Christopher's

Christopher's has served American cooking from a Grade II listed townhouse on Wellington Street since 1991 and is regarded as one of London's leading American restaurants. The building has a history of its own: it spent a period as a papier mache factory and opened in 1870 as London's first licensed casino, and a sweeping stone staircase still leads from the street up to the main dining room.

The restaurant is arranged over three floors that recall the glamour of the modern American era. The Martini Bar occupies the ground floor, the main restaurant sits on the first floor, and the Club Room on the lower ground floor is reserved for private events, with the Sunset Room also available for parties. The kitchen deals in steaks and seafood, with weekend brunch and a well-known cocktail list from the bar.

American restaurant in Covent Garden theatreland

Wellington Street runs from the Strand to the Piazza, a couple of minutes from the Lyceum and the main theatre district, so the pre-theatre menu is timed for an early curtain. The setting is grand without being stiff, which is why the room suits a celebration, a business lunch or a drink before a show equally well, and the Martini Bar has a following of its own even among people eating elsewhere.

What to expect on a visit

Doors open at 11am every day. The bar runs until midnight from Monday to Thursday and until 1.30am on Friday and Saturday, while Sunday is a daytime affair finishing at 5pm, built around brunch. Book ahead for the dining room, particularly at weekends. Christopher's is one of the longest-established names among Covent Garden's fine dining restaurants, and pairs naturally with a seafood supper at J Sheekey on another night of a West End stay. For a martini bar in Covent Garden with a proper dining room upstairs, it remains the reference point.