Written by RuinMyTrip Editorial from published research and official sources, not from a personal trip. It is not a traveler review and is never counted in the community rating. How we research.
restaurant · London
Twelve Pounds for Soup in the Oldest Restaurant in London
Review of Rules
Been to London? This page needs you more than it needs us.
A first-hand review outranks desk research every time, and yours will sit above this one.
Share your experienceRules charges 5.75 pounds each for Poole rock oysters and 11.95 pounds for chilled leek and potato soup, which places it firmly in the expensive-but-not-absurd bracket for central London. It opened in 1798 and has never moved or closed, which makes it the oldest restaurant in London. The dining rooms are dark red, hung floor to ceiling with prints, cartoons and taxidermy, and they look exactly like the idea of an English restaurant that England exports. The kitchen is serious about game, which is the reason to come between August and January: grouse, partridge, woodcock and venison from the restaurant's own estate in the Pennines. Order that, not the steak.
What was great
Two and a quarter centuries in the same rooms, and they look it in the best way. Genuinely good game from their own estate in season. A bar upstairs that most diners never find.
What nearly ruined the trip
Prices are high for what is fundamentally traditional cooking. The dining room is dark and closely packed. It is in Covent Garden, so the surrounding streets are a tourist crush from noon onwards, and the dress code is stricter than most visitors expect.
Value for money
★★★☆☆ FairSafety
★★★★★ Felt safeMore from London
Comments
No comments yet.