Bird of Smithfield is spread across five floors of a Georgian townhouse opposite Smithfield Market – it’s got two bars, a dining room, a private dining space and a roof terrace. With they variety of spaces it’s a great place to have up your sleeve as it suits everything from breakfast to a glass of wine after work to a full night of dinner and drinks.
All budgets are catered for with set, a la carte and tasting menus for dinner and all of them showcase Head Chef’s Tommy Boland’s (Alan Bird, former exec chef at The Ivy and who the place is named after, left in 2016) elegant modern British style. It’s very much classic flavour combos with a gentle twist, so beef tartare got added heat from sriracha mayo and Isle of Orkney scallop and cauliflower was topped with spätzle for texture.
Caramelised pork belly, served with an intense quince puree and delicate cubes of apple was another highlight, as was the Bird version of sticky toffee pudding and vanilla ice cream; rather than a fat pud drowned in sauce, this was a neat rectangle topped with almond and honeycomb for extra crunch, with butterscotch poured on at the table. There’s generous servings with the desserts too – never a bad thing in our books – so make sure you save some room.
[URIS id=102245]Every dish was cooked and plated with confidence, the service was spot on and the restaurant was smart without being stuffy. Bird of Smithfield is out here proving that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to offer a great dining experience.
26 Smithfield St, London EC1A 9LB
birdofsmithfield.com