Dining Out: Cicoria Is Exactly the Restaurant the Royal Opera House Has Been Waiting For

There are few London institutions more intimidating than the Royal Opera House. Even if you've never stepped inside, it carries the weight of centuries of culture: black tie intervals, world-famous performances and an assumption that everyone else somehow knows exactly where they're going.

Angela Hartnett's new restaurant, Cicoria, changes that almost immediately.

Her first new London restaurant concept in more than a decade doesn't simply occupy the fifth floor of the Royal Opera House — it gives people a reason to visit the building whether they're seeing a performance or not. That's perhaps its greatest achievement. Cicoria feels less like a theatre restaurant and more like one of London's most exciting Italian dining rooms that just happens to come with one of the capital's most spectacular addresses.

With sweeping views over Covent Garden's historic piazza and interiors by Russell Sage Studio that lean into understated elegance rather than theatrical excess, the restaurant immediately finds a balance between occasion and accessibility. Pale woods, marble, warm terracotta tones and soft lighting create the sort of room where a leisurely lunch is as appropriate as a pre-ballet dinner or an indulgent date night.

Hartnett has always understood that great Italian cooking isn't about unnecessary complexity. It's about confidence. Let exceptional ingredients do the talking and know precisely when to stop.

That philosophy runs through Cicoria's menu.

The burrata arrived impossibly creamy, paired with sweet datterini tomatoes and a vibrant lovage pesto that added just enough herbal freshness without overwhelming the cheese. Alongside it, butter lettuce dressed in a silky robiola dressing and finished with toasted hazelnuts proved that even a seemingly simple salad can become memorable when every ingredient earns its place on the plate.

Perhaps the biggest surprise came in the form of a chilled melon and cucumber soup. It would be easy to dismiss something so restrained, but the balance of sweetness, freshness and toasted almonds made it one of the meal's most refreshing dishes — exactly the sort of elegant simplicity Italian cooking does better than almost anywhere else.

Then came the pasta, an area where Hartnett's reputation has long been established.

The rigatoni with slow-braised beef shin ragù is comfort food elevated through patience rather than extravagance. Rich, deeply savoury and clinging beautifully to perfectly cooked pasta, it's exactly the sort of dish you'll immediately want to order again.

If the rigatoni offers warmth and familiarity, the lamb and mint ravioli demonstrates a lighter touch. Finished in a bright lemon butter sauce, the filling remained unmistakably lamb while the citrus lifted every bite without masking the richness beneath. It felt considered, balanced and unmistakably Angela Hartnett.

The centrepiece of dinner was an aged T-bone steak served for sharing alongside crushed ratte potatoes and a rocket gremolata. Beautifully cooked with a generous crust and plenty of character from the ageing process, it managed to feel indulgent without becoming heavy. The potatoes did exactly what great potatoes should do — quietly support everything around them — while the peppery gremolata provided freshness that kept the dish moving.

Dessert continued the restaurant's refreshingly unfussy approach.

Soft serve vanilla gelato topped with warm chocolate sauce and roasted hazelnuts could easily have been overlooked on a menu filled with more elaborate options, but it perfectly encapsulated Cicoria's confidence. Nothing feels designed to impress for the sake of it. Instead, familiar flavours are simply executed exceptionally well.

Much has already been written about Angela Hartnett's cooking over the years, but what feels particularly refreshing here is how comfortably she adapts it to the Royal Opera House. Rather than chasing theatrical flourishes or creating an overtly "special occasion" menu, she's built somewhere people will genuinely want to return to regularly.

That's an important distinction.

London has no shortage of destination restaurants where securing a reservation becomes part of the achievement. Cicoria instead feels like somewhere that could quietly become part of people's routines. Lunch after shopping in Covent Garden. Cocktails on the terrace before the opera. Sunday lunch with family. Dinner simply because it's Wednesday.

Speaking of cocktails, Bar Cicoria deserves attention in its own right. Inspired by Turin's café culture, it offers Italian classics alongside inventive signatures while the heated terrace provides one of London's more underrated views across Covent Garden's rooftops. Even without booking dinner, it's exactly the sort of place you'll want to linger over a Negroni as the city shifts from afternoon into evening.

Perhaps that's ultimately what makes Cicoria such a clever addition to London's dining scene.

For decades, theatre restaurants have largely existed to serve audiences. Cicoria feels like it exists first as an excellent restaurant that happens to be inside one of Britain's greatest cultural landmarks. In doing so, it opens the Royal Opera House to an entirely new audience — one who may arrive for burrata and beef shin ragù and leave wondering whether they should finally book tickets for the ballet next time.

Book a table at Cicoria.