Brought to you by ETM group - whose other venues include The Botanist at Broadgate Circle, One Canada Square, The Well and the Jugged Hare - Aviary boasts a south-facing terrace with City skyline views. Set with sofas and high tables the (heated) sun-trap bar atop The Montcalm Hotel is an all-seasons shoo-in for demob-happy Square Mile folk - and a blessed escape from The Birds. On a Thursday night, a party of hoochy hens, clucked up on cocktails, shots and revelations about the groom's cock, like King Kong's dong sez she who will presently waltz down the aisle, a shameless schlong-sucking sinner, all butter-wouldn't-melt virgin in white, sends me scurrying outdoors, muttering darkly in my native Edimbra brogue "Goanna no zip it, hen?" In the clattery clamour of Aviary's retro New York penthouse-style bar, steamboats on Jennings Steam Boat and ‘Deep and Dirty’ Roy and his Mango - sounds like a stripper but turns out to be a Johnnie Walker Black Manhattan - the boozy birds' tinnitus-inducing trill is so shrill, it manages to drown out the DJ's 70s disco hairbrush diva mix. On a subsequent visit, mo calm e at The Montcalm, we go for Jeff Goes South - an absinthe-rinsed tequila and beetroot blast - and Cherry Bomb Sour which my skybar sidekick likes but I'm less sweet on. Prices ain't steep by 5 star (it says) hotel standards but the Coravin system packs plenty of big ticket Bordeaux for those with pink banknotes to burn on a glass of vintage Margaux or Pauillac. Peckish? Go for salmon shish and scallop dogs at this new perch.
10th Floor, Montcalm Hotel, 22 - 25 Finsbury Square EC2A 1DX 3873 4060 www.aviarylondon.com
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| Birds on a mission |
