For all of the excellent foodie pubs in London, and there are many to be found from north to south and east to west, the West End isn’t a hotspot. Step forward Ed and Tom Martin, the brothers who can boast quality food-focused pubs The Gun and The White Swan as part of their ETM group, a company whose first foray into theatreland has already raised the bar for pub food in the area.

The Venue
Previously a fairly average pub in Covent Garden, an area where you can find tourist-laden, mediocre pubs on practically every corner, the Angel and Crown has been spruced up by its new owners in order to create a buzzy pub on the ground floor and a more sedate dining room upstairs. It’s a split-level format that will be familiar if you’ve been to any of the other pubs in the group and it’s not the only similarity: the signature ETM stag horns are mounted on the wall, and their penchant taxidermy is present and correct with a couple of prize fish gurning in presentation cases on both levels. Overall, it’s retained its traditional features but looks better for having a bit of TLC lavished on it.

The Atmosphere
The two levels of the Angel and Crown couldn’t be starker in contrast. In the pub, a chaotic Friday night scene sees gaggles of girls and groups of friends gather for a raucous end-of-working-week-blowout. Meanwhile the first floor, a compact dining room with around 30 covers, is calm and collected on the whole, with diners ranging from posh young girls filling up before a night clubbing, a group of guys chewing the fat over Google’s latest SEO developments, and a few couples/families. There’s a fireplace up here for colder nights, and one of the window-side tables provides excellent people-watching potential with views across to The Salisbury pub on the opposite side of the road.

The Food
Specialising in British meat, game and seafood, the Angel and Crown does the crowd-pleasers – fish, chips and mushy peas (£13.50), flank of steak and chips (£16.50) etc – but it is more memorable for the more unusual options like the snails, bacon and pearl barley (£8): a dish that looks like a mini-paella, as it’s served up in a little black copper pan, and one that successfully combines the garlicky flavour from the snails with malty barley and salty bacon. Alternatively, daily specials offer up cracking dishes like a perfectly fried duck egg served with buttery sautéed mushrooms. Portions are generally on the hefty side: the partridge and pheasant pie for main course is a Desperate Dan-esque effort topped with flaky pastry and a protruding bone filled with unctuous bone marrow. If anything it arrives too hot and you’ll need to wait for its molten filling to cool down, but the flavour is undeniably good once it does so.

Puddings (all £5.50) offer up a concise list of classics with the odd twist. A generous slice of custard tart with sticky prunes, or a dense and cocoa-rich chocolate mousse with chocalatey cornflakes and refreshing crème fraiche sorbet are the sort of things on offer.

The Drink
First of all, the ales: there are three on offer including the biscuity Sambrook’s Junction (£3.50 a pint) and a guest ale such a Hop Head from Dark Star. A short list of cocktails is also on offer (£7 each) but you may have to wait quite a while at peak times such is the demand on the bar. The wine list is nicely crafted, taking in ETM’s honest and decent house varieties in both red and white (£16.50 a bottle), but part with a few extra pounds and you can purr over the Domaine de Chansac from the Langedoc (£21 a bottle), a lovely smooth, ripe red with an all-important hint of spice.

The Last Word
Once a pub and restaurant group establishes itself across several sites it’s natural that a certain formula comes into play. This is a good thing in the case of the Angel and Crown. It may be new to the neighbourhood but it has all of the hallmarks that make its sister venues such consistently enjoyable places to visit for food and drink. Pub food in this part of town just got a whole lot more interesting.

venue information venue map view london review user reviews (2) image gallery (3)