Angela Hartnett is back with her first new London restaurant in over a decade. On 26 September she opens Cicoria, a 300-cover dining room, bar and terrace on the fifth floor of the Royal Opera House.

Best known for her Michelin-starred Murano in Mayfair and the more casual Café Murano group, Hartnett hasn’t added to her line-up since 2013. Cicoria changes that, bringing her ingredient-led Italian cooking to Covent Garden, designed as much for pre-theatre suppers as for long evenings over pasta and wine.

The menu

The meal begins with small plates in the Italian tradition — cicchetti and antipasti – designed for sharing. Dishes include vitello tonnato with anchovy and caper, cured halibut with orange and fennel, golden arancini filled with seasonal ingredients, and burrata paired with chargrilled grapes and mint.

Vegetables take a prominent role. Radicchio is served with toasted hazelnuts and robiola dressing, whipped ricotta comes on bruschetta with confit leeks, and a chicory salad combines Winchester Gold cheese, walnuts and Moscatel dressing.

From there, the menu moves into primi, the pasta and risotto course, with plates such as:

• Lobster linguini with lemon and parsley
• Rigatoni slow-braised in beef shin ragù
• Guinea fowl agnolotti enriched with lardo di Colonnata.

The secondi, or main dishes, include seabass with Umbrian lentils, lamb cutlets with parmesan and salsa verde, and larger sharing plates like monkfish tail with mussels in a coco bean ragù.

Desserts range from a caramelised Amalfi lemon tart to Valrhona Manjari chocolate mousse with hazelnuts. Seasonal figs are roasted and served with zabaglione, alongside a rotation of gelati, sorbets and a curated cheese list from La Fromagerie.

Bar Cicoria

Bar Cicoria extends the restaurant into a Turin-inspired terrace overlooking Covent Garden piazza. Interiors use deep pink and green tones with antique mirrors and leather panelling.

Cocktails mix Italian standards with house signatures, including:

• Caprese Sbagliato with basil vodka, Manzanilla, cherry tomato and strawberry cordial, olive oil, agave and lemon
• The Golden Globe with Japanese whisky, apricot liqueur, grapefruit and rosemary tonic.

Seasonal spritzes and Bellinis are joined by non-alcoholic options including Sussex jasmine sparkling tea and Wild Idol rosé.

The wine list is anchored in Italy but stretches outward to Provençal rosés, orange wines from Devon and reds from Bordeaux. Hartnett’s own wines also feature.

Prices

Cicchetti start from £6, with pastas in the £14–£24 range and seafood or meat mains mostly between £27–£38. Larger plates to share edge higher — up to £55 for veal chop — while desserts sit around £11. In short, it’s priced in line with Covent Garden dining: accessible for a couple of plates before a show, but with scope for the bill to climb if you go all in.

Design and terrace

Russell Sage Studio has given Cicoria a look that feels polished without being stiff. The dining room mixes pale wood and marble tables with soft green walls, while pink and terracotta accents add warmth. Amber glass and brushed brass run through the space, tying the restaurant to the adjoining bar.

Step outside and the terrace opens directly onto Covent Garden’s 17th-century piazza. It’s covered and heated, with low lounge seating and armchairs. A perfect set up for cicchetti, a spritz or a glass of wine at any time of day.

Opening

Cicoria opens on 26 September, with space for around 300 diners across the restaurant, bar and terrace. Opening hours are 12pm to 11pm Monday to Saturday, and 12pm to 9pm on Sundays. The kitchen closes one hour before the bar.

Bookings are now open here, with walk-ins available. You can visit Cicoria and Bar Cicoria at Royal Opera House, Bow Street, London WC2E 9DD

Looking for more gorgeous places to dine in? Read also about the new Solaya, CÉ LA VI and the Pot Luck Club restaurants.