Restaurants / Reviews
Salt & Malt
Day trippers sit in cars overlooking Chew Valley Lake, fish and chip lunches on their laps. While others dine inside, these sturdy souls prefer the comfort of a vehicle, eating while dozens of ducks totter around the small car park.
It’s a scene that is repeated in beauty spots up and down the land. But the food here at Salt & Malt is not quite a typical lunch.
This restaurant is part-owned by chef Josh Eggleton of the Michelin-starred Pony & Trap, located less than half a mile away.
is needed now More than ever
There are already plans afoot for a second restaurant in Bristol somewhere overlooking the Floating Harbour. For now, Chew Valley Lake is where the action is – the day trippers’ takeaways being served in what used to be the Bristol Water visitor centre.
In the former tea rooms, pots of tea and scones are still served by staff all of who used to work here before, now retrained how to pull a pint of Butcombe as well as toast a tea loaf.
A marble slab dominates the counter, while overhead are blue lampshades the size of giant lobster pots hanging from a ceiling held up with sturdy oak beams.
Fish and chips may be the main event here but that’s not all that there is. Breakfast is served from 8.30am and includes a smoked haddock and spinach omelette (£4.95); there are half a dozen sandwiches; a pasty, soup and quiche of the day; and tea, coffee and cakes served all day.
We sat in a prime corner table, on a wood-backed banquette, with views over the lake to the sailing club the other side of the water.
My line-caught haddock (£9.95) was beautifully cooked within a cripsy battered skin, crisps a shade of gold fluffy within their casing and just perfect to be dipped in the homemade tartar sauce.
Simple, yes, but done with serious aplomb.
Salt & Malt is a place where you could easily lose an afternoon. But we had to make it back to Bristol, dodging the ducks in the car park as we returned from countryside back to the city.
Salt & Malt, Wally Lane, Chew Stoke, BS40 8TF
01275 333345
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