Loch Fyne, Queen Charlotte Street: Review

While there are some chain restaurants I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit, some of them are pretty damn good. With a chain restaurant, you often know what to expect: the menus are the same, the staff training is generally the same, and the standard of food is often similar across all of their restaurants.

The last time I dined at a Loch Fyne restaurant was back home in Essex a few years ago – a family visit that combined great food and service with a very reasonable price. My trip to the Bristol branch of the fish restaurant chain this week, I’m pleased to say, was no different.

Standing proudly in the listed “Old Granary”, there’s no denying that the exterior of Loch Fyne’s Queen Charlotte Street branch is impressive. The inside is pretty smart too: the walls are clad with beautiful wood panelling and adorned with fishy photographs, the wooden floor boards look as though they’ve been in place for some time, and the lighting is able to be dimmed later on into the evening for a more intimate and romantic feel. The natural wooden table tops sit on top of white wooden legs which, we were told by the manager, are the only trace left of an age when a hard-to-maintain all-white colour scheme prevailed.

Seated at a table by the window, we were impressed with how full the restaurant was: a restaurant that is now entering its tenth year of trading and shows no sign of letting up. As soon as we were seated, we were offered water and told about the day’s specials, before being left to browse the extensive menu.

My starter of haggis and seared Scottish scallops (£7.95) was beautifully presented: a mound of peppery haggis topped with succulent scallops, still with the roe attached. Small chunks of caramelised pear added a sweetness that complemented that of the scallops, and there was plenty of texture – so far, so good.

Chris’ lobster bisque (£6.75) was served in a mini tureen, accompanied with a flavoursome saffron aioli, two generous slices of toasted granary bread and a small pot of finely grated Gruyère that melted perfectly into the bisque. Full of rich and warming flavour, he was certainly impressed.

For my main, two meaty pieces of perfectly poached smoked haddock (£12.95), the smokiness pretty intense. The fish sat on a bed of creamy colcannon and was surrounded by a well-seasoned mustard crème fraiche – the whole thing topped by a poached egg which had a perfectly liquid yolk but whose white was still too runny for my liking. I also ordered a side of pan fried samphire (£3.50), the firm texture and salty flavour of which was perfect, it could just have done with a little more of its garlic butter dressing.

Chris chose from Loch Fyne’s “Fish Bar” menu, which allows you to select a type of fish, the way in which you would like it cooked, a sauce and two sides: a great mix and match option that offers plenty of choice. He opted for the farmed sea bass (£15.95), which he chose to have pan fried and served with parsley sauce, twice cooked chips and samphire. The fish itself was beautifully cooked – firm and sweet with the skin nicely crisped. The twice cooked chips were a little underseasoned but with perfectly crisp exteriors and fluffy centres, while the parsley sauce was a bit of a disappointment: watery and lacking in flavour. Still, he said that the quality of the cooking of the fish was so good that the sauce wasn’t actually needed.

When it came to dessert, I was swayed by the “pie of the day”, which on the evening of our visit proved to be a pear and frangipane tart (£5.50), served warm with custard. The filling was full of flavour, sweet but not overpoweringly so, with a good ratio of pear to frangipane. They make a decent custard at Loch Fyne too – the only let down was the pastry, which was far too thick and without a great deal of flavour.

Whisky-lover Chris chose the intriguingly named “Walk In The Glen” (£6.25): a whisky and Amaretti biscuit-infused pannacotta. The dish, as our waitress told us, was designed to resemble the mountains: the pannacotta wonderfully wobbly and with a decent amount of whisky flavour, and surrounded by heaps of both shaved and crystallised chocolate, crushed meringue, fresh raspberries, whole Amaretti biscuits and a raspberry sorbet. The combination of flavours worked well together, although Chris believed that the meringue was a little redundant…

Service throughout our meal was fantastic, the waitress incredibly friendly, happy and helpful, and the manager on hand throughout the evening in case he was needed. The restaurant had a real buzz to it, and we were impressed with the breadth of the menu and the quality of the food that we enjoyed on the evening. It’s no wonder Loch Fyne’s Bristol restaurant is still going strong.

Please note: our meal was received free of charge, but this in no way impacted on our opinion. We were not obliged to write a positive review, and the venue did not see this review before it was put up on the site.