Wings of desire

Ex-Ivy chef Alan Bird’s hip new restaurant and bar in Smithfield

Where does a chef take his knives after 18 and a half years heading up the kitchen at The Ivy?  Hip Smithfield, it turns out. Here, on Monday May 6, chef Alan Bird launches his five-storey Georgian townhouse, Bird of Smithfield, a dawn-till-dark dining and drinking establishment.

The breakfast, lunch and dinner menus are big on British ingredients and innovation, with dishes such as Temple Guiting soused vegetable salad with crispy, soft-centred Burford brown egg; Torbay slip soles, mace-spiced brown shrimps with sea beet and sea purslane; and Blythburgh pork belly and Welsh cockles served with ransoms and samphire

But Bird has also scored a modern first by being the first UK establishment to serve British caviar sourced from, somewhat surprisingly, north Devon. “Never before has caviar been produced in British waters,” enthuses Bird. But it’s all part of his plan. “It aligns perfectly with our efforts to work with the very best specialist producers from around the UK.” Indeed, the caviar producers use a freshwater system fed by a spring in Exmoor National Park. And with the controversy of overexploitation of caviar abroad, this is a sustainable British coup.

Bird’s aim for his near-namesake townhouse is to be “a home away from home”, with the feel of a private members’ club but without the screening rituals, not to mention the membership fees.

From the Birdcage basement bar that rocks a nightclub feel with regular live music and a specially designed cocktail list, up via the private dining room (pictured) to the roof terrace overlooking the listed towers of Smithfield Market, the aim is to cater for every mood. It is a bold project, but for this Bird is known; after all, he is the chef who, while overseeing the menu at The Dean Street Townhouse, helped reclaim classics such as mince and potatoes, and calves’ liver, bacon and onion from the stuff of boarding-school nightmares back to the realms of delicacies.

The interior design is playful, the entrance bright and dynamic with fabrics and tonal colours inspired by what is described as an Hermès palette (“We were inspired by the 1960s handbags; the muted lime greens and reds, with greys and creams,” says the designer). Meanwhile, the dining room is decked in Holland & Sherry tweed and herringbone fabrics, a nod to the Huguenot weaving skills bought to the area in the late 17th century. And throughout an eclectic mix of antiques and vintage styling ensures that each of the four rooms retains a distinct identity.

All ingredients, surely, that’ll make Bird of Smithfield soar.