Restaurants / Reviews
The Jetty – restaurant review
Corn Street, once part of Bristol’s financial and trading centre, shows little sign of its banking past.
Until quite recently you could still walk in off the street to fill in a paying in slip with a pen on a plastic chain under towering dome ceilings.
But now up and down the road you are more likely to find bars and restaurants – and soon hotels – than pensioners and chequebooks.
is needed now More than ever
Built between 1854 and 1858, the former Lloyds Bank opposite St Nick’s Market is being transformed into the luxury Bristol Harbour Hotel & Spa. And as part of the renovation there is also a posh eatery which has already opened its doors.
The Jetty is a chain of four seafood restaurants whose fifth installment now takes up the southern corner of the old Lloyds building, sharing an entrance with the hotel.
The grand old banking hall is screened off down the middle to create a stand alone restaurant and kitchen, with hotel rooms on the other side.
The high ceilings remain, and underneath are tables with generous two-seater sofas which sit below the old windows looking onto Small Street. The decor is simple and smart and the service is professional.
It’s almost slightly jarring at first, if you are used to a city where the buzz of informal street food and DIY supper club pop-ups seem to take all the plaudits – and pull some of the best chefs – these days.
On a recent lunchtime visit, the restaurant was quiet – apart from the occasional bang and crash from ongoing work in the reception area.
The menu was a joy to read, packed with traditional dishes like potted mackerel and whole fish including plaice (15.50), lemon sole (£23.50) and sea bream (£20.95).
There was plenty of choice from the lunch menu of two courses for £17.50 (£4.50 extra for an additional course). Our starter, the crab benedict, was made of delicate shredded crab shaped onto an english muffin and with two poached eggs on top drenched in a rich, yellow hollandaise with sizable bits of chives sprinkled on top.
For mains, the sea bream with atlantic prawns was perfectly pan fried with a crisp skin on top. The plain white flesh was lifted by the accompanying pickled samphire and salsa verde. The addition of fregola, however, was probably a little unnecessary, adding very little to the dish.
The moules frites were sat in a rich, creamy sauce – perfect for dipping the side portion of some of the finest french fries you’ll find in Bristol; thin, lightly salted and crunchy with bright golden shells.
But the best was saved for dessert in the form of a gin and tonic coupe, a delicate dish with chunks of lime jelly, crumbled lemon meringue, lemon sorbet, lime syrup, and gin and tonic ice cream.
The main menu is much more expansive and offers everything from sharing plates to mixed grills, as well as a few non-fish and vegetarian options. The wine list is even more detailed and there are cocktails a plenty if you feel like splashing the cash.
As one of only two tables in the restaurant, the service was perhaps a little too keen – being asked if your food is okay four times is three times too many in all honesty.
But as word gets out about the Jetty, and when the hotel completes the renovation of this former bank, it’s bound to be bustling here again – and not just with pensioners and their paying in books.
The Jetty, 53-55 Corn Street, BS1 1HT
www.bristol-harbour-hotel.co.uk