There’s a particular panic that sets in when you’ve got theatre tickets clutched in one hand and a growling stomach in the other. You’ve come straight from work, curtain-up is in 45 minutes, you’re starving, and you know full well that interval snacks are no substitute for dinner. Enter Crust Bros in Covent Garden – a saviour in the form of fire-blistered dough and dangerously good cocktails.
Deciding what to eat takes longer than the chefs take to make it. It all starts with a paper menu and a pencil. Pick your base, tick your toppings, and try not to spiral. Ham or mushrooms? Rocket or sausage? Why not all four? While you’re thinking, sip on a Crust Bros Coffee Negroni or a Kiwi Collins and absentmindedly polish off some Nocellara olives.
For the indecisive (or simply hangry), the ready-made “Fave” options are faultless. Seven Nation Salami, Straight Outta Hell and Big Poppa offer well selected, meat filled crowd-pleasers, while Nonna’s Yard, Bufala Soldier and Cheesus Walks keep things meat-free without losing any flavour. We went with anchovies, artichokes and rocket, and a chicken, mushroom and double mozzarella – making the most of the personalised pizza. The dough is classic Neapolitan: chewy, charred in all the right places, and strong enough to hold its own under generous layers of topping.
You could stop there, but you won’t. Not when bomba donuts are on the menu. Plump, sugar-dusted, and filled with your choice of Nutella, dulce de leche, or a scandalously good lemon zabaglione, they demand your attention. And yes, the cocktails pair beautifully with dessert too. (A second Negroni with a Nutella bomba? You’re only human.)
Fast, fun and dangerously tasty – Crust Bros is the perfect pre-show pitstop. You’ll leave full, smug, and only slightly tempted to skip the theatre altogether and stay for another round.
