26 September 2007

Flying High

Electric Birdcage Restaurant & Bar Opens

What with the bizarre weather and the fact that almost every main route in London is currently clogged by roadworks, you’re feeling a little nuts.

But you’ll feel even crazier if you head to Electric Birdcage, a new dim sum parlour and late-night cocktail bar that opens in the West End today. Its interior — designed by the clever Shaun Clarkson — is deliciously whacky.

Features include a Fibonacci-style patterned floor, tree roots that become tables, a pair of ebonised stallions, a stained glass window and three huge iron birdcage chandeliers that dangle from a florescent pink ceiling.

At the black marble bar, sit in a turquoise hand (that’s a chair) and drink an Electric Angel (vodka, creme de cacao, apple schnapps and fresh cream) or champagne-based Electric Birdcage, which serves eight. In the restaurant, eat dumplings filled with prawn and chives, char sui buns with pork and sweet onion, or sticky rice with mango.

It’s a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach.

You’ll probably go crazy for it.

Electric Birdcage, 11 Haymarket, SW1Y 4BP (020 7839 2424 or electricbirdcage.com).