“Oysters. Pies. Pudding.”
If there’s a extra British welcome to a restaurant, it has but to be discovered. Those three phrases are stenciled in gleaming gold script on the home windows of Rules, a legendary eating room in Covent Garden that proudly claims the title of London’s oldest restaurant.
With its vibrant pink flags and gold-trimmed awnings, there’s no lacking the historic eatery on Maiden Lane, a semi-pedestrianized avenue in the coronary heart of central London.
Originally opened as an oyster bar by Thomas Rule approach again in 1798, the restaurant has spent practically 230 years welcoming international luminaries. Its centuries-spanning consumer listing ranges from literary big Charles Dickens to pop royalty like Madonna and David Bowie, and Queen Elizabeth II. (Though not at the identical lunch desk — now that can be a cocktail party.)
If the inside seems acquainted, it’s in all probability since you’ve seen it on display. Rules has performed a starring function in dozens of flicks and TV exhibits. In the 2015 Bond movie “Spectre,” Ralph Fiennes’ character, M, dines right here alone earlier than being joined by Q and Moneypenny.
It was additionally a frequent backdrop for “Downton Abbey.” Producers undoubtedly liked it as a result of they barely needed to change a factor — the authentic interval interiors are fantastically preserved.
Step inside, and also you’re immediately transported to a different period. Every inch of the wall house is roofed with classic mirrors, statues and busts, alongside numerous drawings, cartoons and work. Look carefully and also you’ll spot portraits of well-known former patrons like Laurence Olivier, Buster Keaton, Clark Gable and Charlie Chaplin.
Owner Ricky McMenemy has been the custodian of Rules for 37 years, first stepping in as supervisor earlier than taking possession in 2022.
“Rules for me became a surrogate child,” McMenemy says. “If you don’t have the passion for it, you shouldn’t do it. It just has something that catches you by the heart — it’s really a very special place, it seduces people.”
When McMenemy first arrived in 1993, the restaurant was a shadow of its former self, requiring lots of of 1000’s of {dollars} of TLC.
“It needed a lot of love and care,” he remembers. “The food, service and the décor was tired, so it took years for us to rebuild. When we ripped out the kitchen in 1993, it was Dickensian! We spent half a million pounds redoing it, which also ensured that we attracted a much better chef.”
Since then, the staff has centered on a gentle, cautious improve.
“We never wanted it to be fossilized, or set in aspic,” McMenemy says. “We undertook a quiet evolution, so it continues to improve.”
Plush pink leather-based banquettes encompass tables draped in crisp, white tablecloths, whereas dozens of mounted antlers overhead trace at the restaurant’s culinary specialty: wild sport.
During World War II, Rules stayed open for simply two hours at lunchtime, serving meals that complied with obligatory rationing. While these government-restricted meals weren’t precisely excessive gastronomy, the restaurant skirted strict wartime shortages by serving wild-caught grouse, roe deer, pheasant and rabbit — none of which was topic to rationing legal guidelines.
Today, because of an unique relationship with property sport seller Andy Dent, Rules sells extra sport than some other restaurant in the UK.
The menu reads like a love letter to the British Isles. Appetizers function contemporary Dorset crab salad, potted shrimps with toast and Uig Lodge smoked salmon sourced from the Isle of Lewis in Scotland.
For the primary course, there may be steak and kidney pudding, along with a roast rib of beef with Yorkshire pudding for 2, and an array of savory pies.
A signature dish of steak and kidney pie arrives with a silver jug of wealthy gravy, a facet of mashed potato and a pot of sharp English mustard. Generously stuffed with good high quality beef and some bites of kidney, it’s topped by a golden brown pastry crust. It will also be ordered as a decadent steamed suet pudding —with an non-compulsory oyster for added decadence.
The restaurant was not all the time successful with critics. The 1975 “Good Food Guide” complained about the waiters as being “out of sorts with life,” whereas one other reviewer famous that the greens “tasted as if preserved since 1798.”
But that was a distinct period, again when British meals was a world punchline. Today, London is extensively thought-about considered one of the world’s best meals cities, and Rules has confidently stored tempo whereas staying true to its roots.
Desserts stay gloriously, defiantly old-school. There’s rhubarb crumble doused in custard, golden syrup sponge and sticky toffee pudding. There isn’t an açai berry or trendy superfood in sight.
To drink, diners can order a Black Velvet, pairing champagne and Guinness, or discover a wine heavy with Bordeaux Clarets.
Those seeking to unwind after an extended lunch or seize a drink earlier than a West End theater present, can head as much as the Winter Garden cocktail bar. The room balances understated, old-school glamour with out trendy distractions like music to interrupt the mild hum of dialog. There is a gown code although — anybody carrying shorts is not going to get previous the doorman.
The bar holds loads of secrets and techniques, too. It was as soon as residence to London’s “most celebrated table for two,” the place the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) famously wined and dined his mistress, actress Lillie Langtry. Royal associations are celebrated on as we speak’s menu, with cocktails together with “The Duchess of Cambridge,” a mixture of Audemus pink pepper gin, Lillet, Grey Goose vodka, citrus, rose and violet powder.
The restaurant’s timeless enchantment retains locals coming again for many years. Regulars John and Alexandra Powell journey in from the suburbs of south London and have dined right here roughly as soon as a month for the final 25 years. They all the time ask for the identical precise spot: Table 204, a nook desk with a commanding view of the total room.
“You won’t find another place like this,” John Powell says. “There are imitations — but pale imitations. It can be expensive here, but you get what you pay for. There’s no other restaurant we frequent as much.”
In an period the place the international restaurant trade faces tight margins and fast turnovers, Rules’ capability to maintain the lights on throughout three separate centuries — underneath the watch of simply 5 completely different house owners — is nothing in need of outstanding.
For McMenemy, the final reward isn’t present in Michelin stars or trade rankings, however in the satisfaction of the clients who preserve strolling by the door.
“I’m now on the fourth generation of some families coming in that I’ve served – it’s still the restaurant people want to come to.”