Bird of Smithfield

I booked The Feast on London 4 course tasting menu for my partners birthday. Wish I had chosen somewhere else as really failed to live up to our expectations. We had to ask for the tasting menu as they didnt have a note of this on our booking. It didn't start well as we were served our first course, which I asked them to hold, as we hadn't had our gin fizz cocktail. We had to wait a total of 25 minutes until our drinks arrived! A tasting menu is supposed to showcase the restaurants' food but with the first three dishes all having peas as a main ingredient it was beyond a joke. The relief was that the rhubarb dessert didn't have any peas! After the main lamb dish (with peas) a member of waiting staff asked if we were enjoying our meal. I said it was ok and when we commented on the peas with every course they were clearly disinterested. Don't ask if you don't want an honest answer! Overall the meal was just seriously mediocre and certainly wouldn't recommend it when there are other better choices on your doorstep around this area.

I booked this table for my boss and his client, they took one look at the menu in the restaurant and both decided to eat in the bar, where the food was verygood but a lot cheaper. His comment was that for lunch the restaurant was too expensive.

Good for business lunches. Nice atmosphere and good food. Cater well for vegetarians and vegans.

Let’s face it, Smithfield Market is a fairly uninspiring location, ugly buildings and somewhat a no-man’s land, not quite in the City-proper or in funky Shoreditch. Yet, there is an established hub of good eating options around here and Alan Bird’s eponymous restaurant is a broadly welcome addition. The building in which it is housed, on the south side of the market, has been completely refitted since the previous occupant’s time and both the exterior Georgian façade and the interior, decked out in a high modernist style (1920s and 1930s mirrors, light fittings and stunningly beautiful original art work) impress. The somewhat decadent mood is also enhanced by the upbeat jazz music that reverberates through the whole building. The dining room is on the first floor, but there is also the option of a bar with a lighter menu available via a separate entrance on the ground floor and a roof-top terrace for warmer times. Bird’s menu pays homage not only to his training at The Ivy, but also to the proximity of the local meat market, and comes across as traditional English with a slightly modern twist. We liked the touch of a whole and still-warm loaf brought to our table before ordering and the food only got better from there. Both my eel starter with mackerel tartare and my main of slow-cooked pork belly with braised cheeks were beautifully presented and the tastes could be described almost as sensuous and melt-in-the-mouth lovely. My two comrades were equally impressed with their options, in particular the chef’s ‘posh’ Shepherd’s Pie. However, prices are not cheap, even in a London context, with no starters available below £10 and the most dear main (a halibut fillet) peaking-out at £30, although this was somewhat offset by a more competitive wine list. The list tended to border on the traditional, but there were some more interesting options available from the US in particular, and we enjoyed our bottle of Fleurie, priced around £30. Service was good but by no means stand-out. As we left, I wondered why the place was only half-full: maybe the location, or perhaps the pouring rain (but then, we had booked in advance), or even the prices. On food, Bird certainly deserves to prosper, but whether it will endure in London’s market of already crowded dining options remains to be seen.

Been to Bird of Smithfield on numerous occasions. I have yet to have a bad meal. The food is excellent, the cocktails are great and the building is interesting/chic. Set over 4 floors, each area is different but fantastic in their own way. The Ground floor is perfect for a light snack (the burgers is insane) The basement is a bar/club area The 1st floor is more formal food (traditional british dining with an Alan Bird twist) The 2nd floor is a stylish private area…perfect for corporate events/birthday parties The top floor is a unique open terrace. (great spot for drinks in the spring/summer months) LG: Bar G: Casual dining/cocktails 1st: Formal dining 2nd: Private dining 3rd: Roof terrace It's worth a visit

Bird of Smithfield is in a townhouse just off the market. I can’t comment on all of its 5 floors though since I only set foot on a couple. The rooftop was disappointingly closed for a function and we didn’t stay late enough for the basement bar, which I have a feeling wasn’t open anyway. I only saw the lounge on the ground floor and the restaurant. The lounge was fine, a bit beige. I don’t know what colour it actually was but it felt beige. Even with lots of people having after work drinks, it was just a bit bland. Not a vast cocktail menu but my Greyhound was unusual. The sweetness of the vanilla takes away some of the bitterness of the grapefruit but not too much so it’s not sickly sweet – best of both worlds, tart but not the kind that makes you purse your mouth. The restaurant on the first floor proved more welcoming the lounge bar, though we did have a tiny table which was almost immediately taken over by some of the crumbliest bread I’ve ever had. I’m going to skip over the starters since they hardly made any impression; maybe that was the wine, maybe it was the catch up chat, maybe they weren’t that memorable. For anyone interested, I had the Dorset crab with a sort of avocado sauce and S had the scallops. They were both nice. The menu main courses were a bit of a minefield as they seemed to have tapped into the food I just don’t like and then placed one or two of them in several dishes. The duck was out since it came with beetroot which I hate. (S chose the duck and I was right to avoid it; big pieces of beetroot on the plate. He really liked it though). Tarragon dumplings came with aubergine, which I also don’t like and I’m not a lover of fried fish so goodbye to the cod and the trout both. It sounds onerous but luckily the pork belly was tender and juicy, with a crackling crust, accompanied by mash and only a few apples (let’s not overpower the meat with a fruit salad); a good combination of flavours and no great slabs of protein. Dessert was citrus milk pudding with grapefruit but so creamy and light and not overly sharp. S bizarrely eschewed his usual chocolate fix in favour of the Bakewell tart, a little too heavy for me. My tea obsession was nicely satisfied with the Jasmine Silver Needle – like ordinary Jasmine tea but with a warmer taste which had nothing to do with the temperature of the tea. A fun evening, mostly due to the company, but Bird of Smithfield isn’t doing anything better or any worse than similar places in London so it hasn’t given me any real incentive to return and sample it again.

We went on a Tuesday early evening so I wasn't expecting buzzing atmosphere. The place is pretty, grown up and quite civilised, jazzy music playing in the background. Even though we were late for our table, they asked if we wanted to get a drink at the bar first, which we refused (in retrospect that was a good move as they needed the table back for 8.30pm) and we were lead upstairs to the restaurant. Being only 6.30pm, it was empty but for the waiters. The menu reads well, it's Brit but not very exciting. The wine by the glass selection is a bit short. As we waited for our starters, we were given a wonderful loaf of bread to share and a disc of butter but no plate. Now I don't mind it much but I got used to it in other restaurants and it felt a bit strange to use my starter knife to butter my bread whilst spreading crumbs all over the table. However tasty it was. My started of asparagus and hollandaise sauce was truly morish and came sprinkled with flowers. I could have ordered another one to make it my main. The warm hollandaise was light and creamy and full of flavour. The Pork belly and cockles main looked amazing but, to my taste, was lacking in salt and maybe in flavour a little. A couldn't get any “sea” taste. desserts looked pretty, again sprinkled with flowers. All together it was a nice meal, maybe a pleasant place where to focus more on the conversation than on the food. Ps : No one came to clear our table of crumbs and I wouldn't have expected any different if we had had plates coming with the bread.