Covent Garden Restaurants – The Best Restaurants in Covent Garden

Covent Garden Restaurants Guide One of London’s biggest tourist areas has transformed its food and drink offering – read our guide to the best restaurants in Covent Garden.

The past few years have seen Covent Garden transform from a tourist destination to a shopping, restaurant and bar destination.

The street performers and theatrical elements remain, which has kept a unique flair to the area, but the capital’s most successful restaurateurs have also entered stage right.

Read this feature on Covent Garden restaurants as we pick some of the best restaurants in Covent Garden.

The Barbary

The Barbary is the new restaurant from the team behind The Palomar in Neal’s Yard, Seven Dials.

The Barbary’s menu ‘reflects the countries from the Atlantic Coast through to the Mediterranean Sea leading to Israel’. And the food is exquisite.

The Barbery Covent Garden

Open all day from noon until 10pm Tuesday to Sunday, the restaurant has only 24 seats and will operate a walk-in only policy.

Cora Pearl

The team behind Kitty Fisher’s in Mayfair has opened a second restaurant, Cora Pearl, in Covent Garden.

The menu is rather short and simple (in a good way!), and most of the dishes grab your attention immediately.

Cora Pearl Restaurant in Covent Garden

Try the deliciously rich cheese and ham toastie with a pot of pickle on the side and the excellent veal fillet main dish with a bordelaise sauce with chunks of bone marrow.

Make sure you try the chips – fluffy, light, delicate layers of potato deep fried to a glorious crisp. Heaven.

Story Cellar

Chef Tom Sellers opened a Paris-inspired rotisserie in Neal’s Yard in March.

Story Cellar from Michelin starred chef Tom Sellers

Story Cellar – in part named after the chef’s award-winning Southwark restaurant –serves rotisserie chicken, as well as house terrines, changing grills of meat and fish, charcuterie, and smaller plates designed for sharing.

The Delaunay

The Delaunay, sister restaurant to The Wolseley from restaurateurs Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, sits on the corner of Drury Lane and Aldwych.

The Delaunay Restaurant

The Delaunay restaurant is open seven days a week – until midnight from Monday to Saturday and 11pm on Sunday – serving breakfast, afternoon tea, and à la carte lunch and dinner menus ‘inspired by the grand cafés of Europe’.

NoMad London

Bow Street Magistrates Court in Covent Garden, directly opposite the Royal Opera House, has been transformed into a stunning hotel: The Nomad London.

The Nomad Restaurant

The main restaurant, The Nomad Restaurant, is set in a landscaped atrium with a soaring glass ceiling, flooded with natural light in the day.

Side Hustle is NoMad’s take on the classic British pub setting but with a menu focusing on Southern California’s fresh, Mexican-influenced cuisine.

Sit at the bar, order a margarita and enjoy some of the great tacos on the menu.

J Sheekey

Fish and seafood restaurant J Sheekey is a West End institution that oozes old-fashioned glamour.

The menu offers fresh oysters, classic dishes such as Dover sole and lobster thermidor and a signature fish pie.

J Sheekey Restaurant

Monochrome photos of stars of stage and screen line wood panelled walls, creating a stylish, intimate atmosphere.

J Sheekey is one of our favourite post theatre venues in London.

Keep reading for our pick of some of the best restaurants in Covent Garden….

The Ivy

The Ivy is perfect for pre or post-theatre dining or following a Covent Garden shopping spree.

The Ivy re-opened in June 2015 after an extensive refurbishment – a stunning large central bar dominates the room (ideal for counter dining) and the original atmosphere has been retained with an added splash of glamour.

The Ivy Covent Garden

In the kitchen, Executive Chef Gary Lee remains at the helm, and has created a new menu that comprises recognisable Ivy staples alongside modern dishes with an Asian twist.

Kerridge’s Bar & Grill

Kerridge’s Bar and Grill is a relaxed British brasserie in the Corinthia Hotel, where the dining room has been beautifully updated by David Collins Studio.

Kerridge's Bar & Grill

The menu features some classic British dishes made with the refinement and certain twists, including an indulgent glazed omelette ‘Lobster Thermidor’ and a rib of beef from The Butcher’s Tap with chips, bone marrow sauce and Gherkin Ketchup.

Rules

Rules in Covent Garden is one of the oldest restaurants in London having been established by Thomas Rule in 1798. It serves traditional British food, specialising in classic game.

Rules Restaurant in Covent Garden

The restaurant has become famous for the gilded grandeur of its décor and the sheer quality of its game, oysters, pies and puddings.

Joe Allen

Joe Allen has reopened in Covent Garden with an updated menu designed by former Ivy executive head chef Gary Lee.

Joe Allen Covent Garden

A new addition is Joe’s Bar, a New York-style tavern at the front of the venue, which has Polpo co-founder Russell Norman involved.

10 Cases

10 Cases is a small, unpretentious Bistrot with wine as its main focus.

The menu comprises three starters, mains and desserts, as well as a list of daily specials with a wide-ranging menu of little plates to have at the bar.

Ten cases wine bar in Covent Garden

The restaurant only ever buys 10 cases of wine so there are always new wines to try. With only 10 tables available, booking ahead is recommended.

Petersham Nurseries Covent Garden

Petersham Nurseries opened on Floral street in Covent Garden in the spring of 2018 with two restaurants.

Outdoor dining at Petersham Nurseries in Covent Garden

La Goccia is a more casual Italian restaurant with open kitchen and wood fire oven, while The Petersham is a more elegant, refined Italian restaurant focusing on seasonal ingredients.

Floral Court, in the central courtyard between both restaurants offers alfresco dining from La Goccia and The Petersham. Click here for further details.

Opera Tavern

Opera Tavern is a beautiful two-storey bar and restaurant in Covent Garden.

Opera Tavern, a Spanish restaurant in Covent Garden.

Located seconds from the Royal Opera House, Opera Tavern offers Italian and Spanish influenced tapas and has a charcoal grill on the ground floor where some the Tavern’s classics such as mini Ibérico pork and foie gras burger are prepared.

Sticks’n’Sushi

Sticks’n’Sushi is a Danish export – whether you pickle it and add dill or dip it in soy sauce, the Japanese and the Danes share a love of fish!

Sticks'n'sushi Covent Garden interior

At Sticks’n’Sushi, the generous selection of sushi is high quality and beautifully presented in rows of vibrant colours.

The ‘Sticks’ involves boards of grilled meats and fish on skewers, with robust, smoky flavours.

LIMA floral street

Following on from the success of Michelin-starred Lima in Rathbone Place, Chef Virgilio Martinez’s new addition to his portfolio is Lima Floral.

Lima Floral Street

Less fussy than its sister restaurant, it offers a menu of authentic Peruvian cuisine featuring rare native vegetables, fruits and fishes from remote places in the Amazon basin and the Andes altitudes.

Barrafina Adelaide Street

Barrafina is a modern Spanish tapas bar owned and operated by restaurateurs Sam & Eddie Hart.

Barrafina Adelaide Street

The menu is made up of contemporary and traditional tapas from all regions of Spain, and a specials board written around the seasons, which changes twice a day.

Barrafina does not take reservations for lunch or dinner so arrive early and be prepared to queue.

Rosa’s Thai Seven Dials

Rosa’s Thai offers an unfussy and relaxed dining experience that is authentically Thai.

With their uncompromising commitment to flavour, the dedicated kitchen teams make every dish from scratch, from curry sauces to signature spring rolls.

The Best Restaurants in Covent Garden

Need further ideas for the best restaurants in Covent Garden? What about New York’s favourite French brasserie, Balthazar? Or steak specialist Hawksmoor Seven Dials? Or the new Café Murano Covent Garden?

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