2 Best Restaurants in Covent Garden, London

British restaurateur Keith McNally re-creates his famed New York Parisian–style grand brasserie at this bustling spot off Covent Garden. The soaring grand café setting creates an enchanting backdrop to enjoy the reassuringly classic French brasserie menu, including standbys like fruit de mare platters, lemon sole meunière (with capers and parsley), côte de boeuf, and grilled lobster. A fitting treat for pre- and posttheater meals, spoil yourself with classy rock oysters and steak tartare before polishing off a pile of profiteroles for dessert.

Be sure to ask for a table in the dreamy, white blossom–filled conservatory at this warm, cozy, and seriously romantic Provençal country-style inn off Covent Garden. Once inside, you'll be won over by the old-fashioned but refined French cuisine and charming country innlike ambience. Options include Loire Valley rabbit ballotine, poached wild turbot, and Charolais beef cheeks with fine French beans. Lunch specials and £39 pre-and posttheater prix-fixe meals (with a glass of bubbles) are a brilliant way to experience the cuisine and celebratory atmosphere. With its warren of candlelit, interlocking oak-paneled dining rooms, and open fires, Clos Maggiore never fails to enchant.