Tuesday Night Dining at Fishers

Summer in the UK seems to consist of a few fairly hot spells punctuated with multiple days of humidity. It was on one of these humid evenings that I headed over to Clifton Village to meet friend Naomi for dinner. Fishers had invited me to sample their menu and I was delighted to accept. The menu at Fishers has a host of tempting fishy options, a couple of token meat and vegetarian options for those that way inclined.

We were warmly received by the restaurant and eagerly began glancing through the menu. There were many options that caught my eye but what I decided to go for in the end was the calamari with sweet chilli sauce followed by herb crusted cod fillet with spinach and puy lentils. Naomi opted for home cured Scottish smoked salmon with horseradish creme fraiche and a kilo of steamed mussels with white wine, cream and garlic for her main. Most mains come with a choice of new potatoes or chips as a side, unless stated otherwise. Whilst we waited we sipped at our rather enjoyable glasses of Pinot Grigio and nibbled at the freshly made bread.

The calamari was perfect a good portion with a crispy light coating. I personally thought the sweet chilli dip was a little too sweet for the calamari but it was just a small issue. Naomi's salmon was wonderful the quality of the salmon was excellent and the horseradish creme fraiche gave it an extra lift.

moules with cream, garlic and white wine

cod fillet on puy lentils

My fish was perfectly cooked with a crispy skin and the herbs and lemon made the whole dish wonderfully fresh. Naomi was delightedly making her way through the kilo of mussels plenty of cream and garlic sauce to mop up with some of the bread. We were both really impressed with the flavours of the mains. The one thing that I was disappointed in was the chips. They were quite dry tasting and floury so I left most of them to concentrate on the citrussy lentils below my cod fillet. We still had room for pudding so I ordered one of my all time favourite desserts, sticky toffee pudding with ice cream and Naomi had a scoop of elderflower sorbet.

Oh my word. This was quite simply the best sticky toffee puddings I have had in years. Super soft and sticky with a lovely toffee sauce I would return just for this alone. We left Fishers nicely full having been well fed. Fishers offers some great fish dishes, some classic some a bit different but what you can be assured of is a good meal. The offer a early evening deal 5.30 - 6.30 you can have two courses for £9.50, this is also available at lunch. Although our meal at Fishers was complimentary it did not impact my opinion or the outcome of this review. We were so pleased with the service we left a tip on what the bill would have been. To see what else Fishers have to offer check out their website.

Three Course Dining at The Square

Just before we jetted off to Budapest we were invited to sample the new menu at the Square. I had not been to the Square in some time, probably about 4 years in fact. The Square is a private members club but the restaurant is open to the public, as long as you sign in at the door. They have smartened up the place a bit since I was last here, it is more welcoming and the staff who greeted us were friendly.

The dining rooms at the Square are beautiful. Long tables and candelabras dotted around the place make for a relaxed atmosphere. As for the new Spring menu. First impressions were good. The menu is a modern British one with lots of classic combinations. For our starters we decided to opt for the Wiltshire bred pork belly with pressed ham hock and pickled vegetables and the wild mushroom soup with truffle and a poached egg. As for the mains Rich picked the 8oz rib-eye steak with triple cooked chips and myself, the Upper Wraxall lamb, two ways with spinach puree and pommes mousseline plus a port jus. We also picked side orders of asparagus and creamy leeks.

My soup was wonderfully earthy and rich. I was impressed, definitely up there for mushroom dishes I've had before. the egg in the centre just added to the creaminess. The only slight let down was the bread, it was nice enough but nothing over whelming. Rich loved the pork belly it was juicy and the flavours all worked together nicely.

My lamb dish was great. The lamb belly fell apart and was well seasoned. The meat was full of flavour and went perfectly with the glass of Malbec I had chosen to go with it. The pommes mousseline was rich and creamy and the vegetables were cooked properly with a slight crunch to them. The only slight problem was the rump was a little too underdone in parts for me, yes I like pink lamb but this was boardering on very rare indeed, so I left a little end bit of that.

The creamy leeks were very tasty and buttery but the dish was so huge we shouldn't have ordered too sides.  Rich enjoyed his steak said it was well cooked and juicy and the asparagus was full of flavour. I tried one of his chips and it was so huge, a breeze block of potato but with a fluffy centre. I could have built a delicious potato brick house to hide from the world in with these chips.

We hardly had room for pudding but I had spotted something on the dessert menu that ticked all my boxes. Creme brulee with rhubarb and ginger and spiced shortbread. Rich decided to test out the selection of cheese.

Rich enjoyed his selection of cheeses and the crackers were a nice quality. It is hard to get a cheese board wrong to be honest. My creme brulee was tasty but the rhubarb was too sweet it would have been great to have that sharper contrast, The shortbread was nice and gingery in flavour but overall the biscuits were a little dry and floury for my taste.

There were a few tiny little things that weren't 100% but overall we had a great meal at the Square and the staff were wonderful. The food definitely deserves more people visiting the restaurant. When we were there it was quite quiet and the people who were eating seemed to mainly be hotel guests. It is a shame because the food and atmosphere equal a nice evening out, people of Bristol, if you haven't had a chance check out the Spring menu at the Square give it a go. To find out more visit their website.

This meal was complimentary in return for a review, it did not impact my opinion. Rich and I decided to leave a 15% on what our bill would have been to thank the staff for the evening.