Hamish Smith headed to Covent Garden for the second coming of Oriole.
After more than 18 months in storage, Edmund Weil and Rosie Stimpson’s Oriole has risen once again.
Now in Covent Garden’s The Yards, this worldly speakeasy picks up the rhythm of its former glories effortlessly, delivering that rare thing – good music and good drinks in the same (boujie) setting.
The night we rolled in – past the upstairs waiting room (the Bamboo Bar) and down those familiar-though-different stairs to our stage-side table, the place, styled in its signature tropical-chic decor, was in full swing.
The lighting and sound levels were tuned with the same precision as a musical instrument and, when they land, the flamboyantly fashioned Oriole drinks all fall into the range of good-to-delicious.
Try the Saraburi Punch with Macallan, mango yoghurt, pandan cream, brown rice syrup. While you’re there, dig into he restaurant-level grazing.
Oriole’s not cheap, but the experience reminds you what a good night out looks like – and what, in its absence, we’ve been missing.
SCORE: 9/10
» 7-9 Slingsby Place, London WC2E 9AB