Review 2016/17

Surely the only restaurant in London – nay, the world – to offer Babycham bottomless brunch, The Holy Birds serves up a wine offering that is nothing if not jaunty, careening from Liebfraumilch to Corton Charlemagne on the same two-page list.    

Some might say you have to admire the chutzpah, and of course snobbery is a miserable trait born of the arbitrary judgments of the morally weak… but Babycham bottomless brunch is a cutting room floor idea and cannot but fail.  

Moving on, Holy Birds presents a modest selection of safe bet wines to pair with your poultry. It’s a list that seems to use one supplier (Bibendum) for everything except the surprising-to-see icons like Solaia (£400) and Vega Sicilia (£620).

Crowd-pleasing, wine enthusiast-dismaying Pinot Grigio and Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc feature prominently. There’s no Prosecco though. Though there is Babycham (did I mention that?), which is yours for £20 a bottle if you don’t fancy the bottomless option.

Chateau D’Esclans Whispering Angel Rosé is listed at £100 a bottle which seems a bit thick – avoid that. In fact, there’s some really overly keen pricing in evidence here – Spy Valley Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc (about £10 in the shops) for £41? In a Shoreditch chicken restaurant? I’m not so sure.

By Darren Smith