Bluebird brings Chelsea charm to the City with sleek new Moorgate opening
The Chelsea hotspot recently launched its second brand in the City, inside the South Place Hotel
Bluebird has officially landed in the City. The Chelsea institution, known for its terrace, cocktails and well-dressed crowd, opened a second site in Moorgate on 1 April, taking over a corner of the South Place Hotel just minutes from Liverpool Street Station. While the sprawling west London courtyard doesn’t make it over, there’s a smart terrace set-up outside – complete with the brand’s signature turquoise umbrellas – and a more intimate, moodier atmosphere inside.
The interiors are slick and grown-up: curved lines, soft lighting, and a long central bar that anchors the space. It feels built for the Square Mile – think client lunches, post-meeting martinis, and Thursday dinners that run into a second, and third, bottle. It’s a natural evolution of the Bluebird name, with enough of the Chelsea DNA intact, just tailored for a City crowd.
The all-day menu, overseen by executive head chef Rob Grist, is broad and familiar, covering everything from crowd-pleasing starters to hearty mains, punchy sides, and some well-considered desserts. Dishes include burrata, crab on toast, and steak tartare to start, with larger plates ranging from flat iron or sirloin steak to minted lamb cutlet, swordfish loin, wild garlic tagliatelle, and a 1.2kg tomahawk to share. Dessert spans a proper pecan éclair, vanilla cheesecake with blueberry compote, a glossy chocolate fondant, and a Bakewell served with pistachio ice cream.
We visited shortly after opening to try a cross-section of the menu – and started, naturally, with a cocktail. The Lillet Spritz was crisp and clean, but the standout was the Fancy Dress: a champagne-based serve with vanilla and passion fruit; sweet but not too sweet, and genuinely well-balanced. There’s a short alcohol-free list, too – a nice touch, even if most around us were on the real stuff.
Among the starters, the crispy octopus easily led the pack – golden, well-seasoned and properly crisped, a must-order. The burrata looked great but lacked the sharpness it needed from the pickled strawberry. The crab on toast, on the other hand, was visually strong but had too many competing elements – the high-hitting wasabi and Granny Smith apple relegated the crabmeat to backing vocals, though I can see what they were aiming for. The steak tartare, served with watermelon, was a standout; the watermelon providing a delicious touch of sweetness.
The mains were more varied in ambition and execution. The minted lamb cutlet was well cooked, but let down slightly by a wild garlic pomme purée, which lacked the silky texture promised by its name. If you’re going to refer to the humble mashed potato as pomme purée, it should at least be pureéd, not lumpy. The Loch Var salmon fillet was nicely plated, with clams and samphire offering texture and brightness, and while the tomahawk steak came out looking the part – sliced and served with fries and plenty of peppercorn sauce – it was incredibly tough in sections and underwhelming overall. On the side, sautéed new potatoes and green beans were solid enough but didn’t do much to elevate the plates they sat alongside.
Dessert was where things picked up again. The pecan éclair – made with cinnamon-baked bread and salted pecan caramel – was indulgent and properly put together. The vanilla cheesecake with blueberry compote was light, smooth and easily the best dish of the night. The chocolate fondant, served with vanilla custard, raspberry gel and honeycomb, had all the right textures but leaned heavily into more bitter notes – ideal if that’s your thing, less so if you’re looking for something comforting.
Bluebird City is a sleek, well-executed new outpost for the brand – a restaurant that knows exactly who it’s for. The cocktails, desserts and setting were the winners of the night. The terrace will no doubt come into its own during summer, and for post-work dinners and low-key celebrations, it’s got all the potential to become a solid City go-to.
Bluebird City, South Place Hotel, 3 South Pl, EC2M 2AF, southplacehotel.com
