The best restaurants in Covent Garden

A true gem. With its counter dining and convivial buzz, here the dishes are plucked from Africa’s Barbary Coast – must-orders include the slow-braised, robata-grilled octopus and the oozing knafeh dessert. 

To see and be seen in Covent Garden, a stool at the counter of this well-appointed corner site is a must. This is tapas the way they do them in Spain (Barcelona, to be precise). The surroundings are shiny (all mirrors and marble); the cooking is choreographed under your nose, with dishes passed over to you as they’re ready; and every bite is market fresh, admirably authentic and utterly delicious.

Take the prime meaty cuts that everyone associates with a true-Brit chop house, rub them with Indo-Punjabi spices and subject them to the searing heat of a tandoor – that’s the deal at this close-packed, wood-panelled canteen with old photos on the walls. The food (small plates, of course) ticks all the new-nostalgic Indian boxes for us, but what we really love about TCH is the infectiously cheery service.   

The unbreakable Angela Hartnett is known for her don’t-sweat-it demeanour – consequently, her high-end restaurants offer a more relaxed, intimate style of fine dining. This Covent Garden offshoot of her Murano brand is the most laidback yet. We’re not talking rock-up-in-your-flip-flops relaxed, more let’s-splash-out-on-a-posh-Italian-meal-without-feeling-talked-down-to. So dress up, then wallow in the no-gimmicks luxury that is truffle arancini, game lasagne and caramel panna cotta.

Here’s how to do The Petersham. Go when the forecast is for sun. Book an early table and ask to be moved outside (it’s first come, first served). Because while the alfresco tables of this central London offshoot don’t have quite the magic of the bucolic garden centre original, we’re still talking about a leafy landscaped courtyard tucked away from Theatreland’s drama. The smart, Italian-leaning menu is self-assured, competent stuff.

Everybody’s heard of this Theatreland seafood restaurant: its name has been dropped by London’s high society since it was established – which was now so long ago that Sheekey’s is a name to drop in its own right. Spread across several wood-panelled rooms, Sheekey’s is a historic hidey-hole with a menu featuring all the fishy classics. A lot is comfort food at bling-bling prices, but for your money you get an unbeatable sideshow of luvvies, minor celebs and eccentric London types.

Open since the 1940s, Mon Plaisir is London’s oldest French restaurant. And zut alors is it French – think Jacques Tati, necklace of onions, huff-on-a-Gauloises Gallic. Parisian street maps line the walls, and the pewter bar at the back was supposedly pilfered from an old Lyonnaise brothel – then there’s the excellent menu of escargots, duck breast and dauphinois to match.

Ever since the original Covent Garden branch of this chain of Bombay-style Irani cafés jazz-handed on to the scene, subsequent Dishooms have been swiftly incorporated into Londoners’ little black books. That’s because this slick operation knows how to imbue everything it does with tongue-in-cheek fun. Expect bacon in a starring ‘roll’ (tee hee) at breakfast, snacky small plates with cheeky menu descriptions, ruby murrays that have never met a korma, and ‘pudding drinks’ such as a boozy chai version of affogato.

The Savoy Grill heaves with so much history that you might as well be eating your dinner inside a three part BBC documentary. The legendary central London hotel’s grand ground floor dining room is where at various moments throughout the 20th century, you’d find 1) Charlie Chaplin at his regular window-adjacent seat, 2) Noel Coward and Ivor Novello holding court in the middle of the room and 3) Maria Callas going about her affair with the fabulously wealthy Aristotle Onassis in plain view of other diners. Tres chic! 

This chic cousin of the Parisian original has London in its DNA (chef-patron Gregory Marchand once headed up the kitchen at Fifteen, where Jamie Oliver gave him his oh-so-imaginative nickname). You’ll need a stack of cash or an amoeba-sized stomach to be fed to bursting here: the small plates are small. But the menu is all about must-try dishes, from bacon scones with clotted cream, to truffle-stuffed eggs, to pulled-pork sliders. On a budget? Stick to the set lunch.

Bancone is a sleek Italian joint with a lengthy dining counter, an open kitchen and exceptionally good pasta. Chefs in the front window roll out pasta dough almost all day: putting on a show for people passing by, frantically cutting and shaping for those patiently waiting for their pasta inside. There are generally around eight plates of pasta on the menu, and half of them are usually suitable for veggies. Proper al dente pasta is slightly undercooked, and hard to get right, but the chefs here nailed it. In fact, all the pasta we tried was perfect: slightly chewy so it had a little bit of bite, but soft and silky so it held its sauce beautifully.

Story Cellar is the second restaurant by chef and restauranteur Tom Sellers. While his first venue, the two Michelin-starred Restaurant Story, focuses on modern British fine dining, Sellers’ charcoal-hued, marble-clad venue just off Seven Dials is inspired by the rotisseries and brasseries of Paris. Here you’ll find classics like spit-roasted whole chicken, steak with Bernaise sauce, buttered greens, slabs of seasonal terrine and brown sugar bruleé.

Another Barrafina? And why not. Luckily for anyone heading to Covent Garden, two of the chain’s branches occupy the same postcode. At Drury Lane, the Barrafina calling cards – expensive decor, counter seating, an open kitchen and staggeringly good tapas – are enhanced with menu specials, vermouth cocktails and a terrace.

Every inch of this bijou fish restaurant has been put to good use – from the tiered service bar in the centre, to the carousel of coats on the ceiling. Fish arrives fresh off day boats, with specials – grilled sardines, say, or dover sole – scrawled on the tiled walls or mirrors. Adventurous diners shouldn’t miss a rummage through the snacks section of the menu.

The hype surrounding its launch has long subsided, but this polished tribute to the ultimate French brasserie is still charged with dynamite je ne sais quoi from leisurely breakfast through to late-night nibbles. The menu features treat-yourself French fancies, from escargots sizzling in garlicky butter, to Dover sole meunière and towering rhubarb soufflé.

Even if you’ve scarfed more battered birds than you can shake a drumstick at since fried chicken took over London, we urge you to return to the frontline for pop-up veteran turned hats-off restaurateur Carl Clarke’s Chick ’n’ Sours. Here, the meat is double-fried, Korean style, for super crunchy batter; Asian-style sauces add the perfect amount of zing and fire. The soundtrack is banging, the sours are a slam-dunk – it’s as much fun as you can have at dinner.

This is a decadent joint for Covent Garden’s business crowd, complete with gold walls and pristine silk awnings. An offshoot of Westminster’s auspicious Cinnamon Club, it deals in imaginative fusions of East and West, with top honours going to the lamb rogan josh shepherd’s pie – a life-affirming mix of old-school British comfort and spicy Indian warmth.

Like its sister, Kitty Fisher’s, Cora Pearl is named after an English courtesan. Made to be in theatreland, this is exactly the kind of place you would like to dine quietly as a celebrity: all sumptuous upholstery, with languorous ceiling fans and drinks served in antique glasses. There are grown-up plates – veil, or fish stew, say – but don’t miss the snacks or the ace starters centred around toast.

Flat Iron are masters of the keenly priced steak; this was USP enough to start serious queueing outside the tiny Soho branches. The Covent Garden flagship is a different beast: it’s absolutely ma-hoo-sive, so your chances of waltzing in and being seated straightaway are real. Miraculously, those flat iron steaks are just £13, alongside more expensive specials. Extra bonuses – as if we needed more incentive – include a free salted-caramel ice cream cone on your way out. Y’know, just because.

If you enjoy luxuriating in sumptuous vintage glamour, you’re going to love Margot – a gloriously old-school Italian complete with a behatted doorman, a jazzy soundtrack, flattering lighting and a wealth of brasserie luxe trappings. The food is smart and elegantly rendered, although it almost plays second fiddle to the ritzy surrounds, cosseting staff and dizzying 300-bin wine list.

This sibling to Soho’s Dehesa and Ember Yard has a lot going for it. Its setting in a former pub (the bar stylishly converted into an L-shaped counter) is cosily atmospheric, the food mixes the group’s signature Spanish-Italian small plates (stuffed courgette flowers; pork belly on rosemary-flecked cannellini beans; own-cured charcuterie) with flights of fancy such as scallops with apple-and-blackberry purée, and the whole outfit is low-key enough to cater to real Londoners as well as lucky tourists. Theatreland gold.

The kind of seafood hangout you might find washed up on a trendy Cornish beach, the Oystermen’s catch comes with a side order of Covent Garden panache. Oysters are the main event, although the blackboards are scrawled with piscine delights galore – smoked cod’s roe, spicy deep-fried mussels and Devon crab. Lap up the breezy vibe and imagine you’re on hols.

Crispy fried bugs, ants’ eggs, fermented sausages… welcome to London’s first Laotian restaurant, a funky blend of backpacker café and urban-chic eatery. You can go gung-ho and pretend you’re on ‘I’m A Celebrity…’ or settle for something more mainstream – perhaps chargrilled pork neck or a kickass deep-fried whole fish with larb, a ‘dry salad’ with toasted rice. Boring it ain’t.

Not including The Ivy on this list would be a snub akin to not getting a table at this constantly in-demand grandee. They've now branched out, with numerous outposts across the UK, but the original Ivy has remained above passing trends, preferring to serve deluxe versions of home cooking with a side of money-can’t-buy glamour. 

Small, brightly lit and minimal, this is not the place for a leisurely meal. But join the queue to get inside and you'll be rewarded with exceptional ramen. Pork bones are simmered for 18 hours to create the smooth, rich, seriously savoury tonkotsu broth – one of the best we’ve tried in London.

You might think you’d stumbled into a post-catwalk party during London Fashion Week, what with all the svelte glamour-pusses and sundry hangers-on mingling in this capacious marble-hued space. If you’ve come here to eat rather than pose, however, the food is excellent Italian fare, from chichi cicchetti and al dente pasta to grills and enticing specials.   

This high-end, whole animal barbecue joint offers a menu that heaves with charred delights, including in-house butchered steaks, grilled sea bass, and delectable tacos. Opt for a stool around the open kitchen at the restaurant's heart and take lessons from the pros. 

Nobody – bar the occasional vegan – has a bad word to say about this meat paradise. The cavernous subterranean space – all polished wood, ashen leather booths and acres of parquet flooring – is undeniably swanky, but priceless staff keep things refreshingly down to earth. The steaks are hands-down the best in town, but other dishes refuse to be outshone. The only decent thing to do in such circumstances is to stuff your face with as much as you can order.

Sushi purists will struggle with Sushisamba. At this Japanese-Peruvian-Brazilian fusion restaurant, the chefs do wacky things like put mozzarella in your sushi and serve your kobe beef with mustard. Crazy, right? But these dishes make it a delicious and memorable place to eat in a sea of semi-boring Covent Garden spots aimed at tourists. Get a table on the balcony and you can watch them walk around below you like cute, camera-toting ants.

Everything is turned up to 11 in this hip Covent Garden basement, and your initiation starts with the banging music that greets you before you even make it down the stairs. Just grab a seat and commit to the concept: Flesh & Buns does ‘drinking food’, so order yuzu margaritas and flavoursome signature bao at a ratio of about 1:1. Go with a group – and don’t miss the finger-licking fried chicken, kickass Cali rolls, and sexed-up s’mores dessert.