On Soho’s Poland Street in the site that was once home to Corazón, Firebird will serve largely European dishes with a focus on pickling, fermenting and curing as well as cooking over both charcoal and wood in a fully-open kitchen.
Opening in late spring, the restaurant looks to be a major departure from the pair’s irreverent Wong Kar Wine flagship in St Petersburg, which serves modern Thai cuisine.
As with Wong Kar Wine, wines will be curated by sommelier Dolgushina who typically works with small-scale producers who ‘operate in the low-intervention sphere’.
But in another departure from the duo’s flagship cocktails will be placed on equal billing to the wine with eight to 10 available to be paired throughout the meal.
The cocktails will reference the food menu to some extent using flame-cooked ingredients. Examples include gooseberry and thyme gimlet with kombucha; and toasted white sesame sour.
Meals will start with a selection of home-made salamis, bresaola and lardo as well as traditional rye malt bread served with dill butter.
Starters will include chicken liver pate éclair topped with puffed raisins and walnut; and raw seabass with fermented fennel and charred pineapple vinaigrette.
Mains, meanwhile, will include the likes of roasted duck breast with plum chutney and burnt plums as well as rump steak accompanied with burnt onions, smoked bone marrow and sorrel herb salad.
Firebird will seat 46 covers, to include a dining room and one bar counter and one kitchen counter which will be positioned around the flame-cooking.
The space will be inspired by a 'modern Mediterranean mood' with shadows and reflections used to 'recreate memories of afternoons spent in courtyards on the continent, underneath olive trees sharing in food and drink with friends'.
Design details will include terracotta floors, exposed brick, wooden beams entwined with foliage, stainless steel countertops, wooden and rattan chairs an floor to ceiling natural fabric.