Seafood lover’s paradise at Seabird

My friend Mitzie and I met for lunch last month and she recommended Seabird in Southwark, which opened its doors in September. Despite being a food lover and eating out at least once a week, I’d not heard of it so I was excited to try it.

It’s situated on the 14th floor, on the rooftop, of the Hoxton hotel on Blackfriars Road – and has views to die for! As we were eating quite early, we got one of the best tables facing the Shard. And as I arrived before Mitzie, I cheekily sat facing the window. First come, first served right?

To be honest, whilst the views are fabulous, the decor is equally as lovely so even if you don’t get a table by a window, you won’t be disappointed. It’s an interior lover’s DREAM (and an Instagrammer’s too!). There’s so much attention to detail too – the table we sat at even look like fish scales.

It’s got a real Miami, art deco vibe about it and is very chilled – much like the oysters! In fact, Seabird boasts London’s longest oyster list however, I’m not an oyster fan so that fact is wasted on me quite frankly…

I loved the beautiful marble fresh raw seafood bar and that’s probably where I’d sit next time as I love a counter! Seafood is definitely the emphasis of the menu, with the dishes showing Spanish and Portuguese influence.

Mitzie and I decided to order a bunch of the small plates to share. The menu consists predominately of seafood with chilled dishes, such as oysters, cockles, clams, langoustines and prawns, small plates, charcuterie, big plates (plancha), charcoal grill dishes and of course, dessert.

We ordered the hand-dived scallop, the octopus roll (which you see all over Instagram), the seam bream crudo, Devonshire crab bunuelos and papas arrugdas, which is a potato dish – a bit like patatas bravas. And now you can see what I meant about the table looking like fish scales!

Whilst the octopus roll is all over Instagram, it definitely wasn’t my favourite dish. It looked gorgeous but I found it a bit underwhelming. Octopus is one of my favourite seafood dishes and I adore eating it when we’re on holiday in Italy, but I felt this roll lacked flavour.

The hand-dived scallop was delicious but there was only one and at £12,50 is on the pricey side. It was beautifully presented though but I could’ve eaten two myself!

The seam bream crudo was very good. Fresh, flavourful and a decent sized portion. I also loved the bit of a kick it had with the fresh chilli and the pepper. Visually it looked stunning.

Hands down my favourite dish was the Devonshire crab bunuelos. I’ve never heard of bunuelos, but they’re a deep fried sort of dough ball from Mexico. These were little bites of heaven that worked perfectly with the saffron aioli. I’ll definitely be ordering these again!

The food was delicious and service was great. It is on the expensive side, however that’s to be expected from a fresh seafood restaurant with stunning views of London. Oh, and did I mention their roof terrace? Just look at this beauty.

It was too chilly to sit outside, however next summer you’ll definitely find me here sipping on a cocktail! Speaking of which, the cocktails come frozen, in bottles and even on draught (who knew?). Check out what my friend Fee of Where’s the Rooftop thought of it.

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