The Best Restaurants In Covent Garden For Students

3rd February 2020 Joe Graham London Life

Do you ever wonder where to go and eat in between your lectures or after university?  I would like to introduce you to 9 great restaurants, all of which constitute a multi-sensory extravaganza of taste, colour and culinary experience. All are within the Covent Garden area and are super close to the main KCL and LSE campuses!

Buns & Buns

Lets kick things off with this tasty spot in the heart of Covent Garden. This place provides impeccable service all day long so you can enjoy its delicious dishes for breakfast, lunch or dinner, offering dishes suitable for both vegetarians and non-vegetarians. The menu features a variety of salads, small plates, Romana style pizzas, sea food, grill and rotisserie.

The yummy pizzas and infamous buns are super popular, but by far the best dishes are the burrata with pesto heart, heritage tomatoes and focaccia salad and the organic rotisserie chicken which is seasoned with lemon and thyme. Best of all, whilst you enjoy the amazing food and the beautiful interior, you can also enjoy the performances of street artists which take place just in front of the venue.

Website: www.bunsandbuns.com

Address: 5 Piazza, London WC2E 8RA

Distance from KCL: 600 m, around 9 minutes walk

Distance from LSE: 800 m, around 12 minutes walk

 

Tuttons

Overlooking the Covent Garden Piazza, Tuttons offers a warm and welcoming atmosphere. This venue is one of the longest standing restaurants in London and has an extensive history of offering quality dining on the East Piazza of Covent Garden. Tuttons’ menu offers delicious dishes which celebrate traditional British cuisine and the best of British produce.

The restaurant serves food from 8am until 11.30 PM, so you can go there and enjoy a tasty breakfast or brunch before starting your day at university or go there for an appetising lunch or dinner.  As it has a perfect location near to a number of theatres, Tuttons is the ideal venue for enjoying dinner before a performance as it provides a very reasonably priced pre-theatre menu. A must-have are Tuttons’ desserts, a particular favourite of mine is the dark and white chocolate brownie with Dorset clotted cream.

Website: www.tuttons.com

Address: 11-12 Russell St, Covent Garden, London WC2B 5HZ,

Distance from KCL: 500 m, around 8 minutes walk

Distance from LSE: 700 m, around 11 minutes walk

 

San Carlo Cicchetti Covent Garden

San Carlo Cicchetti is an Italian restaurant situated on Wellington Street which reinterprets the delightful culinary tradition of Cicchetti – tasty small plate dishes which you can enjoy alone or share as a group. As the dishes are tapas style, it is recommended that you choose a few dishes. I would recommend that the best time to enjoy this restaurant as university students would be during weekdays from 12 – 4pm, because then the restaurant offers a special lunch deal where you can enjoy two different dishes for the set price of £15.95 from the special set lunch menu.

In addition to the set lunch menu, the restaurant offers a very rich and extensive main menu which has options which will suit everyone’s tastes and satisfy your culinary requirements. Cicchetti’s menu features everything from a very wide selection of starters and salads to a very rich selection of typical Italian main dishes such as at least 15 types of pasta, both classical pizzas and traditional Neapolitan fried pizzas. This restaurant offers a very sophisticated and relaxed dining experience as the interior is very bright and welcoming.

Website: www.sancarlocicchetti.co.uk

Address: 30 Wellington St, Covent Garden, London WC2E 7BD, United Kingdom

Distance from KCL: 400 m, around 7 minutes walk

Distance from LSE: 600 m, around 9 minutes walk

 

Kanada – ya

If you fancy eating quality Japanese food in your lunch break or after you finish your lectures, Kanada – ya is the perfect place for you. This cozy restaurant is famous for its critically acclaimed ramen, thanks to which the venue is regarded as one of the best ramen shops in London. The restaurant has a regular menu from which you can choose from a variety of ramens and rice dishes.

Every month you can also enjoy different speciality ramens which are not only tasty, but very innovative and can only be found in Kanada-ya. The Karaage, Japanese fried chicken with yuzu mayo and the outstanding Truffle Ramen are highly recommended.

Website: www.kanada-ya.com

Address: 64 St Giles High St, London WC2H 8LE, United Kingdom

Distance from KCL: 1.1 km, around 17 minutes walk

Distance from LSE: 1.08 km, around 16 minutes walk

 

Chez Antoinette

Chez Antoinette is a charming and cosy French restaurant at the centre of the Covent Garden Piazza. It is a perfect spot for lunch in between your lectures as it offers light meals such as salads and soups which can be combined with either the venue’s traditional French open-faced sandwiches named Tartines or with their version of the worldwide famous sandwich Croque Monsieur.

The soup of the day, goat cheese salad and one of their sandwiches are perfect options for cold winter days after morning lectures. At the end of your lunch you might enjoy a dessert with a nice cup of tea or coffee, all while enjoying listening to beautiful performance of classical music or popular film songs as they usually take place at this part of the Covent Garden Piazza.

Website: chezantoinette.co.uk

Address: 30 The Market Building, London WC2E 8RE, United Kingdom

Distance from KCL: 600 m, around 9 minutes walk

Distance from LSE: 800 m, around 12 minutes walk

 

Prima Sapori dItalia

If you fancy eating authentic homemade style Italian food, Prima is the perfect place for you. This little gem offers some of the best service in London as the staff are very attentive and friendly and can assist you with recommendations. The menu is very comprehensive and features a variety of homemade style pastas and pizzas as well as lighter dishes such as traditional Italian starters, salads, or other main dishes. Also, you should not miss out sampling Prima’s tasty desserts.

The food is  delicious and of superb quality, and the venue serves very generous portions which are reasonably priced. Best of all, Prima offers a very good pre-theatre menu for those intending on enjoying a memorable performance in of the theatres around Covent Garden.

Website: primacoventgarden.com

Address: 1-13, Jubilee Market Hall, Tavistock St, Covent Garden, London WC2E 8BE, United Kingdom

Distance from KCL: 500 m, around 8 minutes walk

Distance from LSE: 700 m, around 11 minutes walk

 

Flat Iron

Flat Iron on Henrietta Street is one of the most famous steak places in the Covent Garden area. The restaurant offers two types of signature steaks: their famous flat iron steak and their rib eye special steak. You can combine their flavoursome steaks with different side dishes. The most appetising of the lot are the dripping chips and the creamed spinach. Moreover, another awesome feature is that as a client of the restaurant you are given complementary popcorn while you wait for your food and after your meal, you are entitled to free ice cream.  Despite the fact it’s constantly busy, it offers expedient service and it is very reasonably priced.

As Flat Iron is always busy, it’s recommended to book in advance through the WalkIn app to avoid waiting. Especially useful if you intend on eating in the restaurant in between your lectures and you have more limited time.

Website: flatironsteak.co.uk

Address: 17-18 Henrietta St, Covent Garden, London WC2E 8QH, United Kingdom

Distance from KCL: 700 m, around 11 minutes walk

Distance from LSE: 1 km, around 15 minutes walk

 

Din Tai Fung

Din Tai Fung is an authentic Taiwanese restaurant which is situated next to the Covent Garden’s West Piazza. This is the UK flagship restaurant of an internationally renowned chain and is hugely popular. The menu offers signature Din Tai Fung dishes such as the world-famous Xiao Long Bao which are steamed pork dumplings. This venue’s menu offers a variety of tasty traditional appetisers and snacks, soups, noodles, fried rice dishes and steamed buns.

The food is really delicious and the service is fast, offering traditional Taiwanese dishes which are really worthwhile.  It’s strongly recommended to use the WalkIn app to secure a place in advance as this restaurant gets really busy.

Website: www.dintaifung-uk.com

Address: 5 Henrietta St, Covent Garden, London WC2E 8PT, United Kingdom

Distance from KCL: 600 m, around 10 minutes walk

Distance from LSE: 800 m, around 12 minutes walk

 

Steak & Co.

This amazing restaurant offers a rich menu which features a wide variety of starters, light bites and side dishes. Steak and Co. offers impeccable service and a welcoming atmosphere with friendly and attentive staff. This restaurant serves delicious steaks which you’re able to flavour yourself by selecting what type of salt (plain sea salt, black garlic or smoked paprika), butter (garlic& parsley, truffle, red wine, etc.) and sauce (pepper, mushroom, Bernaise, etc.) you would like to season the meat with.

In addition to their steaks the restaurant serves a range of other main dishes and there are lots of tasty sides to choose from. Despite being more suitable for non-vegetarians, the restaurant offers a couple of vegetarian dishes as well.

Website: www.steakandco.com

Address: 4-6 Garrick St, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9BH, United Kingdom

Distance from KCL: 900 m, around 13 minutes walk

Distance from LSE: 1 km, around 15 minutes walk

 

 

This is a guest post from urbanest Resident Yana. For more information on the best that London has to offer, click here.

 

 

Joe Graham

Joe Graham

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