Covent Garden

Covent Garden institution Le Garrick has announced a one-day only treat for diners: to celebrate its 40th birthday, the French restaurant is turning back the clock to 1986 and adjusting its prices accordingly.

Whether you wish to don fluorescent legwarmers, dust off the lace gloves and tease your hair to gravity-defying proportions is entirely up to you, but the year 1986 certainly brings on fond memories for many. For Le Garrick, 1986 is the year it emerged as a little pocket of Paris in London’s West End. It’s still an independently run business (no mean feat in this part of

Enjoy the new menu at fresh pasta bars NOTTO in Piccadilly and Covent Garden and save 25% off your total bill.

Offer: 25% off the total bill

Where: 198 Piccadilly, London W1J 9EZ and 4 Henrietta St, London WC2E 8PS

When: 12 May to 30 June 2026

It's been just over a year since they opened in King's Cross and now Bubala is getting ready to open their fourth restaurant, this time in Covent Garden. They're taking over the space that used to be Lima Cantina for their biggest restaurant yet. 

If you haven't managed to make it along to any of the other Bubalas, here's what you need to know.

They first opened in Spitalfields in 2019, and serve up Middle Eastern-inspired food that's also all vegetarian. They have a few signatures, like the confit potato latkes with toum (a must-have), as well as

Last year, an olive oil pop-up arrived in Notting Hill and proved to be a big hit. So much so that it's back for another year, but this time heading to central London, popping up at Covent Garden. 

Coming once again from Citizens of Soil, The Olive Oil bar will be a month-long pop-up devoted to all things olive oil. There will be walk-in tastings at all times, where you can try all their olive oils, but if you're more organised, you can book one of their masterclasses. On offer will be 90-minute masterclasses (starting at £15), which will cover everything from cooking with the

7/5/26 - updated with more details and an opening date.

Chef Jody Williams is taking another crack at London with New York-originated restaurant Buvette (which also has opened in Paris, Tokyo and Seoul). 

The self-style "gastrotheque" will be opening an 80-seater site, taking over what was the old St John Bakery in Neal's Yard (that recently moved across the way). If you've ever visited that space and are wondering just how they're going to fit 80 seats in there, a

It took a bit longer than we expected, particularly as they were such a big deal in NYC, but London really is getting into the slice shop trend right now. And the latest to get in on the action is Carmy's.

If that name seems familiar, it's because it happens to come from the same people behind Carmela's in Islington. That's Phil Chaykin (who's also behind Ugly Dumpling) as well as Gerry del Guercio and Paul Delany, best known as the Bite Twice social-media food duo. The latter put their money where their mouths were when they helped set up Carmela's and it clearly paid off. In

We've always been big fans of afternoon tea here at Hot Dinners, and we particularly love it when there's a new spin on the idea. And that's certainly the case with Afternoon Cheese at Brasserie Max inside the Covent Garden Hotel. 

Delivering just what it sounds, it's a more savoury take on afternoon tea that's all about celebrating British cheese. So instead of finger sandwiches, you'll have a savoury selection of treats like a Colston Bassett éclair, a Ragstone and caramelised onion macaron, a Lincolnshire Poacher burnt cheese tart. On the larger side, there's a Hafod Cheddar

If you're wandering through Covent Garden over the next couple of days and spy a gaggle of people beside what looks to be a huge Italian Renaissance-inspired fresco, then you should head on over. Because this is actually an optical illusion artwork, commissioned by the Peroni beer brand that's going to be serving free beer to Londoners for the next three days.

The Il Fresco di Peroni is part artwork, part optical illusion, part bar and took over 520 hours to paint by a team of 13 artists over 65 days. You can step into the scene, sit at the table for an aperitivo and then get a

We're still waiting for the upcoming Battersea Noodle Inn to throw open its doors, but while we wait, they've just announced another opening. This time it's back close to where they started in Soho (just 10 minutes' walk away) as they're opening in Covent Garden. 

They're taking over a space that used to be a Gordon Ramsay Street Burger, so we'd call that a definite trade-up for Covent Garden. Other than that, little has been announced about the restaurant, apart from the fact that it's likely to open before their Battersea outpost does. 

As for what to expect, it'll be

Chef Will Devlin runs a series of restaurants across Kent, under his Acre group, that have a big focus on sustainability and farm-to-table cooking. Of those, The Small Holding and Birchwood are the most well-known and now the chef is bringing the latter to London, opening Birchwood - The Conduit.

As that name suggests, this is going to be part of The Conduit club, but it will be a part that's open to the public, not just members. It's kicking off with a cafe and wine bar in summer, and they'll be following up with a rooftop restaurant in the autumn. Part of us wonders whether that

We recently wrote about what's coming to the Arcade food hall in Covent Garden, but while most of those have already appeared elsewhere, there's one very interesting new addition that we can now exclusively reveal. Zylia is going to be a standalone taverna bringing together the best of Greek and Cypriot cuisine. 

It's headed up by two people, who each represent the two cuisines. On the Greek side, and Athens-born, is ex-Kiln Head Chef and the

Almost a year after she opened her first matcha cafe Frothee, in King's Cross, Hanife Hursit and her dad Ram are gearing up for expansion. Hanife's TikTok chronicling of the opening of their first business turned Frothee into a viral hit. There were queues around the block when it first opened, and there were high profile collaborations with Palestinian-Jordanian singer Zeyne to keep it in the spotlight.

With all that in mind, it's probably no surprise that the father/daughter duo are readying to open their second cafe. This time they're moving into central London, to Covent

The chef behind Trullo has opened his own solo Italian restaurant in the heart of Covent Garden. We went down to the surprisingly peaceful courtyard to see what Conor Gadd is cooking up at Burro. 

Newly opened in Covent Garden, Cato is a cocktail bar of two halves, with a seasoned bartender behind the drinks. We went in for an early look.  

11/2/26 - updated with the soft launch details

Ever since we heard that Petersham Nurseries had shut both their restaurants in central London, we've been wondering what was going to take over those spaces in Floral Court. Well, now we have the answer to one half of that. Conor Gadd is the chef and co-owner of the perennially popular Trullo in Islington. And he's taken on the space that was The Petersham to open Burro, his first solo venture.

Burro is also going to be an Italian restaurant, but one where the design speaks to Conor's Irish roots. The look we're told