Restaurants / Reviews
Wallfish Bistro
Wallfish Bistro on Princess Victoria Street in Clifton Village is the latest restaurant to try its luck in what was Keith Floyd’s first bistro.
Over the last few years, almost as many businesses have opened and closed in this location as glasses of wine former Bristol Evening Post reporter Floyd consumed while recording his television programmes.
Wallfish owners Liberty Wenham and Seldon Curry hope to fare better than recent incarnations that included Clifton Kitchen and Bistro Biere.
is needed now More than ever
They certainly have good credentials, meeting while both working for Mark Hix and with experience working with the likes of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Rowley Leigh.
Nods to Floyd’s time here include baked snails in garlic butter (£7.50) among the starters, while the mains have a seafood theme, with Exmouth mussels (£14), fillets of lemon sole (£17) and grilled sea bream (£16.50).
There is a commendable emphasis on local produce – what Wenham and Curry call “the premium bounty of the West Country’s wonderful larder” – which continues to the puddings and especially the cheeseboard (£7) with Wookey Hole cheddar, Devon Blue and Lubborn brie.
Floyd would certainly have approved of the wine list, with more than 25 bottles ranging from a Lebanese red to an Austrian white.
Don’t be deceived by what looks like a very small restaurant from the outside. There is also a downstairs area (below) which on exploration contains bookshelves and a record player.
Little touches abound everywhere. The lampshades are made from colanders and the seaside theme continues with shells holding bills and menus down, decoration of two metal crabs on one table, and a water jug in the shape of a fish which makes an incredibly satisfying glug-glug-glug when pouring.
On Saturday and Sunday, Wallfish is open from 10am for brunch and it was this that I experienced last weekend, a well-made flat white washing down my yoghurt, granola and summer berries (£3.50), which a hungry two-year-old sitting on my lap kindly helped to gobble down.
Across the table, my daughter’s mum was also highly appreciative of the fried girolles and poached egg on toast (£4).
Already attracting much praise and custom, Wallfish Bistro should hopefully be able to succeed in this tricky location.
Wallfish Bistro, 112 Princess Victoria Street, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 4DB
0117 973 5435
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