Oriole, the popular and award-winning speakeasy which was forced to close in 2022 owing to the redevelopment of Smithfields Market, is set to make a return to London this spring.
It will begin as a three-month pop-up, the aptly-named Prelude by Oriole, opening on Slingsby Street on Wednesday March 13. This will serve as a precursor to the grand reopening of Oriole's second iteration in a permanent location within The Yards in Covent Garden, which will follow in the summer.
Prelude will take its form as a blend of a bar and restaurant, and what they’re calling an “innovation space”, which might be taken to mean somewhere for bartenders to experiment with new recipes. A brand-new list of cocktails is expected, alongside an à la carte dining menu.
Argentine head chef Gustavo Giallionardo is looking after the food, with a menu that fuses Latin American ingredients with global cooking styles, including influences from Nikkei and Argentine-Italian cuisines. In practice, this means the combination of ingredients like huitlacoche (corn smut; a Mexican delicacy), Peruvian ají amarillo (yellow pepper), koji, and matcha. Dishes being highlighted ahead of opening include an oyster served in Amarillo Leche de Tigre; a scallop with edamame agua chile, kiwi and seaweed; and duck with orange mole, beetroot, pickles, and dukkah. There will also be a beef tartare sando.
The drinks menu, meanwhile, has been put together by bar manager Samet Ali. Cocktails will include the Mizuwari (whisky washed with chocolate miso, asparagus distillate, amontillado sherry, green walnut vermouth and cold brewed Hojoicha tea) and the Aomori (rum, oak-aged quince rakia, meadow vermouth, Fuji apple juice and cherry blossom vinegar). Fans of the original Oriole will also be able to orders a number of its signature cocktails, including the Acadia, which was a whisky sour inspired by a peanut butter and “jelly” (jam) sandwich.
The pop-up seems to be something of a test-run for the permanent Oriole, which will open shortly after the pop-up pops down. The 34-cover restaurant and bar sounds is described as a “sleek and sultry space” in the PR puff, with low lighting, banquette seating, and regular live jazz.
Edmund Weil, director of Speakeasy Entertainment, who are behind the opening, said of the project: “After leaving Smithfield in 2023, we always planned to revive Oriole with our top employees as operating partners.
“Finding a new home has proved a long journey, but we are delighted to have settled in within The Yards at the heart of Covent Garden and one of the most happening locations in London.”
For cocktail lovers, the opening is something of an exciting one, given the acclaim Oriole once enjoyed. After opening in 2015, it was named Best New International Cocktail Bar at the Spirited Awards in 2016, and from then until closure was often name-checked as one of London’s top bars.
