Aldwych, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: This independent fixture in legal-land (near the LSE) is a long-running staple of the area – welcoming, “always good value”, and with some interesting picks and bin-end deals on the wine list.

This “calm and very comfortable” hotel mezzanine on the edge of Covent Garden is a useful place to know about in a busy area – providing a “very soothing experience, with fairly traditional cooking, good-quality ingredients and generally good service”. It also serves an “amazing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory afternoon tea”, in which “both savoury and sweet elements are first class”. Top Tip – “fully gluten- and lactose-free menu available”.

“Quiet culinary bravura paired with both genuine respect for food and wonderful staff, and all served in one of prettiest rooms in London” maintains a very high level of popularity for renowned Aussie chef, Skye Gyngell’s “very elegant” chamber – a big, airy, light-filled space in the distinguished surroundings of Somerset House, that “always brings a sense of occasion”. Often tipped for romance, there’s just one complaint – “it was all fine… except for the prices!”. Top Tip – “their scratch supper menu is one of the great bargains of all time… as well as being delicious!”

2024 Review: Robbie Lorraine has upped sticks from Brixton with his Del Boy-inspired pop-up – a witty, multi-course trip back in time to the cuisine of the 80s and 90s (duck-liver paté, prawn cocktail…). This new home is part of a Grade II listed pub just off the Strand: not to be confused with Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street, which is about ten minutes’ stroll away (although both claim Dickens as a former patron). No survey feedback as yet – reports please!

“Some tables afford a view of the Thames, while there is some real dining theatre” at the Savoy’s elegant dining room, whose history in the last 20 years has seen many re-treads under differing names (most recently Kaspar’s). Now back under its old moniker but run by Gordon Ramsay, it divides opinion, with some reporters feeling the “very solid” fish and seafood cooking is let down by a space “very much like a hotel breakfast room”, while others see a “very nice room” let down by “unimaginative food at fancy prices”… so a consensus of sorts! For a traditional, grand family meal or business – including breakfast – it has its fans; to others it’s just too uneventful at the five-star prices.

Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan was – as of mid 2025 – rumoured to be on the verge of buying a £1 billion stake in Richard Caring’s restaurant empire, of which this famous brasserie chain is the crown jewel. Presumably, he’s more interested in ‘rolling out’ the brand in The Gulf and beyond rather than dropping by for a Salmon Fishcake and ‘Ivy Chocolate Bombe’, but if he’d asked the opinion of our annual diners’ poll, we’re not sure that he’d sign on the dotted line. “How can a restaurant with this heritage produce such uninspired, tick-box food?” is a question merited by its poor ratings, ditto what explains the “very slow and disinterested service”? The answer may be that “you don’t come here for the food, obviously” but for the “gorgeous” interior design and “picturesque” locations that continue to underpin their appeal. Let’s hope for the Sheikh’s sake that the middle classes of the Arab World are as undiscerning as those from the UK!

“Chic and cosy” Covent Garden townhouse with “very friendly staff” and a “nice short menu” of accomplished comfort food. “The set lunch” and early-evening menu is “very welcome for pre-theatre dining” – and means “you can afford to go regularly”. Like its Shepherd Market sibling Kitty Fisher’s, it takes its name from a historic courtesan with local connections.

2022 Review: The former HQ of the Baptist Church provides the gracious quarters for this swish Holborn hotel, converted by design guru Jacques Garcia. Since Tony Fleming left in December 2019, the main food operation (formerly known as The Baptist at L’Oscar hotel) has shifted to this all-day ground-floor operation offering a more accessible, Parisian-café-style menu from breakfast through to dinner. Allan Pickett (former head chef at Orrery, and briefly chef-patron of Piquet) is the new head chef.

“Famous for being London’s top romantic dining spot with good reason” – this bewitching Covent Garden “haven” comes complete with an “exquisite” rear conservatory, with “a glass roof that opens in summer” and “the treat of a log fire in winter” – and “on the first floor you dine under a vibrant canopy of flowers”. By most accounts the European cuisine is “beautifully presented and tastes as good as it looks” too, although a slight slip in its ratings of late supports those who feel that “it’s more hit and miss since the pandemic”. No change in its “wonderful wine selection” however: “a surprisingly eclectic list of wines, alongside the bonus of an extensive cognac offering (and Armagnac dating back 70 years!”). “A must for a special celebration”.

2022 Review: “The set menu is good value” at the National Theatre’s most salubrious in-house dining option, so it’s “always reliable” as a pre-show pit-stop. But critics would welcome a bit more ambition, saying the current effort is “a wasted opportunity” given the site and its captive audience. Top Tip: “the waiters are always a good source of play reviews”.

“Exceptional food cooked by Cordon Bleu students” helps win high marks all-round for this culinary institute’s stylish, light-filled dining room: part of its HQ which shifted in 2022 to the Lutyens-designed building that was once the UK base for Reuters. In particular it’s often recommended as “a winner” for business entertaining: “set lunch offers good choices; portions are just right; dishes are prettily presented and taste delicious; and there’s a nice range of wines by the glass”.

“It’s been going for very many years, has become far too busy and can get very cramped”… but that’s been a typical description of the capital’s oldest wine bar (est. 1890) near Embankment Tube for as long as anyone can remember. One casualty of popularity in recent times has been the hot food specials – it’s now just the cheeses, cold cuts, pâtés and salad selection, although they recently introduced meat and mezze sharing boards. The “great wine list” is the same pull it always was. Top Tip – try to visit in winter and arrive early for a table in the candle-lit cellar… but in summer they also have one of central London’s biggest, nicest outdoor terraces.

“Nothing like the classic Ivy of yesteryear” – the Theatreland icon used by Richard Caring as the pattern for his hugely lucrative knock-off chain gave a yet-more indifferent impression this year. That “it is not what it was” is ancient news, although there are still some devoted fans who declare it “a favourite”, citing its “always buzzing atmosphere” in particular and who still laud “delicious” posh-brasserie fare. “Once an icon, now a tourist trap” is now a more dominant theme in reports though, with reporters increasingly apt to find it “a disappointing flagship” that’s “no better than its suburban chain branches” with “low-end food and sloppy service”.

James Dawson’s half-dozen wine bars are “super venues to try interesting new wines in”, with “informative service” – “food is something of an after-thought, but pretty good for all that”, and comes into its own with a “fantastic Sunday roast menu: lamb and beef are high-quality and cooked perfectly”. Top Tip – “great deals on a Monday when most others are closed”.

“It’s a staple for entertaining visitors to the capital due to the sensational view”, but – predictably – the cooking is “very very average and very very overpriced” at this quintessential, ’90s- minimalist brasserie atop the South Bank landmark, on which we have written pretty much the same dire review since it first opened in 1996. If you want to visit, maybe “just get a drink” at the bar or eat in the (better rated) adjoining cheaper brasserie.

The cheaper section of this South Bank landmark doesn’t generate as much feedback as its slightly grander adjacent sibling, but it occupies a similar rooftop space with large outdoor terrace and – on admittedly limited feedback – escaped its customary drubbing in this year’s annual diners’ poll, making a visit here the better bet: “visited for a work lunch… glad I wasn’t paying, but the simple food was excellent (if eclipsed by the view on a sunny day)”. Another highlight: “the superb team in the bar”.

Two years into the former ‘Naked Chef’s comeback to the UK restaurant scene, reporters are split on the quality of his all-British menu – although the setting, inside the Theatre Royal in the heart of Covent Garden, is by general agreement a “welcoming” one. Its most ardent fans applaud the “really nice food cooked and presented perfectly” from a menu of undemanding classics (fish ’n’ chips, chicken & rabbit pie, burger, rib-eye, lemon sole…), but there are numerous critics who dismiss it as “expensive and poor quality… the venue’s nice, but that’s it”.

“A popular chain with an interesting and varied international menu” – “V.G. value too” – these Kiwi-run cafés are “still seeing off all of the competition” for their many fans. In particular, they do a “great brunch, and they’re right to boast about their filter coffee” – and given the volume of feedback they generate, there is remarkably little negative criticism. Depending on the venue and the time of day, they work equally well for a “working lunch meeting” or “families out for the day visiting the sights”. Top Menu Tip – “the cornbread is to die for”.

Overlooking Covent Garden’s piazza from the first floor of a Georgian townhouse, this modern British bistro is overseen by well-known chef Mark Greenaway. That it provides “decent value for WC2” makes it a useful amenity for feeding the family or pre-theatre. Critics find the menu “too pared back” or “somewhat pedestrian”, but all reports acknowledge that its fare is “all well-cooked”.