What is it like to eat at New Moon Tapas in Clifton, Bristol? | National Dish Restaurant Review

What’s it like to eat at New Moon Tapas, Clifton, Bristol?

First off, this restaurant is situated in a stunning part of Bristol. A great city which has attracted a lot of investment over the last 20 years, Bristol is going from strength to strength – it also happens to be the authors’ home town.

Clifton, where the author was actually born, is beautiful.

Five plus story sandstone townhouses set within an urban village vibe with rabbit warrens of narrow streets overlooked by Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s ‘Clifton Suspension Bridge’ spanning the dramatic Avon Gorge and…it’s even got a zoo. So, naturally, with all that going on, Clifton carries an air of elite superiority – a bit like London. That’s OK though, cause it is lush (sic).

You are spoilt for choice for places to eat and grab a drink, every establishment designed to attract just the right clientele – in this instance…my kids, who’d visited the aforementioned zoo.

I didn’t pre-search, I wanted to have a wander round, browse and pick somewhere – like the tourist I was (in my own hood) and I stumbled upon New Moon Tapas.

A few tables outside, like many places in Clifton, the frontage matches the building, I am sure there are many restrictions (no golden arches here). The large front window gives way to a moody, dark, atmospheric bar area with rather few tables. The layout is all over the place, as you’d expect in such old domestic use buildings – some tables in the front, some out back and more downstairs.

We sat in the front, no reservation as this was a late lunch, I’d recommend reservations for the obvious peak times. I’ve used this space for the main picture, it’s nice. Lots going on, very shabby chic with lots of out of place bits and pieces put to good use – I liked the old birdcage with bottles of wine in it.

Front of house were great, very accommodating as we had kids with us AND a serious nut allergy to deal with. On this point I must fully commend them, they took the nut allergy very seriously, thanked me for telling them, and said information went straight to the chef followed by a warning as to what did and didn’t have nuts – nice work guys.

At one point, I did get called mate, which is a bit poor – but, under the circumstances of ultra careful nut allergy petrified parents, we’ll let that slide.

The food is a bit of a coincidence for the theme of my blog. First and foremost it’s a tapas restaurant, with the usual fayre – but, New Moon Tapas also have a guest cuisine on a monthly basis – our turn was Israeli – check out the blackboard pic for the upcoming themes. This month (September 2017) is the arrival of Nepal – of which we have a couple of Nepalese recipes ourselves.

The selection:

• Patatas Bravas – loads of ways to serve this, ours was ‘sauce on the side’ – I prefer it all in one and hot. The sauce was sweet, salty and smokey, which was nice, but lacked any heat – it needed chilli to lift it
• Crispy Corn Cakes – these were fishcake style…uhhh…cakes of corn. They were good, lovely corn yellow inside, fluffy, crunchy topped with an Avocado salsa and sided with a Mango and Lime salad – was good
• Crispy Fried Calamari – this, served with a char-grilled lime and Sriracha (a Thai chilli sauce) mayonnaise was spot on – it went very quick, carnage – my daughter went for me, scary

•  Lamb Cutlets – these had a lavender and honey glaze – they were, OK. That doesn’t mean bad, but they also needed a lift – Parma Violet flavoured meat, maybe
• Trio of Israeli dip – this is from the Food Tour specials board, Baba Ganoush (we had this on the side WALNUTS!!!), Hummus, Za’atar spiced beetroot with goats cheese served with pita. This was stunning, shame that it’s not available all the time, buts the nature of their little food tour – it does demonstrate they take it seriously though.

Overall for the food, was OK but not blow you away. I’d say very pricey though – which drops the ratings a notch. Drink wise, standard wine list and cocktails.

In summary – nice, not amazing, staff would have got a 5 if it wasn’t for calling me mate, you won’t be pissed off – could be fun for dinner.

We paid the bill to keep it real

Atmosphere
Food
Drink
Staff
Value
Overall
Average

 

PRICE: £ £ £

WEBSITE: newmoontapas.co.uk

TELEPHONE: T: 01172393858 or T: 07521 936362