REVIEW: FIREBIRD, SOHO
- 1 hour ago
- 2 min read
We discover why this unique Mediterranean restaurant is setting the culinary world on fire
Soho’s female-owned Firebird has been setting the culinary world on fire since its first, flame-licked dish in 2022.
We head to the cosy, 45-cover restaurant on Poland Street, which has become one of the capital’s most exciting food destinations, thanks to its inventive, open-fire cooking, natural wine list, and rustic setting.
Like greedy Bisto-kids, we follow the delicious scent of sizzling meats, seafood, charcoal and wood, floating past the hissing beef and pork cuts in the open kitchen, and into the intimate, Mediterranean courtyard-like restaurant of exposed bricks, distressed plaster, foliage and rattan chairs.
We’re served by the extraordinary restaurateur Madina Kazhimova, who co-founded Firebird with Anna Dolgushina, as well as Noisy Oyster bistro - both restaurants champion ingredient led dishes, house-pickling, curing, and fermenting alongside natural and biodynamic wines.
It’s a Sophie’s Choice of a menu, and Madina recommends one to two courses between two, across the menu. Thankfully, her warm guidance makes a difficult choice, much more easy.
We begin with their signature, sourdough potato focaccia, which is pillowy and twinkling with salt flakes. We tear off hunks to scoop up orgasmic baba ganoush, with a deep, rich and smoky flavour from aubergines which are charred over hot charcoal and hung overnight.
We follow this with one of my favourite dishes of the meal, ocean-fresh raw tuna, in a moat of luminous green, citrus ponzu and topped with a cured, deep coral egg yolk.
This is joined by their standout, open-fire pork belly, with firm, crispy crackling, and rich and sweet date molasses, bitter radicchio and nutty fenugreek.
Next up, we share a 500g, beautifully butterflied sea bass, which uses the Japanese ikijime humane slaughter method for optimal meat quality and freshness.
It’s dry aged for texture, flame-grilled skin-down for a deliciously crisp finish and paired with a wonderfully sharp kosho dressing.
Our forks fight over the sides - tender Cornish potatoes with a creamy garlic aioli, and umami-rich broccoli and seaweed with sunflower seed tahini.
The desserts are just as exciting. We share a dark chocolate mousse with fresh strawberries - the crunch of its salt flakes and bitter, fruitiness of the olive oil it is drizzled in, perfectly balances the sweetness.
And we finish with a refreshing and vibrant dessert of fresh cherries, yoghurt Chantilly, and raspberry granita.
The dishes are washed down with inventive cocktails - many are flame-kissed, like my husband’s wonderfully smoky, strawberry mezcal negroni.
We also enjoy a fruity, chilled Merlot, a perfect example of the light-bodied and chillable, low-intervention natural wines which are their speciality.
It’s the sort of meal that comes with a slight sadness when desserts are over, like closing a brilliant book. We didn’t want to leave our cocoon in its cosy womb, and the endless dishes which had lit a flame inside us.
Firebird, 29 Poland St, Soho, London W1F 8QR
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