If there was one thing Bluebird Chelsea have spot on, it’s their interiors. It’s just gorgeous in here! A sultry looking cocktail bar at the centre, an art deco seating area to sip them in and a restaurant which feels more like a tropical rainforest. All housed inside a converted former garage which was built for the Bluebird Motor Company back in 1923.
Bluebird has a few different areas to it, all separated from each other – but all very much connected. A casual all-day cafe, ever popular courtyard which always has something going on and a restaurant/bar upstairs where we were spending our evening. Have a drink at the bar first and ask for a table by the window for a spot of people watching on the King’s Road. You’ll have a lot of fun here.
Cocktails are delicious we discovered, so make sure you come early and very thirsty. I ordered one of my favourites, Negroni – but Bluebird gave it their own twist. The Wake Up Negroni on the menu is a signature and is made up of cacao infused Tanqueray, Amaro di Angostura and coffee beans infused with Campari. A little sweet from the chocolate, this would also be a great after dinner drink to replace my usual espresso martini. Just as good and an off menu request was the Perfect Manhattan. A cocktail which is always hard to get just right, but they did it perfectly.
As we looked over the menus some bread arrived and it was very good. I really didn’t expect anything of it visually, but before our starters arrived we somehow managed to get through it all. Price wise and for Chelsea I also thought the menu here was very reasonably priced, with main courses rarely going over £30.
To start we tucked into two different tartare’s. A classic steak tartare with quail’s egg and beef dripping toast which was very good, but let down by the beef dripping toast which we felt was just dry and stale in texture. Better still and perhaps my favourite dish from the evening was the yellowfin tuna tartare with avocado, jalapeño and rice crackers. The tuna was soft, had a touch of heat from the chilli peppers and those rice crackers were incredibly addictive. Perfect for scooping it all up with.
For mains, a native half lobster with spaghetti, chilli, spring onion and parsley. The lobster was well-cooked and seasoned (if not a little small), but the spaghetti with an almost noodle like texture to it really worked great, with a rich and extremely tasty sauce smothering it all.
We did love the lobster a lot, but we enjoyed the roast Iberico pork cutlet even more so. My camera really struggled to capture this dish which was a shame, but I can assure you it’s well worth ordering. The pork was incredibly tender and it came served on a stew of braised coco beans, chorizo and black cabbage. Rich and hearty, this was the perfect Winter warming dish on an almost zero degree evening.
I really struggled to pick a dessert here as it’s my favourite part of the meal and they all sounded so good. So thankfully our friendly waiter decided for me and I’m glad he did. What looked more like a cupcake, this was a hard chocolate shell, filled with a layered tiramisu filling and touch of gold leaf for a little Chelsea luxury. It was fantastic. The other half tucked into a selection of British cheeses and the ones I got to try myself I thoroughly enjoyed. Perhaps in the future a little chutney on the side wouldn’t go amiss.
I last visited Bluebird Chelsea back in 2013 and admittedly I wasn’t its biggest fan, but I’m so glad we finally returned all these years later as after eating here this time around, I now want to make this my local once again (especially as we live opposite). It looks fantastic inside, the cocktails are worth stopping for alone and the food is much better than I ever remember it. Perhaps we have the restaurants newest head chef Harvey Ayliffe and a relatively recent refurbishment to thank. Would we come back? Absolutely!
You had me at the yellowfin tuna tartare and that cheese board!