A fishmonger on Gloucester Road has opened an outdoor seafood bar serving elegant dishes at "reasonable" prices. Perch is a new venture for the summer season from Dan Stern, who has been running The Fish Shop since 2010.
Customers have been telling The Fish Shop for years to start serving food to complement and celebrate its high-quality range of fish and seafood. The idea was temporarily put on hold during the pandemic, launching this May as a new summer project.
Dan said: "It's not a full meal but it's a seafood tapas and people should be able to sit and have a reasonably priced glass of wine in the summer weather."
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Most of the plates are between £4 and £6 serving delicacies such as seabass ceviche, hot roasted smoked salmon pate, salmon sashimi with tamari, smoked anchovies and oysters with mignonette sauce. The beautiful Lindisfarne Oysters are available at just £2 each.
Perch is managed by Leon White, who used to own a bar in the Alps and worked for Averys wine merchants. Averys is also supplying the fish bar's wine list from just £3.50 a glass.
"The idea is people can come out and have a treat, either make an evening of it or just stop by for 15 minutes and have some oysters and a glass of wine," Dan added.
The seafood bar has been well received so far having been inspired by fishmongers like Prawn on the Lawn and London Shellfish Company opening similar in-house venues. Perch is walk-ins only and has around seven alfresco tables, but Dan explained there is always somewhere to perch either on barrel tables or along the wall.
"Some customers are coming in and we're actually selling a bit of fish in the evenings as well. That's been a nice added benefit. We just hope that the dry spell continues and it never rains again," he joked.
Opening hours are currently from Thursday to Saturday from 6pm to 10pm, and Sunday from 1pm to 7pm. No pre-booking is available for Perch. More information about The Fish Shop is available online.
Perch at The Fish Shop. 183 Gloucester Road BS7 8BG. @perchbristol
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