The Lido - Bristol food review
Posted on: 2017-03-14
Our rating:
Sitting a storey above a glowing open-air swimming pool, The Lido proffers gustatory produce which aptly befits its brilliant surroundings.
Esoterically tucked away off Southleigh Road is The Lido, an open-air swimming pool-come-spa and an unexpected oasis in the otherwise thirsty surrounds of Clifton’s arid suburbia. The accompanying restaurant adorns its first floor and looks out over the swimmers in the water below which begins, with an eerie beauty, to glow comparatively brighter as evening draws on and the sunlight wanes. The quality of the restaurant’s produce is equally stunning, demonstrable as it serves up three courses of food comfortably worthy of its attractive setting.
Once the extensive discussion surrounding the selection of starters has abated, proffering the choice of wood roast quail (£8.50) and wood roast scallops (£11.50) for myself and my guest respectively, we are presented with flutes of prosecco and bread with olive oil.
Both dishes are served promptly after this, each of them presented impeccably: the quail, packing a surprising amount of meat into its gamey frame, arrives atop of a smattering of zaalouk and garlic yoghurt, while each of the three scallops come in their own shell and drizzled generously with garlic butter. Each dish is more than tasty, with their respective contents having been immaculately wood roasted downstairs - the kitchen’s particular proclivity for cooking thus attested to by the wall upstairs lined with chopped logs.
It is not long after the downing of the outermost set of cutlery that our mains (charcoal grilled Pyrenean lamb (£22.50) and slow roast pork belly (£19.50)) arrive in earnest, exhibiting presentation to more than match the preceding. The lamb is arranged in five slices, uniform in their shape and colour, which each one having been cooked to an identically gorgeous pink. They lie on a bed of arrocina beans, with an accoutremental dollop of salsa verde providing additional flavour in flashes. Suitable liquid accompaniment comes courtesy of a bottle of a 2015 Volteo Verdejo sauvignon blanc, from Spain’s Navarra region which lies just south of the lamb’s home in the Pyrenees.
The pork belly, meanwhile, which has been slowly cooked to effectively eek out maximum tenderness, is flanked by an arsenal of roasted winter vegetables which conspire to hide a reservoir of quince alioli. While perhaps lacking the elegance exhibited by the lamb, the dish has heartiness and flavour in abundance.
With plates left gleaming clean, only minimal stomach space remained in which to stash dessert. Perhaps optimistically, a pairing of cheeseboard (£8.50) and blood orange and Campari sorbet (£4.50) are elected - and subsequently polished off with pursuit of tastiness favoured over adherence to actual bodily limit.
Everything about The Lido feels a cut above its competitors; its setting, its produce, its service all operate with a sheen of quality though retaining the simple charm that ensures that the restaurant never falls into the trap of pretention. A real treat that demands revisiting - whenever the purse strings allow.
Atmosphere 5
Value 3
Food 5
Service 5
Article by:
An ardent Geordie minus the accent, Sam seemingly strove to get as far away from the Toon as possible, as soon as university beckoned. Three undergraduate years at UoB were more than ample time for Bristol (as it inevitably does) to get under his skin, and so here he remains: reporting, as Assistant Editor, on the cultural happenings which so infatuated him with the city. Catch him at sam@365bristol.com.
