Back in 2020, when the workers and tourists abandoned London’s West End, Covent Garden was left almost ghoulishly silent. The days of long queues for Matilda the Musical, pre-theatre set menus and Yoda street performers were over for ever, I was certain.
Patently, I was an idiot, because full high-octane tourist bedlam has now been restored, and an all-new Lahpet has entered the fray down one of the newly prettified sidestreets off Long Acre. This cool, casual, modern restaurant, which serves Burmese comfort food, was founded by Dan Anton and Burmese chef Zaw Mahesh, and began life as a stall on Maltby Street near London Bridge, before moving first into an arch in Hackney and then to a popular restaurant in Shoreditch; this new, double-floored affair on Slingsby Place is their most ambitious project to date. (Incidentally, if you have a passing knowledge of London, it’s about three minutes’ walk from Pineapple Dance Studios, and probably less if you did it exuberantly in leg warmers.)
