On the corner of Covent Garden Piazza, housed in a beautiful Georgian heritage site is a 3 story delightful place -21 – a rustic Italian restaurant, The Print Room – a cocktail bar with 2 balconies overlooking the piazza and all the live entertainment it has to offer and the terrace located on the Piazza – a great way to enjoy the outdoors, drink in the hustle-bustle, gaze at St.Pauls – all this under the shelter of huge umbrellas and heating for chilly evenings.
When I first heard of 21 the Print Room at Covent Garden I imagined it to be this tiny little place with a rustic feel, when we walked into 21 I felt I was walking into a huge cave with tunnels well-lit and the aroma of melted cheese wafting around. The historic cellar vaults converted into a fab Italian restaurant have a cosy warm feel. They also proudly claim to serve the best pizza and pasta in Covent Garden – We were soon about to find out….
Image Courtesy:21 Covent Garden
Hubby and I walked into the place on a very, very warm summer evening and were seated at a table perfect for a romantic date but we food bloggers need light for clicking away, so once we were moved to a new table and happily settled into a comparatively well-lit corner of our choice, we couldn’t wait to order some drinks and cool down a few degrees. Just as I thought I would melt with the heat these beauties came to our rescue – a Mango Bellini (£7.50)for me and a Verde Flower(£5) Sine Peccato, for the husband – it means a cocktail without sin.
The Mango Bellini – a Prosecco-based cocktail was crisp, fresh, fruity, summery while hubbys Verde Flower – a combo of cucumber, apple juice, and elderflower with a dash of bitter lemon was fresh and light with lots of ice – so refreshing!
Accompanied by Wild Boar Tortelloni (£7.25) – Pancetta, green beans, sage cream, and Black pepper Calamari with saffron aioli (£7.25) as starters. The batter for the calamari was a bit bulky making them a bit chewy, the tortellini was very good, could easily have eaten some more!
Image Courtesy:21 Covent Garden
I was told that the A la Carte menu is fresh, Italian-inspired, and prepared with the best quality local ingredients – well now, I love the sound of that! We ordered the Cornish Crab Linguine (£14.25) and the Figaro (£14.95) – a Milano Salami, Parma Ham & Pepperoni Pizza for the main course but honestly if you’re doing starters then this one pizza between two people is more than enough!
The Figaro is absolutely mind-blowing delicious with the 3 meat sitting there with black olives and cherry tomatoes – begging to be eaten! The goat’s cheese was nothing like I’d ever tasted before – so soft and creamy and not one bit salty. Abandon your fork and knife for this one folks, eat with your hands…lick the gooey gorgeous roasted garlic olive oil mixed with the melted mozzarella, as it drips off the sides while you devour this magnificent feast. The linguine was ignored by us for the first few minutes while we silently ate our pizza. I felt like Julia Roberts in the movie Eat,Pray, Love telling her friend to drop the guilt and just eat their cheese-laden gorgeous looking pizza when they go to Naples,err mmm only I was sharing my Pizza with my hubster 😉
The linguine was good though paling in comparison to this star pizza staring at us. The crab meat was mixed well into the pasta and it was have been fun to eat this pasta slowly after squeezing lime generously over it, sipping a fine glasses red which goes with the fresh seafood taste and the chilies in the pasta. I ordered a glass of Red- the Nero D’Avola 2011 (£5.65 a glass, £21 a bottle) with my linguine. Hubster had a glass of Prosecco Brut (£6.80) to go with the mains.
Needless to say the mere mention of dessert and we would have exploded so we skipped dessert. Eager to walk and help digest the generous dinner now sitting firmly inside our tummies we took a tour of the print room upstairs which is a print shop turned cocktail bar, with a lovely balcony overlooking the piazza. We then walked out into the piazza past the Terrace, to be greeted by fresh, crisp evening London air.
Image Courtesy:21 Covent Garden
So let’s see, 21 delivered on their promise of serving the best Pizza in Covent Garden, the wine selection and mocktails on offer are impressive and I loved my Mango Bellini. Food and Wine taken care of.Ambiance – the feeling of sitting huddled in a cozy cubby hole dating back to Georgian Times is something else, the view from the Print room is amazing, so I’d say this is a perfect place for romantic dates in the cubby hole of 21 or out on the terrace – better for warm summer evenings, a great venue for hen and stag parties and a really cool place to hang out for drinks with your friends, they seem to have got it all covered huh?
Image Courtesy:21 Covent Garden
The photo below is of the most posh cubby hole in 21 comes with a fish tank for company 😉
Image Courtesy:21 Covent Garden
It was a beautiful clear night and the piazza was just so beautiful, a spattering of tourists seated in quiet corners near St.Pauls, the bars still overflowing with beer drinkers spilling out onto the piazza and of course the theatergoers walking to their cars or trying to get a cab.
The last time we were at Covent Garden with some friends they showed us this fab walking route to Waterloo station along the Waterloo bridge, it IS a great walk along with the various many theatres, pubs and brightly lit restaurants of Covent Garden and onto the bridge with stunning views of the London Eye on one side and the beautiful St. pauls cathedral on the other. And down the subway and you are inside Waterloo station, cool or what?!
It was an exceptionally windy evening as well and all of a sudden I wish I had my jacket on me, we stopped to take a few photos and this one is my fav:
Rushing to take cover in the warm subway, we made it to the station in under 15 minutes, this walking route is now my fav way to get to Covent Garden from Waterloo station and totally avoid the claustrophobic tubes and the slow buses crawling through the omnipresent traffic on the narrow roads of Central London…..( there … now that’s a sure shot sign that I have become am a Londoner now….when one begins to crib about the crowded tubes and moan about the traffic …and look of alternate walking routes… I think the novelty of being a newbie to this city is finally wearing off… in every way… but then the magic has settled in and just like I will always, always love Mumbai no matter what, similarly London has sunk into my being in a way that can never be reversed… safe to say…am deeply in love… with all that London has to offer – even the tubes … oh yes!)
*With thanks to 21 and The Print Room for the invite. All views expressed here are my own. I was not required to write a positive review. No monetary compensation was provided for this post.
