About Rules
Rules has operated on Maiden Lane in Covent Garden since 1798, which makes it the oldest restaurant in London and among the oldest continuously operating restaurants anywhere. The ownership has changed three times in 227 years and the dining rooms — ground-floor main room, first-floor Greene Room (named for Graham Greene, who wrote in the building), and two private rooms — retain the antler-heavy Edwardian decor that has been in place since the early 1900s.
The kitchen specialises in British game sourced from the restaurant's own estate in Teesdale, which makes Rules one of a handful of London restaurants with vertical control over its supply. Seasonal menus feature grouse from August, pheasant and partridge through autumn, and venison throughout the winter. The year-round classics — steak and kidney pie, oysters, the Dover sole — are as expected.
The upstairs cocktail bar is a genuine London destination in its own right, with a strong pre-Prohibition cocktail programme and views through the first-floor windows over Maiden Lane. Expect to wait for a table at the bar most evenings.
Best Occasion Fit
Rules is a birthday choice when the occasion benefits from a sense of London-ness. The 1798 establishment date, the antlers, the Greene-esque upstairs bar, and the unapologetically traditional menu combine into a restaurant that works as both a birthday dinner and a first introduction to London for overseas visitors.
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