Louie London New Orleans Charm in the English Capital
Restaurant of the Week: Louie takes diners on a journey across the Atlantic.
main bar at louie
Louie’s second-floor bar / ©Louie
The story of Louie is an all too familiar one. The restaurant’s initial April 2020 launch was set back by the onset of the pandemic, with the next eighteen months dampened by continuous lockdown threats. However, just over two years on from the ill-fated planned opening, Louie is making a real mark on central London’s thriving food scene with its cool take on New Orleans-inspired cuisine.
Found on 15 West Street in the heart of Covent Garden, Louie marks the latest opening by serial restauranteur and London hospitality legend, Guillaume Glipa, who has the likes of Zuma, Chiltern Firehouse and Annabel’s on his resume. Guided by the cuisine and cultures he encountered on his travels, the concept here is decidedly eclectic, but it works.
Taking guests on a journey from effortlessly sophisticated Paris to gutsy New York, with a generous helping of New Orleans soul thanks to executive chef, Slade Rushing, and back over the Atlantic to elegant London, Louie is a mishmash of some of the world’s most iconic cities.
The first floor has a more formal dining room / ©Louie
second floor restaurant louie london
The interior is eclectic and cozy / ©Louie
The space is separated into multiple dining and lounge areas, which are connected by a warren-like set of stairs and elevators. On the lower floor, there’s a bright, breezy area perfect for lunch; one set of stairs up is a more formal dining room for cozy dinners; somewhere else there’s a bar with a verdant outdoor terrace. There’s even a cinema room hiding out in the building. It would be easy to get lost, particularly after a cocktail or two, but that seems to be the point.
“We think of Louie as a set,” says Glipa. “Imagine: hidden in plain sight behind a black brick façade, a famed townhouse on 15 West Street, Covent Garden will call itself home to Louie. Only the sly gaze of a dancing alligator adorning the flag outside hints at what lies beyond its doors. Upon entering, you discover a place unlike any you’ve been before, transported into a time you’ve only ever known from black and white films.”
This sounds borderline bonkers and undeniably bold, but as we head into another summer, a daring restaurant with elevated cuisine, a curated playlist and impeccable service might be just what London needs.
