by Louis Hessey-Antell. Find Louis on Instagram here.
**Please note: New Moon On The Quay invited Breaks and Bites in, and paid for our food and drink. This in no way impacted our opinion. We were not obliged to write a positive review, and New Moon On The Quay didn’t see this review before publication.**
Not more than seven nights went by between Fish Tales and today before we were nicely seated opposite the docks at New Moon On The Quay, observing Bristol’s vibrant nightlife from the comfort of an esoterically-shaped building. Just outside sits a miniature Eden Project-like dome, with several seats and a table inside to take advantage of the warmer seasons when they inevitably hit. My old employee Henrietta is on the bar, TK is far away, Nick is the teddy bear in charge of making this an evening to remember, and the team in the kitchen clearly know what they’re doing. The menu reads like a slightly more sprawling version of the Clifton restaurant; this is a place of small plates, sunshine, and refreshing cocktails when the time is right.
At the time of writing, we were only a few days away from the winter solstice, so everyone is snuggled up inside this classy joint, surrounded by office parties, dates, miscellaneous Christmas dos, and the marvel that is the loose drum of the River Avon trickling by outside. Estrellas landed on the table, and we scanned the menu. I saw the river and thought ‘crayfish’, but this kitchen thought ‘squid’; probably because you can’t source squid directly from the water outside (although I have heard you can get them somewhere in Bristol).
The first course: stuffed artichoke heart; a well-plucked artichoke, filled with mozzarella, smoky aubergine, and coated in parmesan, this was an inoffensive but pleasing opening shot. A very soft thing, it was, but sometimes that’s what you want. A yielding outer layer of edible leaves enveloped the indulgent centre, and nothing was left on the plate once we were done. I was predicting a pattern now; everything to be eaten would be eaten.
Second was calamari with a spicy sriracha and dill mayonnaise. Dill-crusted squid rings lined up like soldiers alongside a swipe of spicy mayo, I can’t say this reinvented the wheel, but I would skate around on this vehicle’s wheels any day of the week. I knew this wasn’t going to be beaten in terms of moreishness, so we scooped ’em into our gobs and prepared for thirds!
This was a different kettle of fish altogether: salt cod fritters with a chilli salsa. These were crisp clouds of rivery goodness (don’t think mud, think freshly caught trout), salt cod blended with various other elements, and then fried to a lava-like hue. A few black specks to add the ‘back of the throat burn’, and there you have them! Coupled with the salsa, bravo.
When I returned to my seat after a (gender-neutral) toilet break, our lamb cutlets were waiting for us. Helen was incisor-deep into one, finger-style, while I carved little cubes off and made fork tine skewers with the asparagus and green beans. The lamb had a certain bite to it, but when cooked medium-rare and coated in a deep, meaty reduction, it went down a treat. So far, so good.
The brown chicken curry was peppery, and sort of a take on a gumbo (I think, but maybe such dishes cross-pollinate). Deboned legs flaked away into a rich curry inspired by a traditional Jordanian dish called Mansaf. This is my first time tasting it, though, so if there are any Jordanians in the city, now’s the time to verify this! It didn’t blow us away, but we were already kind of blown away by the time it got to us. It is hard to spot a mis-cue with any of these dishes. They know what they’re doing, let’s say.
I neglected to mention that we had a lucky dip in Fish Tales regarding the cocktails; we didn’t choose them- the drinks chose us, courtesy of James. Nick, in this case, offered us a couple of their specials. In unison, we asked for an ice-cream lucky dip, a Purple Haze, and a White Russian. I don’t know whether Henrietta mixed the drinks, or whether Nick (who does get involved in fortifying gin, and such) was the culprit, but these weren’t Fish Tales level. I suppose they did have to follow Catch 22, so they’re getting no insults from me, but I think James has the potential to be influential in the overall culture of New Moon et al. Bad? No! Just 9/10 instead of 10/10 for the cocktail offering at New Moon On The Quay.
Verdict
8/10