Restaurants / Reviews
Mud Duck, The Grove: ‘A real tour de force’ – restaurant review
One of the greatest moments of British TV ever to air was Gino D’Acampo saying “and if my grandma had wheels, she would have been a bike” on This Morning to express his horror at Holly Willoughby’s take on a carbonara.
If Gino’s grandma had been a bicycle, her favourite restaurant would most likely be Mud Dock; the Bristol harbourside hub where you can enjoy a cooked breakfast or a burger upstairs while your trusty steed is being serviced in the room below.
I highly doubt that nonna D’Acampo has been to Mud Dock, but there are plenty of impressive and famous people who have. Paul McCartney launched a book there in 1999, New Zealand rugby team the All Blacks enjoyed dinner there before a match at Ashton Gate in 1997 and on a recent wintery Friday night, I paid a visit.
is needed now More than ever
The first few months of the year are always cruel for hospitality. Nevertheless, with a table booking at 7.30pm on a recent Friday, I was shocked to see we were the only customers. I guess all things considered it’s no wonder the kitchen closed at 8pm and we were told to get our orders in quick.
A cheese souffle is the perfect antidote to a cold winter’s evening
At one end of the restaurant is a large moon-like window, perhaps deliberately reminiscent of a bike wheel or perhaps coincidental. Bike parts are used creatively everywhere you look in this large loft; old forks and frames propping up tables and chairs and a laudable commitment to recycling.
To begin our tour of Mud Dock’s loosely European menu, a cod, chorizo and haricot bean cassoulet (£10.50), which is an enjoyable start though the chorizo is about as prominent as the other customers. I would’ve appreciated some bread for mopping purposes, especially as I was starving having cycled all the way from Easton. Three miles for anyone asking, and yes, it’s an electric bike.
The beauty of a souffle is in its cheesy, fluffy monotony which in this example was enhanced with small nuggets of candied walnut; an unexpected but delicious addition.
The engineering of a good burger can be compared to that of a bike, in that even if just one component is faulty the whole thing suddenly becomes very risky. Sadly the burger at Mud Dock (£16) was not roadworthy.
For future burgers, I’d rather go across the way to Squeezed in Wapping Wharf
There are many things that ciabatta should not be used for, such as bike seats and burger buns. It doesn’t have the structural integrity required and like the salad it is sandwiching, it is too prominent.
And if I wanted potato wedges – well actually there has never been an occasion where I have wanted potato wedges; chips are far superior in every circumstance.
This had me wondering if the kitchen had bits they needed to use up, though the mackerel was beautifully prepared
Chargrilled mackerel fillet, crushed new potatoes, vegetable julienne and vermouth cream sauce (£18) was on the specials board. Despite flawlessly cooked mackerel, the overall composition was not particularly special; vermouth cream is a strange accompaniment and some salt on the potatoes would’ve been welcome.
It’s the sticky toffee pudding (£8) that makes it over the finish line wearing the yellow jersey. A real tour de force. You’d spend hours sweating your soul out in a spin class to eat one of those. If my grandma had been a pudding, she would most certainly have wanted to be this one.
Sticky toffee pudding is one of my favourite desserts and this delivered on all counts
I pull my cycling gloves on to go and inspect the balcony, which is easy to imagine packed with sunshine revellers in the warmer months. It’s the perfect place to enjoy a morning coffee, a pre-dinner aperitif or a post-ride beer. If you stick around long enough into the evening, you can probably eavesdrop on the live music at Thekla too, which is the only way I could have persuaded my grandma to go to a gig.
This year marks Mud Dock’s 30th in business. I wonder which celebrities, bicycles and grandmas will pass through its doors in the coming decades. As long as they don’t start serving Holly Willoughby’s carbonara, I reckon it’ll be around for a good long time to come, putting smiles on many a passing cyclists’ face.
This year marks Mud Dock’s 30th in business
Mud Dock, 40 The Grove, BS1 4RB
All photos: Meg Houghton-Gilmour
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