent Garden’s restaurants have so much more to offer than just pre-theatre dining.
So, whether you’re off to see one of the best theatre shows in London or stand-up at The Top Secret Comedy Club (though you didn’t hear that from us), here’s 19 of the best restaurants in Covent Garden that you absolutely can’t miss:
The Barbary
Carol Sachs
Following up one of the most acclaimed restaurants in London (The Palomar) is tough. But The Barbary makes it look easy. All they had to do was pick a good spot (the colourful nook that is Neal’s Yard), do that spot justice on the inside (achieved via low-key, bare cement walls left from the previous tenants, and a smooth, zinc horseshoe dining bar), riff on the cuisine that brought their debut so much acclaim (here, it’s inspired by the Barbary Coast – Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya), and do it really well. Which, luckily, they have done.
Can’t get a seat at The Barbary? Head to The Barbary Next Door, located…right next door. It’s essentially a mini Barbary, where, sat up at the counter, you can feast on similar North African fare, but this time with sommelier-extraordinaire Honey Spencer (Sager + Wilde, The Mulwray) curating the wines.
Details: 16 Neal’s Yard, Covent Garden, WC2H 9DP | Make a booking at The Barbary
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Henri
Ever since the exceptionally stylish Henrietta Hotel opened its doors just off the Covent Garden piazza, it’s fair to say it’s had a hard time drawing in punters in an area so spoilt for good restaurants. So if you need a good hook? You get in Jackson Boxer. He’s one of the city’s most celebrated chefs, having launched illustrious places like Brunswick House and Orasay. And now he’s put together his own take on a Parisian bistro here, serving classic French dishes with a creative twist.
Details: 14 – 15 Henrietta Street, WC2E 8QH | Book a table at Henri
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Story Cellar
Tom Sellers’ first Story was pretty good (after all, it only won two Michelin stars…), so you’ll want to check out the sequel. Story Cellar is a more casual restaurant in Covent Garden’s lively Neal’s Yard, where you can sit up on marble counters and watch the chefs go to work on racks of succulent rotating rotisserie chicken and grilled dishes like BBQ cod and grilled quail with ‘cowboy butter’. Downstairs, there’s a walk-in wine cellar and a couple of plushier sit-down tables surrounded by banquette seating, coloured in a deep shade of red. That’s the other side of the story…
Details: 17 Neal’s Yard, Seven Dials, London WC2H 9DP | Book a table at Story Cellar
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Dishoom Covent Garden
Every Londoner needs to go to Dishoom at least twice in their lives (not just for dinner, but for breakfast too). The popularity of these old Bombay-inspired restaurants is clear in the nightly queues – though at least you’ll receive a cup of warm chai for your troubles. The Covent Garden restaurant is the original don and offers up all Dishoom’s cult Modern Indian dishes that have taken the capital by storm – the black daal, bacon naans, chicken ruby – in a swish setting styled after old cinemas from Bombay’s 1940’s talkies era.
Details: 12 Upper St. Martin’s Lane, London, WC2H 9FB | Book here for breakfast, lunch & larger groups
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Blacklock Covent Garden
When your inner caveman is crying out for premium cuts of red meat and plates piled with charcoal-grilled chops, Blacklock will do the trick. The Covent Garden restaurant is the growing empire’s biggest yet, with waiters wheeling out porterhouses, juicy cheeseburgers, steak sarnies, Sunday roasts, pork chops and everything in between to its capacity of 110 hungry carnivores. If the selection is already triggering the meat sweats, opt for the All In, which gives you and a pal a share of everything for £27 a head. Do leave room though for their legendary white chocolate cheesecake – trust us, you won’t want to be sharing that.
Details: 16a Bedford Street, London WC2E 9HE | Book a table at Blacklock
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The Delaunay
The Delaunay is a stately, European-styled grand café-restaurant that wouldn’t look out of place in Bavaria or Vienna, and comes with the food to match: schnitzels, tarte flambée, sausages, strudel… they’re all here. As you’d expect, The Delaunay makes good on its roots with an excellent afternoon tea – possibly the best value in London. There are also special menus for pre-theatre dining, but if you’re especially strapped for time, you can always nip by the takeaway counter on the corner for traditional sweet and savoury pastries, or a drop of wine come the evening.
Details: 55 Aldwych, WC2B 4BB | Book The Delaunay
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Parsons
Oyster spots generally shuck. But Parsons is an adorable, date-worthy little eatery coming to you from the team behind The 10 Cases (another great restaurant and wine bar, just across the road). Tucked away on Endell Street, it’s a little oasis in the crowded madness of Covent Garden, with intimate, tightly-packed tables, beautifully cooked seafood and plenty of wine to settle in to an evening with.
Details: 39 Endell Street, Covent Garden, WC2H 9BA | Make a booking at Parsons
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Clos Maggiore
It’s almost impossible to pronounce, but any time Clos Maggiore does pass someone’s lips, it’s likely to be followed by a lot of praise. It’s one of Covent Garden’s most famous restaurants, by virtue of the unspeakably elegant interiors (plush chairs, roaring fires and a canopy of blossoms over the main dining room). But it’s more than just good looks: Clos Maggiore serves up a sophisticated fusion of Italian and French dishes, and is a sure-fire winner to keep in your date night pocket.
Details: 33 King St, London WC2E 8JD | Make a booking at Clos Maggiore
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Kebab Queen
Hidden away behind a floor-length, pastel pink curtain in the basement of another restaurant is, no doubt, London’s poshest and prettiest kebab shop. Well, technically, it’s more of an intimate chef’s table, with seats for just eight diners around a bespoke countertop (onto which the food is directly served). Head chef Pamir Zeydan will treat you to an innovative menu fusing Kurdish and Mediterranean influences, like dover sole and spit roast cağ (lamb) kebabs.
Details: Below Maison Bab, Mercer’s Walk, Covent Garden, WC2H 9QE | Make a booking at Kebab Queen
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Bancone Covent Garden
If you’re jonesing for fresh pasta, this is one place you can bancone being good. The carby stars of the show at this Michelin Bib Gourmand-winner are all hand-crafted daily, from silk ‘handkerchiefs’ with walnut butter and confit egg yolk to bucatini cacio e pepe, all served alongside a small selection of Italian antipasti and a list of all-Italian wines.
Can’t get a table? Try Notto Covent Garden, just off the piazza.
Details: 39 William IV Street, Covent Garden, WC2N 4DD | Make a booking at Bancone
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Hawksmoor Seven Dials
Perhaps no restaurant has so rapidly been wrapped into the fabric of the London restaurant scene as Hawksmoor, whose second branch sits underground on a Covent Garden side street. You’ll find juicy steaks (Yorkshire Longhorn, sold by weight from the blackboard), classic cocktails (each one has a small biography printed in the menu), excellent sides (the fries are cooked in beef dripping, of course), and gorgeous interiors (it’s set inside a former brewery, with all the dramatically lit, revamped industrial features you could hope for).
Details: 11 Langley Street, Covent Garden, WC2H 9JG | Book Hawksmoor Seven Dials
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Cora Pearl
Cora Pearl was a renowned 19th century courtesan who accrued vast amounts of wealth, jewellery and clothing as mistress to society’s elite. And now she’s gone and got herself a Covent Garden restaurant, too. A follow up from the Kitty Fisher’s team, it’s an elegantly designed spot serving up a concise menu of Modern European dishes, and what can only be described as a super-chip…
Details: 30 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, WC2E 8NA | Book Cora Pearl
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Louie
A glitzy, four-storey temple to New Orleans cooking, tucked down a surprisingly quiet side street in Covent Garden. Head chef Slade Rushing puts together a menu of fresh seafood, traditional gumbo and po’boy sandwiches in the verdant dining rooms, while upstairs sits a gorgeously plush cocktail bar and roof terrace, with live music every week.
Details: 13-15 West Street, Covent Garden, WC2H 9NE | Book Louie
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Petersham Nurseries Covent Garden
The Covent Garden outpost of the famed Richmond spot boasts not one but two restaurants… plus a bar; a deli; a florist’s; a wine cellar; a homeware shop; and probably the prettiest al fresco dining space in the entire neighbourhood. Then again, what else would you expect from one of London’s most green-fingered institutions? Dining is taken care of by La Goccia, a laid-back, wood-fired grill restaurant, and The Petersham, a more formal à la carte spot – both of which echo the Italian accent of their Richmond forebear. La Goccia also offers an absolutely stellar Italian afternoon tea, with creamy cups of Bicerin and elegant pizza-styled vol-au-vents served on elegant Venetian glass towers erupting with fresh flowers.
Details: Floral Court, WC2E 8JD | Make a booking at Petersham Nurseries Covent Garden
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Café Murano
Despite being deeply polished and sophisticated, this is essentially the ‘Jeans’ label to Angela Hartnett’s Michelin-starred flagship, Murano. Which means for a remarkably decent price tag you can score unbelievably delicious Italian grub, in a totally date-worthy setting.
Details: 34-36 Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, WC2E 7PB | Book Café Murano
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Rules
You might know Rules as the self-proclaimed oldest restaurant in London. Established by Thomas Rule in 1798, it serves hyper-modern Asian fusion cuisine traditional British food. But it hasn’t made it this far by refusing to yield to new ideas, and although the menu involves classic game pies, puddings, and roasts, they’re throwing in new & inventive ingredients like pomegranates and dandelion, and there’s a top notch cocktail bar, too, where you can even attend cocktail masterclasses to learn from the best.
Details: 35 Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, WC2E 7LB | Make a booking at Rules
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J Sheekey
Tucked discreetly away from Leicester Square down a little flagstone-paved alleyway by Wyndham’s Theatre, Sheekey’s decor is timelessly elegant, leaving the spotlight to shine on the excellently sourced and prepared seafood, from melt-in-the-mouth stone bass with prosciutto, to razor clams served in their long shells, to the oysters they’ve been famed for since they opened in 1890.
Details: 28-32 St Martin’s Court, Covent Garden, WC2N 4AL | Book J. Sheekey
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Barrafina | Drury Lane & Adelaide Street
Hopefully, Barrafina’s extraordinary reputation precedes it. If not, allow us to give you a very brief rejoinder… Imagine walking into a scleral-white, cozy eatery packed with stainless steel, marble and mirrors, and sitting down at an open kitchen bar where London’s most prestigious tapas team are plating up a colourful mixture of contemporary and traditional Mallorcan and Catalan tapas dishes. Then enjoy it all for real, at either of their two buzzy restaurants in Covent Garden.
Details: 43 Drury Lane, Covent Garden, WC2B 5AJ | 10 Adelaide St, London WC2N 4DH | Book Barrafina
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The Oystermen
Run by a couple of friends (who are all human, by the way, and not some kind of shellfish hybrid), The Oystermen is a fantastic, casual spot for a slap-up seafood feast. Kick off with oyster martinis (with an oyster perched in the glass) and a platter of the little guys (dressed simply with mignonette, or pimped with the likes of Champagne aioli or bacon & spiced Worcestershire sauce). Then eat your way around the British Isles with freshly caught skate wing, sea bream crudo or spicy crab thermidor, washed down with a little English sparkling wine. Don’t forget to nip to the loo if you want to catch up on the shipping forecast.
Details: 32 Henrietta Street, WC2E 8NA | Make a booking at The Oystermen
Liked exploring these fine Covent Garden restaurants? Time to discover the best Covent Garden bars, too