We visited this American-style restaurant and martini bar in Covent Garden.

Where is it?
Directly across from The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre, Christopher’s is in the heart of the West End.

What is the place like?
The restaurant upstairs feels airy, open and grand, with high ceilings, leafy green plants and ornate décor. In comparison, the downstairs martini bar is dimly lit with low plush velvet seating. You could happily come to either the restaurant or the bar separately, but I would recommend arriving slightly before your restaurant reservation and starting with a dirty martini downstairs.

What did you eat and drink?
The menu at Christopher's is varied, serving everything from wagyu burgers to pumpkin coconut curry to Berbere-marinated lamp chops. Since this is an American-style restaurant, however, we decided to stick to the clearly American-influenced dishes, starting with the classic caesar salad and the popcorn shrimp, both of which feature on the pre-theatre menu, along with some warm bread and butter. No complaints here, these were all absolutely solid and a great start to the meal, although I wouldn’t have minded a few anchovy fillets in the caesar.

For the main event, we split the lobster mac 'n' cheese and a sirloin steak with creamed spinach and truffle fries on the side. The steak came with a choice of sauce, and we were unable to choose between the chimichurri and the blue cheese, so opted for both. The steak was cooked to a perfect edge-to-edge-pink medium-rare, and the sauces were both spot on. I personally love creamed spinach so I was very happy to spot this on the menu: it was creamy, slightly garlicky, and the perfect accompaniment to the steak. The truffle fries weren’t particularly truffle-y, which I liked, but this is just personal preference. The mac 'n' cheese was delicious but some more lobster flavour throughout the pasta wouldn’t have gone amiss, rather than simply the tail chunks on top.

We were absolutely stuffed by this point but had to squeeze in a couple of desserts: the pecan pie with espresso ice cream and the cheesecake with berry compote (also on the pre-theatre menu). These are two very classic desserts that you can’t really go wrong with, and the pecan pie in particular was a standout.

This was all paired with a bottle of server-guided wine. We chose a crisp white, Gavi di Gavi, which could be controversial given the sirloin but was perfectly paired with the popcorn shrimp and lobster mac 'n' cheese. 

The verdict?
Start your evening here with a martini and dinner before a show, stop by if you’re in Covent Garden for date night or pop over for brunch on the weekend – I haven’t personally sampled the brunch menu but I hear Christopher's is famous for their chocolate French toast!