There’s a great deal to take refuge in around Covent Garden — a two-storey Urban Outfitters, The Traitors Live Experience, Paddington the Musical. And now there’s somewhere new in which to hide from a holographic Claudia Winkleman: a 400-year-old building in Neal’s Yard called Buvette.
In France, a buvette is a casual, all-day spot that serves food and drink from morning to evening, the two granted equal billing; like an osteria in Italy, or a greasy spoon in London. But this is not just any buvette, but the New York original from James Beard Award-winning Jody Williams. A version briefly surfaced in Notting Hill in 2021 before going into administration in 2023.
A New York-style restaurant in London is hardly remarkable these days. The Dover, Martino’s, Carbone and One Club Row have each lent the city a certain transatlantic gloss. What they bring, in every case, is not merely food, but a vibe. Is Buvette a vibe export? Well, there certainly is one.
From the moment I walk in, I can’t quite shake the sense I’m on the set of a television show. The exposed brick reads Friends coffee shop Central Perk. The ratio of waiters to diners is so generous I begin to suspect I’m the cameo in someone else’s scene. The space feels like an American interpretation of France, which isn’t surprising given Buvette’s pedigree. But in London — a two-hour train ride from the land of demi-carafes and pétanque, and home to plenty of convincingly French French restaurants — it feels conspicuously un-French.
The all-day offering runs the gamut from breakfast to brunch to dinner. I pop in for lunch. It’s not ideal that I visit two days after an Austrian medical resort informs me that I am both gluten- and lactose-intolerant, but I power on with a croque monsieur, salmon rillettes and carottes râpées, hoping that Frau Spörk isn’t watching.
The carottes râpées is unfortunately missing the sinus-clearing mustard punch that makes it so addictive. It’s liberally studded with pistachios, but they absorb the moisture from the carrots, dulling their crunch.
The salmon rillettes are generous, a hefty spoonful that is unctuous and satisfying — perhaps wanting a lick more acidity, but good enough against the snap of toasted bread and a scatter of capers and cornichons.
Did the croque roque my world? Unfortunately not. I’ve had something similar in Costa. Seemingly assembled ahead of time and reheated, it forfeits the very thing that makes a croque worth ordering — that voluptuous seam of béchamel gradually surrendering into the bread. Instead, the sourdough and solidified gruyère retain a stubborn chew that risks dislodging a molar.
Soon after, a beef tartare, a chicken salad and a metal ramekin of chips. The tartare is solid, a generous helping of chopped raw beef with a pleasing bounce spread across toast, sharpened by cornichons and capers. The chicken salad arrives in a bizarrely small bowl, with green beans threatening to escape over the rim like pool woggles, but the rotisserie chicken itself is excellent. It’s tender and succulent, so soft it gives way under the fork, surrounded by soft-boiled potatoes, slightly tired frisée, radishes and a mustard vinaigrette.
The chips are the best thing I eat all afternoon. The waiter explains they’re soaked to remove excess starch and blanched in lower-temperature oil to cook the inside, so they retain a certain fudginess and a deep, roasted savour.
To finish, a dense tarte tatin under a spoonful of crème fraîche. Very good if you like your tarte tatin syrupy and light on pastry.
Looking across the bar, I realise the woman next to me has grasped the correct formula much better than me. A glass of wine and a chicken salad, eaten alone, in an hour. That, it seems, is Buvette’s purpose. Not destination dining, nor a particularly convincing interpretation of France transplanted in Neal’s Yard, but a pitstop.
I guess it occupies an uncertain middle ground — too considered to be truly casual but too casual to be memorable and that, despite the food, left me largely indifferent.
What You Say
@_tasting__: “Buvette London is now open! Had a lovely time at the soft launch last week. A lovely spot for fancy cocktails and small plates in iconic Neal’s Yard.”
Murat Dogan Erden: “We feel incredibly fortunate that Buvette has now found a home in London after enjoying the original Buvette in New York.”
Lewis Evans: “We expected good things… Not what happened. Everything is small including the wine and cutlery. Look at that and then everything makes sense. The price you pay for medium quality tiny food is very disappointing.”
