Family-run French restaurant Chez Antoinette has been a part of Covent Garden for over a decade, serving French classics with an authentic Gallic spirit. Opened originally by Aurélia Noël-Delclos in 2014, five years later she was joined by her husband Jean-Baptiste (JB), and together they opened a second location in Victoria. The brand also includes two sister sites: Maison Gigi, a pâtisserie and deli in the heart of Victoria; and Suzette, a kiosk in Covent Garden Piazza offering drinks and crepes.
Eleven years after launching Chez Antoinette, the husband-and-wife duo decided it was time for an upgrade of the original site. The refurbishment included an extension and refreshed design, taking over the neighbouring unit. Remaining open through planning applications and listed building consent, the restaurant finally closed in mid-August for three months to connect and fit out the two spaces.
Returning with a focus on traditional French cooking, Chez Antoinette now serves a bistro-style evening menu featuring classics such as boeuf bourguignon, onion soup, escargots, foie gras, and terrine – all inspired by Aurélia’s grandmother, Antoinette, and her home-style recipes.
Chez Antoinette Covent Garden exterior (MATTHEW HAGUE/©Matthew Hague)Tell us about the redesign and extension
Aurélia: We’ve nearly doubled the space from 55 to 100 square metres, expanding both the seating area and the kitchen. When we opened 11 years ago, the interior was designed to feel like my grandmother’s kitchen; now it feels more like her dining room – more comfortable, more sophisticated and, overall, a clear step up from where we began. We also brought over ideas from our newer Victoria site, which we opened five years after Covent Garden.
Jean-Baptiste: We have made sure to keep the essence of Covent Garden. Some guests didn’t even notice the changes at first – only when I mentioned the space was bigger did they realise how much it had grown.
How did you get into restaurants?
A: I used to work as an interior designer, and then I left London and travelled across India for four months and decided then that I wanted to open a restaurant. At first it was more like a café – I just wanted something of my own. I’d always dreamed of having a restaurant because I loved hosting, cooking, and growing up around family meals. I spent mornings with my mum and grandmother preparing food, setting beautiful tables, and filling the house with flowers. That spirit is what inspired me to create Chez Antoinette. That’s what makes the restaurant so special: I didn’t come from hospitality school. Everything has come from the heart, and people feel that when they walk in.
JB: I wanted to be a chef from the start; in fact, when I was seven, I even tried to quit school and go straight to work. I eventually went to hospitality school and worked my way through the kitchen, waiting, and reception, spending 16 years in a hotel and rising to general manager. Joining Aurélia was a big change and took some adjustment, but it became one of the best decisions of my life. Entrepreneurship is completely different from working for a large company; it’s much harder because you work all the time, even more than I did as a hotel general manager.
What prompted you to open the Victoria site?
JB: At first, the Covent Garden site felt too small for me, so I said that if I joined, we needed to open something else. That’s how Victoria came about. We also wanted to start a family, and one small Covent Garden restaurant simply couldn’t support two people living in London.
Tell us about your sibling sites
A: Suzette came first; we wanted a new challenge, and the opportunity to run a kiosk in the Piazza came up. It serves coffee, cocktails, and crêpes and started with a three-month contract, but now it’s been two or three years. With the restaurant downstairs and Suzette upstairs, it’s given us great visibility and boosted footfall. Gigi came after Covid. A neighbour above our Victoria site asked us to cater for them, starting with 50 but ended up growing until we eventually needed a separate kitchen and found a site on Victoria Street with a shop front. That became Maison Gigi – a patisserie and bakery producing our pastries and housing the catering kitchen. The name comes from my grandmother, making it very personal.
Chez Antoinette serves classic French bistro food (©Chez Antoinette)How has the restaurant scene in Covent Garden changed?
JB: Often people say being in Covent Garden means you’re successful, but it’s not easy – especially downstairs, where building a reputation is a struggle. Chez Antoinette has been there for over a decade now and when we first moved in, the area was just starting to re-establish itself as a destination for Londoners. Now there are big-name restaurants and pop-ups, and social media has really helped drive Covent Garden to where it is today. We also found that footfall used to be more consistent, with seasonal peaks like Valentine’s and Christmas. Now there are bigger swings – in the past few years the Christmas season has grown massively, but this year it stayed quiet until mid-November. We originally wanted to refurbish in the new year but needed to move forward, so the quiet period coincided with our refurbishment.
How has Chez Antoinette Covent Garden evolved over the past decade?
JB: We’ve brought over signature dishes from Victoria, like French onion soup, escargots, boeuf bourguignon, and duck parmentier. Also with the larger bar, we’ve expanded the drinks menu – cocktails grew from a few to 10 to 15, and we’ve added three mocktails. We also offer alcohol-free wines, cabernet merlot and sauvignon blanc as well as a sparkling option.
A: Even as a French restaurant, we’ve adapted to cater to everyone, including vegans and vegetarians. It was a challenge for me, coming from a background of meaty dishes, but now we have cauliflower as a main and it’s so good that I sometimes choose it over meat.
French cuisine is having a renaissance; why do you think this is?
JB: At one point there were a lot of French restaurants closing, but everything comes back around, and people always come back to French food. But the revival is seeing more bistro and brasserie styles, for example, Josephine Bouchon, which tend to be more affordable than French gastronomic restaurants, but that doesn’t mean you’re not going to get good quality food.
What does Chez Antoinette do differently?
A: We try to employ French people and French speakers because we want our team to connect with the culture and appreciate the environment, so around 80% of our management is French, which is how we carry the brand. Also, JB and I are always present – soon JB will focus on Covent Garden while I stay at Victoria. Being a French family-run business is very important to us. I like being in the restaurant, taking care of my guests and staff, and staying connected. Speaking to one of us gives a different energy and vibe, which is unique to Chez Antoinette.
Chez Antoinette Covent Garden interior (MATTHEW HAGUE/©Matthew Hague)
What’s the current economic climate like for you?
JB: Covent Garden had a softer start this year, similar to last, with a surge as the Christmas season kicks in. Victoria continues to evolve, with many local regulars returning weekly or monthly. It’s been a good year overall and we are still seeing good numbers for Victoria; last week in particular was super strong. It is a challenge with the current costs of staff and goods rising, but we’re making efforts to keep pricing down; for example, we didn’t increase any wine prices this year.
What are your future plans?
A: The next stage is to refurbish Victoria, following the success of Covent Garden. In 2026, we plan to relocate the bar and expand the kitchen upstairs. Beyond that, we want to focus on maintaining the quality of our current businesses rather than opening more sites. JB and I value what we’ve built and want to be proud of it in such a challenging industry.
JB: For Gigi, we aim to grow our B2B side, expanding office catering and becoming the go-to caterer in the Victoria area, while continuing to stay connected with the local community we know and love.
Dining and Cooking