Rooftop bar alert! Aviary is a bar-restaurant with a roomy open-air terrace at Finsbury Square’s Montcalm Hotel. Perched ten floors up, it’s got a killer panoramic view, and is already hugely popular with the post-work crowd. Colleagues cuddle up on modernist furniture under blankets and heaters, and work their way through spritzes and champagne cocktails way past sunset.
The indoor restaurant features out-there geometric-patterned furniture, jungle leaves jutting from light fittings and a menu that screams ‘elevated gastropub’. This included a well-seasoned flat-iron steak with thrice-cooked chips – plus ‘Hodson’s sauce’, a peculiar Marmite-infused béarnaise – and a City-sized burger. Starters and desserts were more creative: think crispy duck noodle salad with a soft-poached duck egg on top and an arctic roll designed to taste just like After Eights. Which actually really does work.
Table-turning was about as subtle as the decor, though. We waited for large chunks of time to be served on a busy evening and, as such, ran over our allotted two-hour slot. Our forks had barely met the plate when a bill was presented, and immediately after paying we were told that the table was needed back promptly. We get it guys, this rooftop brings all the boys to the yard.