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Covent Garden has long been a hub for eating and drinking, and one of the capital’s most energetic quarters. Not so many years ago, much of this was aimed squarely at the tourist crowd, with quality of restaurants varied at best. Not any more. Recent times have seen high-profile global restaurants settle in next to street-food start-ups and Michelin starred marvels.
From the enthralling Barbary and timeless The Ivy, Covent Garden is now the restaurant neighbourhood that has it all.
Here is our pick of the best restaurants in Covent Garden.
Everything from the vibrant medley of European and Middle Eastern-inspired dishes to the bubbling service and interaction with pan-playing, shot-giving chefs is irresistible and unique. It’s a restaurant that dishes out good times and conviviality like some others do baskets of baguette.
thebarbary.co.uk
The winning formula includes high-end French food with a stellar wine list, slick service, a cosy open fire and a glass roof showing off the starry night sky. Once described by a famous patron as “like eating inside of a fairy tale” Clos Maggiore is an easy contender for most romantic restaurant in London.
closmaggiore.com
The Delaunay is on hand to serve at almost any hour. Breakfast like the Viennese with a spread of smoked ham, salami, artisan gouda, boiled egg and rye bread. Dinner and lunch offer a wealth of Germanically monikered dishes, from four types of schnitzel to five types of würstchen, with a Hungarian goulash for wintry evenings.
thedelaunay.com
The menu at Frenchie Covent Garden echoes its Parisian counterpart with simple flavours and dishes heavily influenced by Greg Marchand’s travels from London to New York through to Spain and Hong Kong. We recommend the Clarence Court egg mimosa topped with shredded black truffle and smoked anchovies laid out neatly on toast buttered with Neal’s Yard salted.
frenchiecoventgarden.com
It’s difficult to imagine much improving Hawksmoor’s steaks. Difficult, that is, until you try the anchovy hollandaise – a golden salted elixir for which you could easily skip dessert and consume whole in its place. The meat comes courtesy of The Ginger Pig, the much lauded and certainly very busy butchers, before it enters the hands of Hawksmoor’s god-given grilling skills.
thehawksmoor.com
The menu, under the control of Rob Tecwyn, formerly head chef at Dabbous, is, you could say, an ode to joy. Springy, leafy, flowery, herby, grainy, it blossoms with the promise of summer that inspired Schiller’s poem and Beethoven’s music. Start with grilled flatbread — soft, pliable but slightly charred — lavished with garlic butter, topped with “coastal” herbs.
henriettahotel.com
Looking pretty good for 100 years old, The legendary Shepherd’s Pie still commands considerable attention, famed for its so-wrong-but-so-right mix of both lamb and beef mince. The Ivy has of course moved with the times, now sporting an array of considerably un-Edwardian Asian-inspired dishes, from miso blackened salmon to kimchee spiced chicken broth.
the-ivy.co.uk
The draw has always been the American cooking; steak and cheesecake, the famous Joe Allen hot dog and the arguably even more famous burger – which, you should already know, is always “off menu” and must be asked for. You’re really coming, though, for the magic of it all, from the posters on the walls to the iconic red and white print everywhere.
joeallen.co.uk
It is dimly lit, relaxed and sweetly casual, albeit in an efficient manner. It's a place to have up your sleeve for post-theatre suppers, decadent midweek lunches and entertaining friends from out of town who cling faithfully to the West End. It’s a little touristy but, given its setting, upholds a distinct notion of finery.
j-sheekey.co.uk
The concept is simple — to make the most of seasonal British produce, with a particular focus on game, foraged and wild food. The menu is built around seasonality and what wild food is available, but imagine wood pigeon kebab or pan-fried pheasant with fresh cauliflower leaves and confit garlic
eatnative.co.uk
This rustic Gallic spot a stone’s throw from Trafalgar Square is part wine bar, part restaurant. It serves almost exclusively natural and biodynamic wines – and very good ones at that – alongside hearty snacks, small plates and platters, as well as full meals in its cave-like downstairs dining room. Settle in for the night and make your way through the cheese, charcuterie and vinous offerings.
terroirswinebar.com
This is real, fine-dining comfort food: traditional British fare in a tailored dressing gown. They’ve the likes of steak, ale and onion pudding with shallot gravy, Beef Wellington, shrimp cocktail, French onion soup: the stuff that makes you rub your shoulders and go ‘Oooo’ and ‘Mmmm’.
The Denmark Street venue is small, just a few peripheral tables that necessitate backs to the wall with the majority of the 30-odd seats at the bar. We could eat coal-roast aubergine salad and fish sauce wings at least three times a day.
smokinggoatbar.com
In the New Wing of the iconic Somerset House, there is nothing contrived, tricksy or evasive about these dishes, just an innate understanding of what goes with what: fritti of courgettes flowers with crab and 'nduja, or veal chop with slow cooked peas, Fontodi and sage.
springrestaurant.co.uk
Whatever you do, you’re in for a treat. Adam Handling has cooked up a restaurant that is stylish, buzzy and befitting of a special occasion while remaining resolutely relaxed. As if that wasn’t enough, it just happens to be serving some of the most interesting dishes in town. Theatreland has a new smash hit on its hands.
frogbyadamhandling.com
I recently went to Oshawa in search of good food — and found it. An hour’s drive east of Toronto, Oshawa is better known for car manufacturing than its food scene.
Oshawa chef Kyle Sherwin, shown at his new Bang Bang Burrito shop in Toronto, tempted our restaurant critic down the 401. ( Vince Talotta / Toronto Star )
But a new class of restaurants has come to the city of 160,000. These spots are “embracing creative foods, architectural details, diet accommodations and variety,” says the city’s economic development office. “Now it’s all foodie culture,” echoes Louie Givelas of Oshawa’s Rainbow Family Restaurant. My road trip comes about after Oshawa chef Kyle Sherwin emails an invitation.
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“I am curious if you ever venture outside Toronto. How ‘bout all the way out to the dirty ‘Shwa? I sure as hell wouldn’t … until I moved out here in 2013 from Queen and Leslie,” writes Sherwin, a former Torontonian who makes enjoyably messy burritos at Bang Bang Burrito. “There seems to be more and more independents opening up out here as people are getting much smarter about food,” Sherwin writes. I ask Sherwin to recommend four non-chain restaurants deserving of attention. He names eight, including Indian, Caribbean, Italian and vegetarian options. I winnow it down to six spots and spend two days eating my way through Sherwin’s list. It is mostly delicious, with just one disappointment. “I wanted to show you Oshawa is more than big-box restaurants. There is a uniqueness (here), more than standard suburban fare,” says Sherwin last week as he prepares to open a Bang Bang Burrito franchise at 366 Bloor St. W. “I could’ve saved you the drive,” he jokes. But then I wouldn’t have sampled the succulence of the ‘Shwa.
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Ciao Amici
Soft beef meatballs at Ciao Amici come with a straightforward tomato sauce. ( Amy Pataki/Toronto Star )
My first stop is this tavola caldo (hot table). It is empty at lunchtime; my instincts would normally steer me towards the busy White Apron diner next door. (Breakfast spots are big in Oshawa due to GM plant shift work.) I’m glad I resisted. Ciao Amici serves good Italian home cooking. Co-owner Lisa Alexiou makes thick navy bean soup ($3.75) teeming with vegetables. Her lean beef meatballs ($9.50) are lovely, a soft quartet in straightforward tomato sauce. The lemony roast potatoes on the side are influenced by husband Sotirios’s Greek background. 8 Bond St. W., 905-728-4888, ciaoamici.ca. Open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Teddy’s Restaurant & Deli Customers line up at lunchtime inside Teddy’s Restaurant & Deli, an Oshawa institution. I wouldn’t. The daily cream of cauliflower soup is gloopy. Corned beef and cabbage platter ($15.25) means salty machine-sliced meat, scooped mashed potato, coarse fried cabbage and frozen corn. The taste of margarine strangles everything like a kudzu vine. But I can kinda get behind the toasted coconut pie ($4.85) topped with canned whipped cream. 245 King St. W., 905-579-5529, teddyoshawa.com. Open Monday to Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Berry Hill Food Company
Brie melts on a hot skillet under toasted almonds and cranberries at Berry Hill Food Company. ( Amy Pataki/Toronto Star )
Chef Sarah Chiapparro’s contemporary diner, Berry Hill Food Company, is the hippest joint in town. It looks like a hygge Scandinavian house and sounds like a ‘50s’ jazz club. Cast-iron brie ($12) uses a sizzling skillet to sear the cheese rind crisp. Fish and chips ($24) get a successful twist the day I’m there as unbattered cod wrapped in bacon. A dessert of banana-chocolate bread pudding ($8) is gooey and delicious. 82 King St. W., 905-240-9055, berryhillfoodco.ca. Open Tuesday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. (9 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday); Saturday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Spicy Affairs
Spicy Affairs' tandoori platter includes shrimp, chicken and lamb kebab. ( Amy Pataki/Toronto Star )
Next door to Berry Hill is northern Indian restaurant Spicy Affairs. The Varna family uses complex spice pastes to produce clean, clear flavours in the tandoori meat platter ($19) of minced lamb kebabs, yogurt-marinated chicken and yellow shrimp. Lamb biryani ($13) satisfies with layers of meat and spiced rice. The naan ($1.50) is fine and masala chai ($2) boasts a pleasant ginger burn. But oversweet mango paneer ($11) should never have happened. Diners can order mild, medium, spicy or “Indian,” as the South Asian family beside me requests one night. 84 King St. W., 905-240-8600, spicyaffairs.ca. Open Monday to Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Saturday, 5 to 9:30 p.m. Rainbow Family Restaurant
Rainbow Family Restaurant has been running for more than 50 years in Oshawa. ( Amy Pataki/Toronto Star )
Little seems changed since Chris Givelas and family opened Rainbow Family Restaurant in 1958. Jukeboxes, family photos and linoleum keep it real. Chef Louie Givelas offers a daunting 10-egg omelette and a 20-ounce hamburger but I opt for smaller versions. Still, there are six pieces of bacon in the three-egg GMC breakfast ($7.75), along with homefries, heavily buttered toast and good coffee. A 10-ounce cheeseburger ($9.98) is quite the tasty handful, leaving a Joker-wide ketchup smear around one’s mouth. 82 Simcoe St. N., 905-728-6463, rainbowrestaurant.ca. Open Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Saturday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Bang Bang Burrito The slow-cooked meats are very good at Toronto transplant Kyle Sherwin’s Bang Bang Burrito, a skull-decorated joint in north Oshawa. Pulled chicken, beef and chipotle pork ($11 for small) get wrapped with toppings such as apple slaw and crushed tortilla chips for texture. There is a sauce made from Carolina Reaper, “the hottest pepper in the world. I threw up from it,” says the counter help. Also to avoid: flabby fried cheesecake ($7) and redundantly sweet sauces on skinny churros ($2). Ask for chips ($5) without the heavy-handed seasoning. 1812 Simcoe St. N., 905-240-9111, bangbangburrito.ca. Open Sunday to Wednesday, 11 a.m. to midnight; Thursday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Amy Pataki is a Toronto-based restaurant critic and reporter covering all things hospitality. Follow her on Twitter: @amypataki
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SAN JOSE — Restaurants and a new gathering area are being planned on what could be a hot corner across the street from the bustling Westfield Valley Fair mall, according to plans shared Thursday with city officials.
The development would add restaurant spaces to the ground floor of an existing building, along with revamped exteriors. The project also would immediately create a new food-oriented plaza directly across from a future Bloomingdale’s store at the mall, currently undergoing a major expansion.
“This will be an exciting community gathering area,” said Don Tepman, founder and president of University Avenue Partners, the principal developer of the project, which is called The Corner. “We started this by following the city’s playbook of creating an urban village in the area.”
What’s more, the site, at the southeast corner of Stevens Creek Boulevard and South Baywood Avenue, could gain even more visibility and popularity once the current Baywood street is extended directly into the mall.
“This will be the hot corner on the street that leads into Valley Fair,” Tepman said. “There will be unique architecture, restaurant spaces, a place where people can go hang out even if they don’t want to go into the restaurant. It will be a cool, fun place for the community to hang out.”
Public artwork would also be part of the development.
Three to six restaurants could likely make up the dining elements of The Corner, depending on their size and type.
“We want a wide variety of dining, we want high-end cuisine, a steakhouse, fast casual, hopefully a coffee shop,” Tepman said.
The Corner would be within an easy walk of both Santana Row and Valley Fair.
“It could create a new restaurant row for this part of San Jose,” said Bob Staedler, principal executive with San Jose-based Silicon Valley Synergy, a land-use and planning consultancy. “This is a phenomenal site. A lot of places say they are right next to Valley Fair or Santana Row, and this location actually fits the bill.”
Numerous restaurants wanted to get into the new Valley Fair mall, but as is typical of such a top-flight mall, especially one undergoing a major expansion and renovation, not everyone received approval to get into the shopping center.
“The demand for restaurants to get into Westfield Valley Fair is wildly off the charts, the demand to get into Santana Row is off the charts,” Tepman said. “We have been getting phone calls from major national restaurant chains to get into our project. The Corner will be a front-row seat to Valley Fair.”
The ground-floor restaurant space would likely total 20,000 square feet. Fine dining restaurants could typically range in size from 6,000 to 8,000 square feet, a steakhouse might be 7,000 square feet, fast casual restaurants might need 2,000 to 3,000 square feet, and a coffee shop might be 1,500 square feet, Tepman estimated.
“This is one of the best restaurant corners you can find in the Bay Area,” Tepman said. “There is just not a lot of available space for restaurants in this area.”
The Corner development, once complete and filled with restaurants, also would create additional amenities for the existing office tenants on the site, which is owned by University Avenue Partners.
“You look at what is going on with Valley Fair and Santana Row, how Hotel Valencia is constantly booked; this can be a phenomenal project,” Staedler said.
If San Jose city officials approve the project, Tepman believes his group could break ground by the summer of 2019.
“For me, this is a personal legacy project,” Tepman said. “I grew up going to Valley Fair mall, my first job was at the San Jose arena, I grew up in San Jose. I want to do something here that is truly breathtaking.”
A fire ravaged through a San Gabriel strip mall on May 16 and destroyed four restaurants. The blaze started in the Valley and New Center mall at Valley Boulevard and New Avenue. An Eater tipster observed that MPV BBQ Seafood, Ludingii, Thousands Tasty, and the recently closed Yung Ho were among the affected businesses.
According to the Pasadena Star News, the fire was reported at 6:30 a.m. Authorities reported no injuries, but the flames seared through the roof, which eventually collapsed. Firefighters surrounded the building to flood it with water and protect the adjacent buildings. This was a group effort, as San Gabriel firefighters worked with emergency personnel from Alhambra, Montebello, and Pasadena personnel. The crew took two hours to distinguish the blaze.
The Valley and New Center Mall housed a number of businesses, including the Cantonese MPV BBQ Seafood. Yunnan beef rice noodles were the fare at Ludingji, Thousands Tasty served banquet-style Cantonese, while Yung Ho made Taiwanese breakfasts. This neighborhood has some notable restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley, with 101 Noodle Express and Shanghai No 1 Seafood Village only blocks away from the incident. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
