Bird of Paradise, 258 Brockley Road
BreakspearsEagle writes:
Bird of Paradise is a new Caribbean restaurant located in 'Midtown' Brockley and according to the manager the food takes influences from across the Caribbean.
The menu varies each day from a fairly wide selection and so far I have enjoyed the stewed chicken, curried chicken and the curried goat. Each time the food has been flavoursome with generous portions. The takeaway was delivered promptly and came with complimentary banana crisps and salad.
The decor of the restaurant is clean and fun with the colours taken from the restaurant's logo. When eating in I tried out the homemade the ginger beer and sorrel juice. The ginger beer was very punchy but a bit sweet for my tastes. However, the sorrel juice was lovely and refreshing with a unique taste that I would definitely go for again.
Highly recommended. Visit http://www.bird-of-paradise.org/
41 comments:
Food looks yummy. Cool tablecloth as well. Looking forward to a visit there soon.
another good restaurant in Ladywell
Good value too.
'Midtown' Brockley is not a thing, stop it!
This is a lovely place and fantastic value.
Anon @10:36, We've planted a flag and pacified the indigenous population. You can't fight it.....
Been singing this places praises for ages. Love the food.
The peanut punch is to die for! Highly recommend it along with the fish cakes. I really hope this place sticks around and becomes a Brockley success.
Nick up to his old tricks of selling everything good in the area as brockley. Crofton park is referred to as upper brockley until there's a shooting and then he calls it Crofton park. He does the same thing with ladywell, new cross, telegraph hill.
Anon - aside from the fact this has been done to death on here, the point really is that this is Nick's blog - he can say whatever he wants about whatever he wants. That's not a trick. If you don't like it, go elsewhere, or maybe even start your own site?
Great place. Always seems disappointingly quiet though. Clearly my (and kolps) singing of praises isn't enough - hope this article will change that.
Get down there.
Windups aside.
I don't know how anyone can claim that the junction of Wickham Road and Brockley is in Ladywell!
Both cheeky and geographically inaccurate.
The skewed council ward maps have a lot to answer for!
Nick didn't write that so your snide argument collapses on its own terms. Also, nick and most others are kidding. It's a joke, a wind up. It's utterly irelevent, is said place reachable? Local? Worth talking about? Is brockley defined by SE4? An old parish boundary? Named after a long dead farm? No one actually cares that much. There are no border police, although perhaps a sense of humour auditor should vet people who comment here.
Having said all that, you've performed a valuable service in drawing attention to an irrelevance.
http://www.bird-of-paradise.org/
IS.
Thanks for your charmless clarification.
We can now all be happy in the knowledge that the areas we live in are nameless, and boundary-less, and that no-one cares anyway.
Secure in this knowledge, I have decided that I now live in Midtown Manhattan - and I feel much better for it.
I *do* live in Midtown Manhattan, whilst also having a place in Brockley. Suck that.
Anon.
Ha - I am very jealous! (or "well jell", as my daughter would say).
If you ever need someone to sit your apartment while you're out of town - I'm your man!
If you, Nick and the brockley'ite crew care enough to change the name of these places when it suits you, then it means that you do care.
Looks honest and tasty.
Have starters in Top Chef, pop over here for you main course, then get a Twix from the newsagent for your 'dessert' (afters).
Robert, we know where it is from the address. Whether the reviewer calls it midtown, brockley, crofton park makes no odds. Can I get there, is it nice? My issue was with the idiot who claims that nick is managing the issue depending on whether its a grisly murder or a cafe. He isn't, anon is an idiot, I spotted him.
The boring debate about how we name an area an how it changed over time (it does rob) is the least important part of the story. He's the idiot, you are mearly a pedant. Man is the measure, if the description works for the reviewer then it's correct for him. Who knows, perhaps the weight of this blog will alter our maps. That's fine, has how our geographic sense develops. London is not and never has been set is aspic.
What Idiot Spotter said.
"Man is the measure."
I like that. I will steal it. And whenever I do so, I will say: "As an Idiot Spotter once told me - man is the measure."
IS.
We are clearly made of slightly different cloth.
I don't think that the names of places, and how they have evolved over time is boring - you do. And I don't think that the names of places are irrelevant either. They give us some kind of cultural and geographical rooting - something to identify with. That's why we name things in the first place - its a human instinct. Brockley means a lot of things to a lot of different people, as does Ladywell, as does Crofton Park - but it is the name that becomes the conduit of the meaning.
Of course things change over time, and of course London, or any other place for that matter, has not been set in aspic (a glib statement).
But let's not be flippant about an area's connection to a particular name.
In the meantime, you can continue to be the fly-by-night libertine, running free through the field with the wind in your hair - I'm happy to watch you frolic, and might occasionally join you. Which field?
Second the good review of this place. Great service and good food.
It's most definitely in Brockley.
So anyway, we know where it is. We have an address, the reviewer knows where it was and told us he likes it. I really don't get hung up on the psychogeography of the name. You do, take some Gaviscon to tamp down the indigestion you'll feel while gorging on their delicious jerk chicken (or domesticated jungle fowl to give it the correct name)
Do they charge for tap water?
One of the reason's why I like this place is that it isn't one of the pretentious 'beans in a ramekin' eateries around here but neither is it entry level quality food providers; the 'frozen, pop in microwave and bang onto plate' jobs either.
The cook is cordon bleu trained. The rice for example is infused with coconut.
You get a balanced meal, protein, carbs, salad and plenty of it (no twix req'd for pud) if for the price.
It fills the place 'Long Time', used to have in the mid week food vacuum, we sometimes have at our place.
This might be a daft question, but I'm happy to show my ignorance: is there much in the way for vegetarians? I've never eaten Caribbean food which seems silly being as I've been living in South London for so long.
If there are vegetarian options, could someone give me some recommendations on what to order?
Good question actually, I think your only 'option' as a vegetarian is the salad :( or Macaroni and cheese pie.
Pescatarians are fairly well catered for though with fishcakes, ackee & saltfish, so something they might work on going forward...
Must say i really like their website, nice, clean design,
http://www.bird-of-paradise.org/menu/
There has always been chickpea or squash curry on the menu when I've been. So there are a few other veggie options.
The best course of action for vegetarians is to stop being less fussy.
I had the veggie curry at Bird of Paradise and it was amazing. I actually preferred it because I hate bones in my food!
Kolp, I would bleedin' hope the rice has coconut in! How else would rice and peas be made?
Looks lovely, I shall have to try it out soon. Thanks for highlighting it.
Thanks for the recommendations. I'll check it out!
I've had the brown chicken stew and the mutton curry, and both were fantastic, very well presented and reasonably priced. The staff were very friendly and enthusiastic. The place is a great addition to the area, though it arrived just as I moved further south so I can't go as often as I'd like. It's a shame it often seems to be very quiet, but hopefully trade will pick up as word gets around.
Idiot Spotter, what is mearly?
As a self-proclaimed fount of wisdom do enlighten me please?
Thank you for your kind comments and support. We are pleased that those who have tried our food have enjoyed it and would like to invite those who haven't to give us a try.
@ Carys we do offer a selection of vegetarian dishes and will be adding more to the menu very soon.
Team BOP
Chicken burger is amazing :-)
Visited for lunch today after reading positive reviews on here. Very friendly service and great quality food. Portion sizes generous. I really like this place, will definitely be back.
Has Idiot Spotter spotted himself?
As regards Brockley and psychogeography, I though this from SE Central gets closest:
"Brockley is a strange conundrum when it comes to matters geographical. It is a fluid entity, historically shifting and sliding around the zone between Stanstead Road and Lewisham Way. Originally it was a farm in the vicinity of the Brockley Jack in the heart of (what is now) Crofton Park. Then the railways came and the station built at the foot of Malpas Road inherited the name Brockley, pulling the centre northwards but leaving the name still attached to the rise heading south from the old farm. When Lewisham Council then used the name Brockley to describe their new conservation area running from Deptford Common (off Lewisham Way) down to St Andrews church, Brockley was again shifted north. In the opposite direction the hill above Stanstead Road now borrowed the name Rise from the rise heading south from the Jack. Having torn itself in two, Brockley left the centre ground unoccupied and once again it was a railway station which offered its services - with the 'unoccupied' no-mans land taking the name of Crofton Park station. This is pretty much the status quo, though you will find many in the local blogsphere trying to extend Brockley north of Lewisham Way and West towards New Cross. I like to think of Brockley as a snail, gradually snaking its way around the South East, leaving a trail of streets and buildings in its wake as its makes it way to some unknown destination. My guess is that sometime mid 22nd century it will have reached the river - probably heading for the then newly established centre occupying the Convoys Wharf site where it will be known as Brockley Marina."
The best part of this is that the part with Top Chef etc on it has central use of all 5 Brockley stations -Ladywell, Crofton Park, lewisham, St Johns and Brockley (in order of honesty)
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