the Orange Bird

In today’s magazine. ‘What’s the difference between a braai and a bbq?’ Asks - well the people of Sheffield know!

At OB we cook over South African wood - thanks - and regularly serve chakalaka alongside our braai meat and fish.

And if you’ve been paying attention you’ll know we are changing our menu next week, and Boerewors is back! Our sausage collab with returns to the braai.

We do have a table at 8pm tonight if anyone wants one last fix of caramelised aubergine!!

Just to clarify - we’re not mentioned in the article! Just well versed in the art of braai!

OB summer holiday dates. Plan accordingly people ☀️

Come the summer menu - July 10 - we won’t be making our flatbreads or mosbolletjies, giving the chefs time to concentrate on new stuff. And the new stuff will be a delicious switch up for all of you!

However if you need a fix of our bread then get yourselves booked in before then.

This week we are closed on Saturday fyi. Thursday looks like there is some space at a decent time. So come in and celebrate my birthday with me!!

Thank you very much for including us in the new guide for 2024.

And we love the colour of the new sticker!

Redressing the dessert balance by showing pics of our other stunners. Here you have the chocolate sorbet followed by the melon and fig leaf sorbet. Both delicious, and both perfect for the - apparently - good weather we’re about to get!
Spaces for two this week at 9pm on Friday and 12/12.15pm Saturday lunchtime.

We are hiring!

We are very sad that our wonderful chef is leaving to travel, ski, cook, camp, climb wherever her heart takes her.

But it does mean we have a great opportunity for someone new to work alongside Matt and cook some delicious South African food.

Get in touch if you are passionate about great food and hospitality in general. Attitude is more important than skills and experience but we won’t discount you if you have both!

Email Anne: [email protected]

The winner!!
Congratulations PMCT

202 votes to 198 across Instagram post, stories and Facebook.

Thanks to all who took part. Who knew the people of Sheffield would have such strong opinions about two South African desserts!!

The voting is fierce and the malva is leading as I type. However we are keeping this open until close of play Saturday so show your favourite some love - and PMCT lovers get campaigning!

THE ORANGE BIRD GREAT PUDDING DEBATE

Miso malva pudding V Peppermint Crisp tart

We get a lot of customers insisting that their favourite is the objective, absolute best dessert. But they all differ, some are in camp malva and some camp PMCT. So let’s settle it. Which dessert is best?

It’s been a while since we had steak on the menu, but it’s back! Braai flat iron steak with pelepele, whipped garlic, & Isle of Wight tomatoes.

It’s one month to go until we switch things to shisanyama(ish) which of course means loads of great food cooked on the braai with epic sides, great music and a more casual, summery feel.
This also means that you have one month to get your fill of mosbolletjies, flatbreads, hummus, caramelised aubergine, etc before they are off the menu (at least for a little while!) - even if a petition is started to keep the aubergine 😂!!

It’s tricky these days getting a photo, so I’m using this one because it’s the only recent one I have!
Food cooked on the braai featuring pork rib eye and peri peri chicken (beware it’s hot 🔥!)

We have another month left with this current menu format before we change to our shisanyama(ish) summer menu. But it doesn’t matter when you come the food will always be great!

We are back open this evening from 5pm after our very short break.
As it stands we are full tonight and tomorrow night but have a bit of space for lunch tomorrow. And as always keep checking for those pesky cancellations!

Chilled asparagus - Ewe’s curd, naartjie oil, smoked almonds, fennel pollen

Spring food on the grid just before our spring break. We’re not US college students so our break won’t be fuelled by s€x, drugs and rock n roll. Possibly not even by sun, sea and sand as we’re all staying in the UK. But we are looking forward to a few days away. I’m interrailing round East Yorkshire so if anyone has any food recommendations for Hull, Beverley and Scarborough, send them my way.

Back open on Friday 31 May x

Yeaaaaahhhhh!!!!!

Well done Matt. 🙌

My favourite ingredient is back in season - fig leaves!

Whether it’s in a savoury dish like the gribiche on the fish or in a sorbet like our beautiful new melon sorbet duo, it’s just brilliant.

Fig leaves taste a bit coconut-ty, vanilla-y and slightly herb-y 😋

Get them while you can!

The melon sorbets are honeydew & fig leaf and Charentais & fig leaf. Let us know which combo is your fave.

We won!! Thanks for a wonderful event celebrating Sheffield’s indie businesses.
We were gutted to have not been able to attend (although my family all thought Faith did a much better job accepting the award than either Matt or I would have!!)

Thank you so much to everyone who voted for us and to everyone who supports us by visiting again and again in our little corner of Hillsborough. We also have an award winning bar right next door so between us we make for a pretty great night out!

Well done to all the other shortlisted businesses in Sheffield. We hope you had a great night out. And a big shout out to the other Hillsborough businesses that were nominated. What a place to live!!

Exposed Awards Night!! Whoop whoop 🙌

This was taken last year and features our wonderful friend, neighbour, part time worker (for us, full time for herself!), Faith from
I should also mention award winner because Faith won in her category last year 🎉

Now for personal reasons and financial reasons (we can’t afford to close for the night very sadly) we won’t be able to make the actual ceremony tonight. So we’re sending Faith as our official representative. (Yes it does help that she was going anyway so could buy her own ticket 😂). Faith is the best cheerleader for all the indie businesses in Hillsborough and she does work on an irregular basis at OB so who better!?

Good luck to everyone nominated in all the categories. Have a great party and to thank you for throwing this celebration and Happy Birthday to you all!!

Anne & Matt

So, what is a shisanyama?

Shisa nyama, which literally means burnt meat in Zulu, is the term used to describe where people make and serve braais.

The three things you’re likely to find at a shisanyama are alcohol, music and loads of braaied meat. As this is an inauthentic shisa nyama, - because we’re in the UK, therefore inside and we definitely don’t have the weather - there’ll obviously be veggie options!

This summer we’ll be a lot more casual, but the food will be just as tasty, the flavours just as interesting and we can just keep our fingers crossed that we’ll get the weather to match!!

Our shisanyama(ish) summer will be starting 10 July and running through to the end of September. Bookings will be open two months in advance.

Orange Bird X Bench X The Mowbray

It sold out in two hours which blew us away.
The food was phenomenal.
The venue magical.
The cocktails were dangerously good.
And the diners all verrrry happy and verrry full!!

Who thinks we should do it again?

Stunning photos via

Cheers for the votes everyone! We are delighted to be shortlisted for awards! Alongside some amazing Sheffield indies and bursting at the seams with S6 businesses 🙌

We are very grateful for all our wonderful customers who not only vote for us in these awards but who come back time and time again (even when we threaten to take the caramelised aubergine off the menu 😬)
We are also grateful to be a part of a wonderful Hillsborough community that supports local indie businesses and helps them to thrive and grow.

(This is a picture of me and Matt celebrating being in the 2023 Top 100 best local restaurants. To vote for us this year you’ll find the link in our bio)

Last July we were delighted to find out that we had made best local restaurant top 100 list.

Picture the scene: I was in Morrisons getting some last minute bits whilst Matt was at OB prepping. I went back to wash some pots and finish cleaning foh and in the middle of that we had a quick sip of fizz to celebrate. The rest of the staff - well there were no other staff. It was just us. It was a lot!

However we are still here, still working hard everyday, but we do now have some staff to share the load with. And potentially to share some fizz with if we have any more reasons to celebrate!

Which brings me to the point of the post - we would be beyond grateful if you would take a minute or two to nominate us in 2024’s Best Local Restaurant Awards.

Thanks you!
Anne & Matt

(Obligatory photo of our faces to go along with this post!

Most photos

We’ve just had a couple of cancellations for this evening. So if you think the food looks good in these pics get yourselves booked in!

📸

We are back! Holidays over and we are raring to go. There is some space for smaller groups over the next week or two and you can book online or drop me an email.
We’re still excited for the upcoming collab with and on the 28th April and as disappointed as some of you that more people can’t come. Next time…
However you can visit us all individually over the next few months then you won’t feel your missing out!!

Roll on the sun ☀️

We’ll be back on the 10th - Happy Easter everyone!

Still struggling to get a food pic! But who doesn’t love a tram photo??!!
It’s Easter weekend and we are verrrrry busy. It’s also the last few days before our much needed week off so go easy on us - we are knackered!
We were absolutely delighted with the response to our collab with the wonderful and - selling out in 2 hours! That blew us away. Thanks to everyone who bought tickets, it should be a great day.

Now sold out!! Amazing - thanks everyone!
We’re very excited!!

BENCH X THE MOWBRAY X ORANGE BIRD

*at the Mowbray*

We are very excited to announce.

Our next Sunday Session is a collaborative dinner to showcase & big up the Sheffield food scene hosted in the most beautiful setting of The Mowbray.

A collaborative 4 course menu.

Sunday 28th April arrival from 1pm.

£60pp

Book your seat via the ticket link in our bio! 🔗 🎟️

*Unfortunately we are unable to cater a vegan menu on this occasion*

It has been challenging getting new photos to share on the gram recently. So here are some old photos to entice you in!
A quick heads up that we are closed the week following Easter weekend 31 March - 9 April.

BTW We do have blinds to keep the sun from blinding you now we are heading into sunnier times (we hope!!)

It’s Peppermint Crisp Tart Day! Otherwise known as Saturday.

If you’ve been following us over the last few weeks, you’ll have seen that any leftover PMCT has been offered at rock bottom prices on our stories.

Keep your eyes peeled at about 10/10.30pm and the first people to reply and get to us by 11pm are the winners 👀

It would be great to win an award!
is a wonderful cheerleader for independent businesses in Sheffield. We love being part of this community and appreciate all the work that goes into making this event such a success.
Apparently there’s an exciting surprise lined up for the night itself - any ideas anyone??

And if you do go online to vote please vote for all your other S6 faves!

Front of house operative needed. Could it be you?

Email Anne: [email protected]