Rules

Rules | Traditional British Food & Impeccable Service In Covent Garden

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.

The elegant, Tudor-beamed, dark-wood Covent Garden restaurant has been the favourite haunt of such greats as Charles Dickens, HG Wells, Laurence Olivier, and Charlie Chaplin. And more latterly, possibly you. Here’s what they have going on:

THE DINING ROOM

Head chef, David Stafford (formerly of Galvin and The River Café), certainly hasn’t meddled with tradition and we applaud him for that. An array of oyster dishes sit alongside a variety of game meat pies, puddings, and roasts that are all-too-often avoided on modern restaurant menus.

Crumbles, possets, tarts and sponges grace the dessert menu, a trip back to the typical British dinner table but with the class and elegance of a royal banquet. Washing it all down, you’ll find, a similarly traditional wine list (one of the Champagnes was the favoured bubbly of King Edward VII). But if that doesn’t do it for you, you can head up to –

THE COCKTAIL BAR 

A relatively new addition to the restaurant, the understated upstairs cocktail bar offers well-crafted classics, as well as a short-but-sweet list of 10 in-house creations. You’ll find concoctions such as the Queen of Barbados, which mixes rum, passion fruit, Velvet Falernum and ginger, alongside carefully selected wines and draught Guinness served in a silver tankard.

Some say that rules are there to be broken. But this one’s a pretty tough cookie.

NOTE: Rules is open daily till late – reservations can be made here.

ALSO NOTE: Shorts are a no-no.

Rules | 35 Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, WC2E 7LB

Can’t get enough of eating out in Covent Garden? That’s okay, we’ll indulge you. Check out our list of the best Covent Garden restaurants.