Bristol Lido – restaurant review

Soon after 5pm on a recent Wednesday afternoon, candles were put on every downstairs table at the Lido as the lights outside begun to dim. A handful of swimmers completed their lengths in the pool as the colourful awnings covering the changing cubicles rippled in the breeze.

It’s been almost a decade since the Lido opened its doors in a quiet residential street in Clifton, after the former swimming pool had lain empty for 18 years. In that time, it has become somewhat of a Bristol institution.

Whether you pop in for a coffee and a cake in the morning, a pampering session with your friends in the afternoon, or a meal from a well-drilled team headed up by the incomparable Freddy Bird (who has recently stepped from behind the stoves to in front of the camera on the Channel 4 series Hidden Restaurants alongside Michel Roux Jr) there is no place quite like the Lido.

Except that now there is. Just down the M4, Bird and his team have transformed another derelict former lido into destination venue that opened in October 2017 after three years of extensive restoration work.

The Thames Lido sits beside the River Thames at the edge of a park only a few minutes’ walk from Reading station and is at once familiar yet different to anyone who has ever visited Bristol’s Lido.

The team have turned Reading Lido into an equally desirable destination

On a sunny Sunday morning, there was only one table remaining in the Thames Lido’s tapas bar area. One difference between here and Bristol is that the bar takes up one end of the glistening water, with the restaurant also on the ground floor stretching the length of the pool.

Bird’s food, however – Moorish and Mediterranean cooking with a strong focus on provenance and with many dishes cooked over fire and in wood ovens – is immediately recognisable, even among the tapas dishes washed down by Maeloc dry cider from Galicia in northern Spain and the Lido’s own lager.

Croquettes (£5.50 to £7 or £14.50 for a selection of three) were a highlight of what soon became a well-stocked table, hands of adults and children alike ensnaring the latest goods as they arrived, while on another table a group of friends toasted each other with glasses of champagne.

The crab meat croquettes were a little too subtle, the jamon pata negra a delight, but the highlight of the three was the salt cod with a sweet tomato sauce and aioli.

The crispy and fluffy patatas bravas (£4.50) were also served with aioli, while membrillo (quince paste) made a double appearance, first with the pork fat and rosemary cured manchego (£5.50) and then alongside a selection of delicious Spanish cheeses (£9.50).

The Thames Lido may be a mere spring chicken compared to its elder sibling in Clifton, but it seems to have already hit its stride.

Bristol Lido’s upstairs restaurant is run by the incomparable Freddie Bird

Back in Bristol a couple of weeks’ later, as a waitress finished putting candles on each table in the cafe, the chatter from the kitchen was an indication of another busy service ahead in the upstairs restaurant.

The menu changes daily but a glance at this particular Wednesday evening saw the likes of a wood-roasted halibut, celeriac, saffron and mussel broth (£21.50); charcoal-grilled onglet (£20.50) and a rib of rubia gallega beef for two to share at £29.50 per person.

A bottle of Estrella 1906 Reserva was in order as the conversation turned to the best places in Bristol to recommend for visitors from out of town if they wanted a special food and drink experience.

With the sound of the kitchen upstairs again preparing for a busy evening service, the Lido is very near the top of those Bristol recommendations and now also for anybody fancying a trip down the M4.

Bristol Lido, Oakfield Place, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 2BJ
0117 332 3970
www.lidobristol.com

Thames Lido, Napier Road, Reading, RG1 8FR
01182 070 640
www.thameslido.com