Perched high above the capital with views out over the City, Aviary is on the 10th floor of the brand new Montcalm Royal London House Hotel, bordering the City and Shoreditch on Finsbury Square.
Floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides flood the room with daylight and provide views towards London’s East villages to one side and the City’s skyscrapers on the other.
A grand central bar with intricate brass and timber details divides the restaurant area from the bar lounge. The area has been furnished with a mix of seating from louche sofas to dining chairs to banquettes in suede and leather.
Aviary’s grand roof terrace, arguably the largest in London, has plenty of heat lamps and fire pits for winter and the south facing spot is perfect for soaking up some sun come summer.
A cast iron Bertha coal oven takes centre stage, cooking British meat sourced from small livestock farmers including White Park cattle from Dorset, Longhorn cows from the Lake District and wild fish responsibly sourced from south coast day boats and British fishing ports, wherever possible.
Sample dishes include:
Cured Chalk Stream trout with taramasalata, celeriac, apple and rye; beef tartare with oyster dressing, shallots and radish, Kombu marinated pork with brown shrimp cocktail, Sutton Hoo chicken, bulgar, quail egg and caviar and beetroot with goat’s cheese, blackberries, walnuts and truffle.
The coal oven offers prime meat cuts and wild fish on the bone cooked over live charcoal with daily changing’butchers cut’, retired dairy cow sirloin on the bone or larger cuts to share such as the Ayrshire rose veal T-bone (950g), Old Spot double chop (900g) or Shorthorn chateaubriand (500g). Plus skate, monkfish, lemon sole or line-caught wild bass for two.
Sides include flower sprouts and bacon; honey and cumin glazed carrots, thrice-cooked chips while desserts offer After Eight Arctic roll; milk chocolate mousse with salted caramel, almonds and malt ice cream; and sticky toffee pudding, spiced apple, vanilla ice cream and tonka crumble.
Opening hours
Monday – Saturday: 7am – midnight
Sunday: 7am – 11pm
10th Floor Montcalm Royal London House Hotel,
22-25 Finsbury Square, London, EC2A 1DX