The Ape & Bird

Lovely place, very rustic. Friendly staff. Great service. Allergy menu available. Went here on a Monday for an early dinner and it was very quiet.
I had the pork belly and it was awesome. Very tender with So. Crispy. Crackling, I wish there were more. The sauce is also great. Goes well with the fennel sallad. My partner had the beef salad and was more than satisfied. This is not one of those bistros where you get a small portion. Just warning you. Best recommendations.

Awesome bar and restaurant. L’Ape is the best drink there. Tapas are very tasty and the rabbit is specially good. Don’t miss it if you are at Covent Garden.

Great atmosphere here for a few drinks and lovely bar snacks.
They serve a range of interesting beers along side the classics and I’ve heard their cocktails are really good too.
The bar has a nice quirky feel to it with loads of cool areas to sit or perch in.
I’ve had the courgette fries here a couple times and still dream about them. Simply divine!

I wish Unilocal would let me give Ape & Bird six stars. I’ve eaten at all kinds of places on several continents and I must say, whether or not you like pizza, if you eat here you will enjoy some of the finest bites you’ve ever put in your mouth. From the appetizers, to the pizza and, finally, the EPIC desserts, you will not be disappointed, I promise. The only thing I are that could be considered «average» would be the pig head crostini; it was really good but not amazing. Everything else though, like the pork shoulder and pickled pepper (jalapeño) pizza was to die for…

Could a British pub/​café get any better? Not in my opinion. Having seen reviews and reading in Zagat about this place, we went And we are very glad we did! They were so delightful and the food was so good that we went back a few more times since it was so convenient as well. Delicious chips and the best I’ve had in a very long time. Really nice whole plaice and a pretty darn good burger. All this with a smile and genuine kindness from the entire staff. Well done Ape and Bird… glad to find you.

I’ve been meaning to try the Ape & Bird for a while and I think it’s one of those place you see all the time, walk by, and somehow never find yourself in. Sad too, because it’s wonderful.
I haven’t even tried all of it yet actually, since I bypassed the main part (the one with food) and went right to the side entrance (the one with drinks). And this part is very, very good.
There’s an upstairs area with comfortable seating and cheapish drinks (I got a cider for about £5, which is pretty good for the touristy area and it was a big cider). The staff is friendly, they work fast, and it’s a lovely spot just to sit and chill with a friend for a while.
There is also a somewhat secret downstairs that you kind of have to know about to know it’s there (It’s not well labelled, if labelled at all) and this is the cocktail portion of Ape & Bird. Dark, speakeasy-​esq, loud with the clatter of conversation and music, it’s targeting a certain crowd for sure (and that crowd was me, so I loved it.) There was only one bartender working behind the bar but somehow he managed to serve everyone, which was pretty fantastic, and he even made me a drink with their home-​made Earl Gray gin that was excellent.
Overall, a solid spot and one I’d come back to again… you know, and not just walk by. Maybe even for food next time.

Good for an after the play drink. They didn’t have a happy hour like many of the other pubs in the area. However, if you want a real pub experience you can’t miss this little pub. The people were great and the beer was cold.

I absolutely love this bar. The décor of the place is very industrial and vintagey feel… almost steampunky-ish…if that is a word.
The gin & tonics here are delicious and they have a great beer list. Love this place! I can’t wait to come back!

A not so new place I wanted to visit for a while and lucky me, yesterday was the day. As always, reviews were read and people were spoken too. Overall I was slightly apprehensive but also a bit excited too.
Some people take this review business too seriously and need to lighten up. Ape and Bird is decent food and won’t make you feel stuffed and instead will satisfy your taste buds. I ordered potted duck and caramelised onions to start with and for main (picture above) roast cod and veg with a lovely jus. The fish just flaked off the skin and was nice and soft. It’s not the best cod ever but I enjoyed it. The potted duck to start with was generous in its portion and very delicious. Starter and mains at £25 each including service isn’t all that bad. I won’t rush to come back but the venue was very nice on Shaftesbury avenue and would be a good place for drinks with friends.

After watching a few episodes of the BBC documentary The Restaurant Man starring Russell Norman as know-​it-​all type, I thought I should check out one of his latest restaurants, The Ape & Bird on Shaftesbury Avenue.
This place is bigger than it seems, besides the ground floor, there is a nice, airy and a little bit arty room upstairs and a cool bar downstairs.
After I arrived, it first looked as if I would get a table on the ground floor, but then they offered me to go up, so I went and I was happy with that decision. Downstairs it was busy and actually quite hot, upstairs it was quieter and more relaxed. The interior is well within the general industrial design trend that characterises many recent openings in London.
The service was not always very fast, but always very friendly. I liked that they offered to bring water without the need to ask for it. Just a little detail, but something that makes a difference and sets them apart from other places.
The wine list looked really good, and after going through the options, I decided once again to go for a Picpoul de Pinet — one of my favourite white wines at the moment.
I enjoyed the soft white bread that I got right after I had ordered my main course.
It took like forever, and they kindly apologised for the wait, but eventually my cheeseburger and my potato skins and rosemary arrived. The burger was excellent, juicy, full of flavour, not too messy and the tasty golden cheese reminded me of the Patty & Bun burgers.
Following the recommendation of my waitress, I had ordered the potato skins and not the chips. It was a great choice, the potato skins with rosemary were delicious, crunchy and something different.
Unfortunately, I was running a bit late, so did not have time for a dessert. However, I will use that just as an excuse to come back soon!

I’ve been wanting to try out this place for a while, but just never got round to it, until last Sunday. We popped in for lunch, and it was surprisingly not as busy as I thought it would be. We were sat at a table upstairs just by the windows, with the lovely sunshine shining through. I loved the interior décor and the feel of the place. Just minutes later more people started streaming in and filled the neighbouring tables — lucky we got in just in time before it got too busy!
For starters, we ordered the penny buns and the pig trotter scotch egg. The penny buns, which is actually a species of mushrooms were really tasty with the smooth creamy squash sauce. I also liked the scotch egg, although it was a tad bit on the salty side — loved the celeriac fries though!
For mains, I ordered the chowder — much chunkier than I was expecting and not as creamy. Also the sweetness was just too overwhelming halfway through. I much preferred my friend’s choice of the cod fish — fresh white flaky flesh and cooked really well.
We were quite full after all that food, so we decided to order only one dessert to share — the sticky date pudding. Warm and comforting — I’d definitely recommend.
Service was quite fast and friendly.
I would visit again, and maybe try some of the other dishes, or the Sunday roast which looked pretty good. Maybe even have a few drinks at the bar.
Centrally located on Shaftesbury Avenue, it’s a convenient stop by for those struggling to decide on places to eat.
For full blog post with photos, click here:

Remember the old pub for dodgy people just on the point separating Covent Garden from Soho? Opposite Leon chain foods? Maybe? Not really? Well, in my opinion, it’s totally worth remembering now!
Last November, Polpo owners came in and turned this super large place upside down! They changed the décor, vibe and everything turning it into a good chill out place.
Downstairs, there is a cocktail bar, ground floor offers modern gastropub and God knows what’s waiting upstairs. Maybe nothing, but there are stairs leading somewhere…
Living plants sit on the windowsill and everything just screams: comfy! casual! but still cool. Service — excellent — super friendly. Toilets are equipped with Aesop soap — at that point I was totally sold…
Then the Sunday roast landed on the table and Oh My Lord! Great duck fat roasted potatoes, juicy lamb, fresh gravy and just perfect greens. Portion just big enough! Yet, the dessert… The flour less dark chocolate and hazelnut cake with a scoop of fresh non-​sweeten whipped cream was just perfectly tender and slightly bitter. Beautiful!
Me & my tummy left very happy!
PS: Their logo is super cute!

Newly opened in Late November 2013 by the same company that owns Polpo. Came in craving a proper sunday roast and was essentially roaming the streets of london looking for a spot and low and behold I turned a corner and a friend spotted this place.
We all had the Lamb roasts and it was really good for £15.00. The lamb was lovely and pink and came with mint sauce and au jus. The potatoes were crisp on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. The roasted veggies were good too, parsnips and carrots. the kale was underdone and i could do without but the rest of the experience was great.
The staff were attentive, they were on the ball and the desserts were pretty darn good as well. My friend had the flourless chocolate cake which was moist and very chocolatey. I had the BanoffeeBocker Glory, which was super good. Dulce de Leche ice cream with vanilla ice cream and mix of bananas and homemade whip cream with chocolate shavings.
Overall experience was and the place is huge and had lots of different types of people in the place.
A bit of a maze to get to the bathrooms… keep an eye out for the signs and you’ll be fine.

Underwhelming. That is, unfortunately, the operative word to describe both of my experiences here. When you go to a Russell Norman restaurant you broadly know what you’re in for by now as a punter. Bang on-​trend décor, a certain vibe — the realisation of which is no doubt the result of countless man-​hours of agonising — and a solid W1/​WC2 address. These places are as much about being seen as they are about the food and booze, invariably replete with scenesters who appear to have misread their tube map, having jumped on the Central Line heading west rather than their Overground train out Haggerston-​way.
The most striking difference compared to the various Polpos, Mishkin and Spuntino is the sheer bloody size of the place. The ground floor holds a ‘proper’ pub bar and boozing area on the side of the West Street entrance, and the restaurant and bar totalling c60 covers on the Shaftesbury Ave entrance. This is further complemented by a dining room on the first floor and a rather unintegrated-​feeling but nonetheless interesting cocktail bar below decks.
The restaurant menu — an interpretation of British pub fare given a London 2013 makeover — is intriguing upon first glance: Black-​face Mutton Mince & Dumplings and Pigs Trotter with Scotch Legbar Egg and Celeriac Fries were two standout dishes from one of our visits, both were flavoursome and interesting riffs on ‘British’ dishes, as loosely defined. Portions however — in almost every case — can be accurately described as miserly; the small plate concept from other restaurants under Mr Norman’s umbrella appears to have informed both his plating and costing, ‘pub food’ or not.
The kitchen did not appear to be firing on all cylinders for other dishes ordered; Truffled Cheesy Fries remained much more enticing on paper versus what appeared, decanted in to the now ubiquitous enamel bowl; no truffle aroma nor any sight of the black tuber itself in evidence. The cheeseburger was, well… a cheeseburger (and possibly my dining companion deserved what he got by ordering thusly) — done much better elsewhere and firmly in menu-​fluffer territory rather than a must-​order.
Another point worth noting — but also qualifying given it being early days — was the poor front of house reception and communication. The first visit during the 50% off soft launch saw a catalogue of misinformation and impolite exchanges between myself and the very (understandably) stressed maitre (ss)‘d, which got us off to an inauspicious start and is never a good advertisement for a newly-​opened establishment of any kind. The second visit — mercifully — saw an improved and different (replaced?) FoH, so I suspect this can be put down to teething problems rather than managerial incompetence.
The point with Ape & Bird is this: it’s simply not a remarkable enough-​a place to eat to be considered a ‘destination’ restaurant, if you’ll forgive the lazy phraseology, given the density of local competition. The pub proper and the underground cocktail bar are what I’ll go back for, not the grub, which is truly a shame because as a concept this is Mr Norman’s most original. He’s not bringing us a taste of East Village, NY or a Venetian bacaro, rather the type of beast that London could have truly called it’s own.
The issue in fact isn’t even truly in the execution I feel, rather a reflection of the reason why there are no true ‘gastropubs’ in the West End — because there simply doesn’t need to be. The well-​informed, transient young crowd streaming through Soho and Covent Garden isn’t looking for somewhere to sit for hours and hours, segueing from pub bar to table and back again, and the plethora of options nearby will ensure they don’t.
The Ape & Bird tries to be all things and really succeeds only in parts. Quite possibly I need to give the place more of a chance — at a quieter time of day and with less expectation. It will indeed be interesting to see how it evolves over the years, assuming it is given the chance to see out a long life with the aim of becoming a West End fixture like the Palace Theatre across the road…

We went during their soft opening with 50% off. Firstly the positives, the guys have done an amazing job renovating the space. The atmosphere and look is fantastic. And as far as locations go, it doesn’t get much better so they will do well.
The food is solid but not spectacular. There were 3 of us, we tried 9 dishes and only one was in anyway interesting — the scotch egg. Everything else was pretty run of the mill. Oh and the chips are disappointingly soggy. One other minus is our waiter didn’t know the menu very well but I guess that is a drawback of going there the first week. We probably wouldn’t go back without he 50% discount.

TLDR — really big space but it gets crowded; great drinks, above average food, average prices. Ultimately worth checking out
I want to give it 5 stars in many ways but that’s only because of the 50% off food for the soft launch (and our incredibly friendly server)!
Location:
This place is massive! As you walk in, you’re greeted by the restaurant area. Their tables are mostly for twos with a handful of larger tables but basically if you have a large group you might find yourself waiting for ages.
Past the restaurant area is the ‘pub’ area. This is more bar than pub in many ways and the easiest way to describe the vibe would be a non-​descript crowded sports bar (without screens)
As you continue into the location and head downstairs, you finally come to the ‘dive bar’. I have no idea why they’ve named it such as it isn’t remotely divey. It has a fairly standard nice cocktail bar vibe. Dim, intimate, etc…
Our experience:
They had 50% off food today and yst for their soft launch and I was keen to head down to take advantage of the offer. We got there around 1910 and were told the wait would be 2 hours. They don’t let you leave the restaurant and come back so you have to hang around if you want to eat there. Marginally annoying but given that they’re theoretically primarily a bar/​pub with good food, sort of makes sense.
The pub area was too crowded so we went to the dive bar; was going to get a beer but we took a while to get served because they were taking ages to make cocktails so it seemed a shame not to get one. Their beer selection is also fairly limited. While they have mostly craft beers, they only had around 6 – 7 options — Camden town being the main one I remember (lager and pale ale on tap though not in the downstairs bar and the gentleman’s wit in a bottle)
Ended up having 2 old-fashioned’s and a ‘seventh earl’ (similar to an old fashioned but rum based). Both the drinks were really good! And at £8, £1−2 cheaper than most cocktails bars these days.
Dinner:
Our wait ended up being 2.5 hours but no matter. Three of us were eventually seated at what was distinctly a table for 2 and space was at a premium once food arrived. A number of items were crossed out as they had (presumably) run out. We ordered:
Roast chicken to share — this was massive! Easily enough for 2 and possibly a bit more than that. It arrived looking very dry and boring but the presentation served to deceive; it was moist. flavourful and one of the best roast chickens I’ve had anywhere (and certainly better than tramshed for instance). They need to work on it’s appearance but beyond that it’s worth getting.
Rib-​eye steak — A tiny dash light on seasoning but it was tender, a perfect medium-​rare and generally awesome. It came with chips and I asked to change these to truffle fries but only got normal fries without truffle oil. Forgiveable for a soft launch though.
Fried sprouts, old ford, and bacon — Really nice side!
Truffle fries with cheese — Fairly average insofar as cheesy truffle fries are concerned but its such a fail safe dish anyway it was impossible not to enjoy it
Sticky date pudding with ice cream — absolutely TDF (to die for). Really nice crust with a warm soft interior, coupled with ice cream for the perfect complement and contrast. A win on so many levels.
Flourless chocolate and hazelnut cake — Below average somehow… Not worth ordering for sure and just such a disappointment.
Overall:
We paid obscenely little because we also ordered 2 bottles of wine with dinner and initial drinks aside, the discount covered everything else including the wine. That being said, flourless chocolate cake aside, the food was probably worth the list price and is worth checking out.
The service deserves an extra mention because everyone was super friendly.
This place is shockingly large and generally awesome. I’m a fan.