Real gem, tucked away round the back of Barbican Station in quiet lane. Really friendly welcome and great food. They even adapted some of the dishes for the vegetarian in our group, for example dropping the chicken from the blue corn tostada and the chorizo from the girolle mushrooms with apricots and roasted almonds (looked like added chanterelle as well). The steak was seriously good as you might expect on the edge of Smithfield, and the black rice with cardamom which came with the cod was singled out by all of us as very special indeed.
The setting felt extremely relaxed and comfortable - not stuffy, but clearly a lot of effort had gone into the room. And, major plus point for me: we could hear each other speak. This was not some echoing minimalist noise box.
All in all a great evening for food and conversation. Brilliant!
This place was really lovely, the food was delicious and the location is amazing, just a couple streets from Barbican or Farringdon.
The owner was very patient with us, as we were 6 of us and we couldn’t decide what to eat or drink, and he kindly suggested options and waited for us to decide. The food came quickly and was delicious!
The broccoli salad and the fish cake were my favourites.
We had a great time on our recent trip to London and Bowling Bird was one of the reasons why. There was not a single thing on the menu that didn’t look great, the ravioli was top notch. And the deserts, we could’ve had seconds. One of the greatest parts was a team that cared, from the waitress to the management- everyone was great. The most disappointing thing was that we didn’t get to visit twice. Highly recommend!
Genuinely fantastic. Amazing to find such a quaint place so central. Best steak I have had in a long time, great, personable service and amazing wine. Desert also awesome! Thank you!
Beautiful food, great wine list, gorgeous quiet City setting, brilliant service. This is my favourite London restaurant. John who owns it is a legend; good fun and down to earth, always makes time to chat.
Truly a five star experience.
Christopher Morphy-Godber
+5
This is my favourite restaurant in London, tucked away on Cloth Fair just behind Smithfield market. A small, comfortable set of dining rooms; it feels like you're sitting in an old friend's house rather than a restaurant. Now that CrossRail is here you are, at most, two minutes walk away from the tube and yet it feels like you're on a pleasant street in Oxford or York. A lovely refuge from the bustle of the city around.
The meat is uniformly excellent - the wine and beer selections extensive, unusual and delicious. The service and ambiance are incredibly relaxed and just 'nice'. You feel like you could sit and chat all evening, no bother.
I really can't recommend it enough. Give them a call to let them know you're coming.
Delicious food, the meat was so tasty. Food made with love. The fish cake was fantastic the best I have ever had
Delicious food - especially the scallops. Manager host in charge was completely lovely, friendly, warm and welcoming. This is expertise. So glad to have visited, delightful evening and splendid food and wine. Oh, and the sides were no afterthought - they were superb.
Fantastic meal. Lovely service with a really friendly waiter who made sure we had our two courses before we had to leave for a show. We all had scallops to start, really beautiful with black pudding pieces too. For mains we had each beef fillet, ragu, and risotto. We all finished the whole lot. The dishes were beautifully and tasty but unfussy and also not expensive. Would definitely recommend. I’ll be going again and taking more friends!
Hidden gem. We had 3 courses and glass of wine each, £45pp inc service. Ragu pasta was so tasty, scallops and prawns cooked perfectly and a really light sponge for sticky toffee pudding. Excellent wine menu and great quality at the cheap end! It's really quiet at the moment so felt very covid safe. Really attentive staff.
We had an amazing meal at this lovely restaurant to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. The food was absolutely incredible and all made to order. Even "simple" things like the potato wedges I had to go with my veal (mouthwatering good) were the best I've ever had, all the vegetables cooked to perfection. A lot of care obviously went into the food. They had a larger group in the restaurant but we couldn't hear them at all from where we were sat in the area near the front door, as the seating areas are sort of divided up, so it didn't feel busy. It had a lovely ambiance, the well-chosen background music was at exactly the right volume, the wine selection was fantastic, the service was great, everyone was friendly. But most importantly for a restaurant - the food was incredible!
Some excellent food, nicely served to us by the front-of-house. It's not badly priced for higher-end food in this area of London either - it's still not cheap, but compared to some of its neighbours it's good value. I really liked the vegetarian options, including a great mushroom risotto, so I'd say it's a decent stop for my fellow veggies. I'll be going again.
My go to place when I get home after a trip. Simple, great, local neighbourhood restaurant. And an impressive wine list
We had such a wonderful meal at The Bowling Bird: the tostada was incredible, like nothing I've tasted before - crunchy with the most amazing flavours on top . The octopus was equally packed with flavour and perfectly cooked. We were also blown away by the steak for the main course, which really was melt in the mouth, an excellent cut. I would definitely recommend The Bowling Bird if you want fresh and punchy flavours in a gorgeous and sophisticated setting. Really friendly too!
2nd visit in as many months. Wonderful uncomplicated restaurant that is about the food and the wine.... Service is impeccable and I love that the chef gets to sit and chat about his creations.
Hidden gem, superb food and wine, independently ran so has the extra attention to detail. I had the scallops and steak, both were cooked to perfection. Well worth the visit
Fantastic food, great service, lovely atmosphere. We ate at Bowling Bird last night and had some of the best food I've had in a long time. The starters were beautifully prepared, clever dishes. We had Crostini and King Prawns, but the star of the show was definitely the Blue Corn Tostada.
For main course, our Cote de Boeuf, Cod and Tagliatelle were all perfectly cooked and delicious.
If you've room for desert, the Creme Brule is excellent!
Great food, great service, great night.
we stumbled upon this little gem and decided to give it a try, and now I cant wait to return! We ordered a steak to share and some sides to share. The steak was melt in your mouth and the octopus is a must try. Great service too.
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