What: A large cocktail bar, restaurant and live music venue in Covent Garden’s The Yards development. Oriole initially launched as a cocktail bar in Clerkenwell in 2016 but closed in 2022 due to the redevelopment of Smithfield Market. Oriole returned in the form of a three-month pop up this summer called Prelude by Oriole that was used to trial the new Oriole concept, which sees food and cocktails placed on an equal footing.
Who: Oriole is the latest project from Edmund Weil and Rosie Stimpson’s Speakeasy Entertainment, which is behind highly-rated London cocktail bars Bar Swift and Nightjar. The project is being led by Argentine-born chef Gustavo Giallonardo, front of house director and GM Jacopo Correnti and bar director Samet Ali.
The food: Giallonardo has drawn on his heritage to create a menu that is probably best described as Latin American fusion drawing on everything from Nikkei (Peruvian-Japanese), Argentine-Italian and regional Mexican cuisine. Oriole’s tight three-course menu includes hamachi tiradito with kimchi aguachile; delica pumpkin with green curry ice cream, peanut sambal and tamarind; chicken with soft arepa, mushrooms and mole velouté; and coconut tres leches with fig leaf sauce and coconut sorbet. Starters range from £11 to £13 and mains are all in the early twenties save a £40 steak dish. A three-course dinner and a show menu that also includes a corn chipa cheese bun is available for £60.
To drink: Ali has developed a new cocktail menu for Oriole’s main basement space that takes its inspiration from the venue’s namesake adventure-seeking bird. Split into Europe and Africa; The Americas; and Asia. Drinks include the Finca Filadelfia (a ‘complex, full-bodied’ take on an espresso martini with Eminente rum, Del Maguey Vida mezcal, cascara vermouth, chamomile liqueur, espresso and coconut horchata foam); and the Saraburi Punch (Macallan 12 Year Old Double Cask, mango yoghurt, pandan cream, brown rice syrup). The upstairs Bamboo Bar carries a different cocktail menu that places the emphasis on draught cocktails.
The vibe: Located on Slingsby Place, the two-story venue has been designed in collaboration with Daytrip Studio to create a similar look and feel to the original Oriole in Smithfield. Design details downstairs include woven bamboo ceiling panels; a tropical wall mural; and cabinets filled with various curiosities that fit with the cocktail menu’s globe trotting theme. As with the original Oriole, dinners are soundtracked by live jazz, cabaret and world music, with diners able to book the show in advance. Upstairs, the Bamboo Bar takes inspiration from classicism, with cherry red and timber banquettes set around a centrepiece bar made from Brazilian quartzite.
And another thing: Oriole is one of a number of recent examples of experienced cocktail operators going big on food. Other examples include London’s Three Sheets, Sheffield’s Bench and the Manchester-based Schofield brother’s with (the now closed) Stock Market Grill.
7-9 Slingsby Place, London WC2E 9AB