“WE HAD A little sniff that the space could turn into something really lovely,” says Oliver Milburn of the Covent Garden address that was once a chain restaurant and is now Cora Pearl, one of the hottest new tables in London. Milburn and his pals of 20 years, Tim Steel and Tom Mullion, would seem to know what makes a good room: Their previous restaurant, Kitty Fisher’s, opened in 2014 and, with its cozy interior and wood-fired cooking, quickly started drawing in a steady stream of celebrities, politicians and other notables.
One...