Aldwych, British, Traditional Restaurant Guide

2021 Review: “Surprisingly good food and charming service” make it worth remembering this historic hostelry (refurbed in recent times), near the Royal Courts of Justice. You can eat in the ground floor bar, or in the upstairs ‘Pig and Goose’ restaurant.

This legendary temple to roast beef (opened in 1828) closed in March 2020 and has yet to re-open. In August 2023, the Savoy (of which it’s a part) auctioned off many of the antiquities relating to the site, including fireplaces, furniture, crockery and its renowned carving trolleys. It has also posted on its website its ‘intention to announce a re-opening date in 2024’. Clearly it will be a new non-heritage-based departure for this famous name, so, watch this space.

A two-month closure facilitated a ‘Gatsby makeover’ this year at this elegant and famous grill room, which for the last 20 years has been part of Gordon Ramsay’s culinary empire. (It now incorporates a chef’s table, and a walnut wood-lined wine experience room for eight). With its Beef Wellington, Dover Sole and Lobster Thermidor – plus also a selection of steaks from now de rigueur charcoal grill – fans say it’s “superb all round for celebrating that special occasion”. Doubters, though, continue to focus on its “extortionate prices and very uninspired menu in this newly redecorated Art Deco space”.

For a “good solid business lunch” it remains recommendable, but otherwise reports are uneven regarding this grand hotel’s ‘British brasserie’, where traditional pies are a big menu feature: the least enthusiastic diners feel it’s “disappointing, since it is supposed to be a five star”.

“What’s not to like about the oldest restaurant in London?” – in continuous operation on the same Covent Garden site since 1798. Of course, it’s “popular with tourists”, but its “quintessentially British” style makes it an “old favourite” for many Londoners too, and it provides “a beautiful, traditional experience”. The atmosphere of the beautiful dining room is “exceptional” and the “old school cuisine, with an emphasis on meat and game”, is very dependable; and backed up by an “extensive, if quite expensive wine list”. Top Menu Tip – “lovely steak ’n’ kidney pie”.

“A table right by the windows here – overlooking the river – is frankly still one of the best restaurant views to be had in London”; and some diners feel that the brasserie at this long-established Art Deco landmark provides a good all-round experience. It still gives rise to more than its fair share of disappointments, though, and the perennial complaint that “you get a wonderful vista but a very disappointing experience”.