Last Updated on August 12, 2026
Nostalgic Pub Food in Covent Garden
4.0 out of 5.0 starsCovent Garden Market has as many bars and restaurants as shops these days, and lurking at one end of the lower courtyard is Mr Fogg’s Market Tavern. It’s dark and intimate inside with hidey-hole booth seating; one might almost be inside the galleon of a pirate ship.
It was my first time in a Mr Fogg’s; they have around half a dozen venues in central London, each one themed on Phileas Fogg’s Victorian-era travels in the Jules Verne novel Around the World in Eighty Days. This Covent Garden branch pays homage to Ireland, in honour of Mr Fogg’s stop in Queenstown (now Cobh) in County Cork. There are a few nods to the novel inside, an audio track narrating the book in the loo, and a cocktail named after Fogg’s valet Passepartout.
We visited on a quiet midweek summer evening, although I am making a mental note to bring back various friends and relatives who gravitate to Covent Garden whenever in London. It can be such a bind to feed and water out-of-town visitors determined to hang out in the West End when they’ve not pre-booked, but I think I’ve now found a tucked-away, yet central place to take them.
The evening menu we ordered from is much simpler than the broader selection of mains offered in the day. By night there’s basically fish and chips, more chips with various toppings and sauces, plus a selection of small plate dishes almost devoid of vegetable matter unless you opt for Caesar salad (Portobello mushrooms on the website were not on the table menu). In for a penny, out for a pound, this wasn’t going to be the most nutritionally responsible supper, but certainly food you might crave after several drinks with the convenience of not needing to go anywhere else.
My first drink was a pineapple-flavoured Pirate Punch served in a half pint beer mug. If you order four to share, the various punches are served in larger Toby-style character jugs. This was a refreshing drink that didn’t seem overly alcoholic despite featuring two types of rum. My husband, who didn’t yet get my Guinness memo, went rogue ordering beer whilst I was off exploring the dark corridors and private table spaces nearby.
Styled as a deep cellar dockside pub, Market Tavern was rather charming. For whilst it apes a crusty old sailor’s boozer, it was spotlessly clean and smart. We were seated at one end of the Guinness saloon, close to a wooden Guinness counter displaying how many pints of the brown stuff have been served. Every thousandth pint is rewarded with a complimentary round; for the 10,000th, it gets more exciting: an all-expenses-paid trip to Dublin to visit the Guinness brewery itself. Only open since late July, they’re already on 1192.
The focal point of the evening menu is Fish and Chips, available in two sizes. We ordered the small one and found it a sensible size. We were pleased by the texture of the peas and tartare sauce, noticeably better than run-of-the-mill versions found in some pubs. The haddock was a good ratio to the crispy beer batter. Alongside we had Irish Spice Bag dip, inspired by the modern Chinese-Irish takeaway favourite of chips shaken in a bag with a seasoning mix. The dip is similar to a fruity HP sauce but with more texture and less sharpness.
The oval tin plates added to the 19th-century vibe, as did much of the ephemera and trinkets on nearby shelves. It reminded me of my Victoriana-obsessed grandmother’s house; she’d have loved the wooden captain’s armchairs, lanterns and pewter.
The Irish Spice Bag dip came in handy with the Mac & Cheese Bites. These came with a bright red Bloody Mary sauce which I found a bit sour. The breadcrumbed hunks of macaroni were as big as plums and went very well with the fruity Irish Spice Bag dip.
Our other small plate was Mini Pie’n’ Mash, a steak and ale pie with a comforting dollop of smooth mashed potato in a pool of dark gravy. The pastry was pleasingly suet-y, and the meaty chunks were tender. The small plate version would be good by itself if you’re watching portion sizes or it was getting too late to eat much, but if you’re especially keen, it wouldn’t be overly piggish to order two.
The small plates are offered individually or on a deal in threes. We felt that three between two people was only enough if you were full of Guinness; someone with a bigger appetite might tackle three by themselves, so it was kind of hard to judge up front whether you’re over- or under-ordering – such is the ambiguity of any small plates menu. As it was, our fish and chips plus two small plates was a sensible quantity for us.
I might have managed dessert, but instead we savoured our drinks. In any case, they only do ice cream at night, although there was more choice in the day or on Sundays alongside roast dinners.
For our second drinks, we picked a half of Guinness for my husband and an Elskling cocktail for me. Comprising gin, elderflower, lavender, apple, lime and peach bitters, I’d take issue with the menu description of “delicate”; it was flipping punchy. I was wild about the sparky flavour, cloudy-gold colour and presentation in a Nick and Nora glass; I wish I’d had it first as the perfect appetite sharpener. If I were still attending language classes at nearby City Lit, I fear I might develop a bad habit of falling into Mr Fogg’s straight afterwards for one of these on my way home.
My husband and I reflected that Mr Fogg’s Market Tavern reminded us of the type of place we used to drink in, mostly standing up, with friends in the 90s and that it served the kind of food we’d have merrily gobbled up had it been available then. I realised by the time we left that it had once been a Davy’s Wine Bar, and I had surely been here before.
So, if you come to Mr Fogg’s Market Tavern in the evening, I wouldn’t make it your destination for a three-course sit-down meal. However, if you want something quickly hearty before a show nearby, or to socialise with friends and scoff something after a couple of drinks, it will hit the spot. The prices are very reasonable and the food noticeably better than more obvious pub-chain alternatives. For somewhere so central and lively, it’s intimately tucked away. Worth remembering.
Mr Fogg’s Market Tavern
Lower Ground
The Piazza
27 The Market
London
WC2E 8RD
Tel: 020 7095 0361
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