For those who’ve felt the loss of Oriole since it was forced to close its doors in 2022, this award-winning cocktail bar is back, restored to all its former glory. The addition of the unassuming top-floor Bamboo Bar might not initially feel like something from the team behind Nightjar and Swift, but descend below street level, and Oriole fully reclaims its speakeasy vibe.
The space feels tailor-made for whiling away a couple of hours over innovative cocktails and live music: murmurs of conversations are drowned out by soulful jazz standards, and we settle into an intimate, cosy table, where the moody ambience is punctuated by soft tabletop lamps.
In a city teeming with cocktail bars, you don’t have to search too hard for a decent tipple, but Oriole’s magic comes in its storytelling. A leatherbound menu spans pages, but offers just 15 drinks, taking you on a tour of the continents with drinks from the Old World, the New, and the Orient. The decor leans into this sense of exploration; artefacts that seem plucked from a museum, murals of distant landscapes completing the illusion.
We start in the New World with a Rio Verde - a vibrant mix of tequila, peach, watermelon, and tamarillo. It’s fresh and fruity, garnished with mint, star fruit, and berries that aren’t just there for aesthetics. Every drink arrives with tips on how to enhance each sip. Nowhere is this more evident than in a playful Saraburi Punch which arrives in a novelty ice-cream glass and adds a spoon of pandan cream to the experience.
Despite the focus on drinks, the food at Oriole holds its own. A reasonably priced set menu covers ‘dinner and show’ with broad South American flavours. Cheesy corn chipa buns are rich, salty and incredibly moreish, and the sea bass ceviche that follows is a standout, bringing the tender fish to life with a rapier-sharp leche de tigre. Sweet potato puree and charred corn offer a balancing sweetness.
A trout fillet arrives with celeriac and cauliflower puree, bathed in beurre blanc and topped with roe. It’s perhaps lacking some crunch, but the flavours make up for it, the bitter celeriac cutting through the delicate fish, with sweet onions marrying the dish together.
Dinner and live entertainment in the capital comes at a cost, but we’d argue that Oriole’s £60 menu, which even includes your first cocktail, is an absolute steal.