The story
In the heart of London’s West End, Frog by Adam Handling makes a bold statement about modern British cooking. Established in 2017, this Covent Garden restaurant was chef Adam Handling MBE’s most ambitious project to date: a place to alter the world’s mindset and showcase the best of British food. The story, as the team describes it, is one of positivity, overcoming obstacles, and celebrating the UK’s incredible larder.
The name "Frog" comes from a personal test. At the time of opening, Handling reflected that frogs live in water—they either sink or swim. He chose the name as a challenge to himself. He swam.
The experience here is intentionally theatrical. Guests face the kitchen, and chefs come to the table to interact directly, creating what the restaurant calls "Michelin-starred luxury in an environment where you feel completely comfortable being who you are." The dining room is designed for immersion, with every element connected to offer a memorable journey around the UK.
The tasting menu—available in a 13-course format with optional supplements—is the heart of the experience. The kitchen works closely with farmers, fishermen, and growers, and also forages themselves, to source the best seasonal produce. The philosophy is 90% British, with the remaining 10% reserved for what Britain cannot yet grow or produce. A shorter lunch menu offers a more concise introduction to the kitchen’s approach.
This commitment to quality and sustainability has earned the restaurant a Michelin star, a recognition that feels earned rather than advertised. It is a natural reflection of the care taken with every plate.
Below the restaurant, Eve Bar extends the kitchen’s zero-waste ethos into cocktails and bar snacks, using ingredients and techniques from upstairs. For private occasions, The Library seats up to 12 guests and can adapt the tasting menu to personal preferences.
Chef Adam Handling’s own story underpins the restaurant. Scottish-born, he began his career at Gleneagles Hotel over two decades ago, later travelling the world and finding particular inspiration in Japan’s approach to zero waste. He brought that ethos back to London when creating Frog. His vision remains clear: to put British food on a global stage and show the world how diverse UK produce can be.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
High quality cooking
Adam Handling’s Covent Garden flagship is a crowd-pulling destination full of noise and action, with an organised open kitchen serving up what the man himself calls ‘British food, inspired by London’. Bare tables, hard floors and counter seating are par for the course, while the culinary focus is now on a 10-course tasting menu that aims to take the chef’s zero-waste, ‘sustainability agenda’ to the next level. Proceedings begin with a series of precise, flavour-heavy snacks, ranging from an oyster tartlet abundant with caviar and tempered by cucumber in various guises to a wagyu beef tartare that arrives inside crisp pastry shells, daintily garlanded with flowers. Although most ideas are newly minted, Handling’s signature ‘bread with chicken butter’ remains. After that, there might be a dish of flaky cod (‘with just a suggestion of the sea’), accompanied by a lemongrass foam, celeriac purée, a tapioca cracker and green herb oil. Oddly, the same condiment reappears yet again in a dish of supremely good wagyu beef served with a 'welcome dose of greenery', a blob of English wasabi and a bordelaise-style sauce. The full experience is interspersed with the usual savoury and sweet interludes (including a palate-cleanser involving ice-cold cherry tomatoes sitting beneath a green tomato granita). Dessert itself might be a 'tellingly sound' piece of pastrywork combining white chocolate, pandan and strawberry. Readers have been bowled over by it all (‘course after course of perfection’), while we agree, some dishes are confusing, and the excessive use of herb oil isn’t to our liking. That said, there’s no denying the buzz of the place or the attentivenss of the staff, while the drinks list offers heady cocktails alongside a global wine (and sake) selection that divides up into categories such as ‘quintessential’, ‘esoteric’ and ‘maverick’.
3 Rosette Award for Culinary Excellence
You certainly can’t fault the ambition of Adam Handling. The Scottish chef trained at the famous Gleneagles hotel, made it to the finals of MasterChef: The Professionals in 2013 and oversees a group of venues that includes a highly sustainable Cornish cafe and a pub and restaurant with rooms in Berkshire. Frog by Adam Handling is his flagship site and despite being a stone’s throw from Covent Garden’s busy central square, is anything but a tourist trap. The aim here is for fine dining without a stuffy atmosphere, and Frog ably achieves this, having benefitted from a makeover at the start of 2023 that has breathed fresh life into the dining room, with new bespoke artwork and furniture. Handling’s menu is focused on creative British dishes with international influences, and presentation ranges from elegant to more theatrical. A tasting menu (and a vegetarian version) is available with the option of three wine pairings. There are also a number of supplements, including a signature dish of waffle, sour cream and caviar, and when truffle season is in full swing the restaurant also goes to town. The downstairs Eve Bar is a darkened drinking den serving up a menu of hugely creative cocktails that befit The Frog’s close attention to detail in everything it does.
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