Dust off your best suit, iron that little black dress, and grab the nicest pair of shoes you can dance in – because Oriole is back.
For those unfamiliar, it was not only one of the best bars in London, but on planet earth too (coming in at no.17 on the 50 best bars list) where you could drink ridiculously tasty cocktails in an eclectically beautiful subterranean space, while tapping your toes to the sound of live swing, jazz & blues every night. That is, until fate came along and rammed a stick into the ol’ bicycle spokes, and it was forced to close on account of redevelopment.
Well now – as you might have guessed from the spoiler in the first line – it’s made its triumphant return, and this time it has a fully-fledged food menu too.
This is all hot on the heels of their pop up, Prelude, in which the show runners were able to road-test their ideas for the new place (notably the restaurant element). Oriole 2.0 is now open almost directly opposite, in fact, in a two-story space in Covent Garden’s fancy new Slingsby Place development, where it sits next to Dishoom and Lahpet.
Upstairs you’ll find a more casual bar space (the Bamboo Bar) where you can dive into a menu of aperitivo-style cocktails from a centrepiece bar made from Brazilian quartzite. Then, if you follow the mellifluous sound of music down the stairs, you’ll find a plush basement space reminiscent of the original speakeasy, boasting walls lined with their signature collection of peculiar artefacts, all colluding to evoke the glamour of the bygone era of exploration. It’s like the British Museum was laced with booze and shaken into a glass.
Eleonora Boscarelli
The drinks still continue Oriole’s proud tradition of both being completely delicious and taking you on a menu-based tour of the planet. You’ll be able to get a very drinkable Mizuwari (which combines 12-year-old Highland Park whisky washed with chocolate miso with sake and cold brewed Hojoicha tea) as well as a Chinca Alta (Pisco, absinthe, and apple marigold cordial), and the classic Acadia, which is somewhere between a whisky sour and a peanut butter & jelly sandwich, and which took pride of place on their original bar menu. It’s also worth pointing out that the team will, for the first time, have their very own bar lab to experiment with too, meaning we can expect some rather interesting new menu-fillers to join them in good time.
David Robson
As for the food? After an outstanding job at Prelude, Argentine head chef Gustavo Giallonardo is back manning the pans here too. He’ll be cooking up the likes of hamachi tiradito with kimchi aguachile; lamb rump with spring greens, huacatay (Peruvian black mint), carrot and yeast sauce; sea trout with Torrontés beurre blanc, trout roe & daikon fondant; and a coconut tres leches with fig leaf sauce & and coconut sorbet.
And finally there’s the music. As with the original Oriole, there’ll be a live show every night, with the likes of jazz, cabaret, and world music all filling the stage.
Like we said, dancing shoes.
NOTE: Oriole is open now. You can find out more, and make a reservation, on the Oriole website.
PREVIOUS PERK: Nudge Members (+3) enjoyed an extended secret soft launch, with 40% off the bill from 21st August to 7th September. Don’t miss the next one: sign up for a free 7 day trial.
Oriole | 7-9 Slingsby Place, WC2E 9AB
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