Buvette, the French-inspired restaurant founded in New York by chef Jody Williams, opened a new London location in Neal’s Yard, Covent Garden, on 4 June 2026. The opening marks the concept’s return to the capital after its earlier Notting Hill restaurant closed in 2024.
A new central London address
The restaurant is at 2 Neal’s Yard, WC2H 9DP. Shaftesbury Capital announced in January 2026 that Buvette would be its first London site and was planned to have 80 covers. Broadsheet reported in June that it was due to open on 4 June, and the restaurant’s own site later described the Neal’s Yard location as open.
Buvette began in New York’s West Village in 2011. The London operation follows the same all-day, French-inspired “gastrothèque” concept, with service spanning breakfast through dinner, according to Broadsheet’s report on Williams. The new site is therefore both a local restaurant opening and an extension of a concept established in New York.
What the review describes
In a review published on 18 October 2026, Guardian critic Grace Dent described dishes including croque monsieur, salmon rillettes and salade niçoise, alongside spritzes and pastries. Dent reported that the menu listed 25 dishes, with none priced above £18. Those details about the menu and prices are the critic’s account of her visit, rather than independently verified findings in the opening coverage.
Broadsheet’s pre-opening report independently named several dishes expected on the menu, including croque monsieur, croque forestier, salade niçoise and steak tartare. It did not confirm the Guardian’s count of 25 dishes or its stated price ceiling.
Dent’s headline assessment, “It’s actually rather lovely,” is an opinion about the restaurant, not a measurable description. Her judgments about the food, service, atmosphere and value should likewise be read as a critic’s impressions. The available evidence establishes the reported dishes and the context of the review, but does not provide separate assessments from diners or other critics.
A second London chapter
The Neal’s Yard opening follows an earlier Buvette in Notting Hill. The Caterer reported that the restaurant opened in 2020 and closed in early 2024 after the business appointed administrators in December 2023. Broadsheet also referred to the earlier site and its administration in 2023.
The new Covent Garden restaurant is a separate opening, not a continuation of the Notting Hill operation. The supplied reporting identifies it as Buvette’s first London site under the current expansion and places it in a central area with a planned capacity of 80 covers.
Together, the opening reports and Dent’s review offer two different kinds of evidence: the former establish the restaurant’s address, launch and history, while the latter gives a critic’s first-hand account of the new venue. They support describing Buvette as an established New York concept making another attempt in London, but do not establish how the new site will perform over time.