Named after a yellow-hued relative of the blackbird, Oriole has flown its Smithfield nest to alight in Covent Garden, where the award-winning bar is expanding into a restaurant, too, with a side order of entertainment. The pan South American menu will tout nikkei crowd-pleasers alongside creative cooking from Argentine chef Gustavo Giallionardo: lamb rump with huacatay (Peruvian black mint), carrot and yeast sauce, or coconut tres leches cake with fig-leaf sauce, soundtracked by live jazz and cabaret. The bar is likely to remain the star attraction, however, with a “bar lab” mixing up all kinds of crash-bang-wallop cocktail technique in the likes of a Rio Verde Tequila punch designed to share. Diners not in the mood for a full meal can accompany their cocktails (including some on draught) with snacks in the Bamboo Bar upstairs.
New Restaurants in London this August, from Ambassadors Clubhouse to Eat Momo
