Lido - Clifton

In November 2008, the Lido restaurant opened in the unusual location of Bristol's renovated Victorian Lido and it's certainly causing excited ripples amongst the gastronomes. In a quiet street in Clifton, the Grade II listed baths have been painstakingly and sympathetically restored by the new owners, Bristol Glass Boat Company to its original 1850 Victorian grandeur, but with all the modern necessities for the 21st century. The first floor restaurant is set with modern furniture and looks out of its floor to ceiling glass doors onto the outdoor swimming pool, with its row of candy striped curtained cubicles.

Head chef is Freddy Bird who trained at London's Moro restaurant, renowned for their award-winning Moorish cuisine and this is where he takes his inspiration to create the Lido's seasonal menu. To say that he sources his ingredients with great care is something of an understatement, if you check out their website you will see Freddy searching for truffles and shooting pheasant at Clinger Farm, Somerset, picking out pigs for a whole suckling pigs dinner and even stalking deer, which he will personally skin and butcher. There is also a kitchen garden where they grow their own produce and the restaurant features a wood-fired oven using timber from sustainably managed forest in the UK. On offer there might be veal kidneys, pied de mouton, smoked green wheat and yoghurt or salt cod, spinach fritters and aioli before mains of pheasant, pumpkin, pine nuts, pancetta, Pedro Ximenez and polenta or wood roast grey mullet, blood orange, fennel and potato salad. They have introduced a great selection of unusual ice cream flavours such as chocolate and stout or yoghurt and Seville orange marmalade or maybe you would prefer the zabaglione, rhubarb and ginger snap for dessert.

A ground-floor café is open all day serving breakfast and tapas, with fresh cakes, pastries, sourdough and fougasse baked daily by in-house baker Laura Hart and a selection of wine and sherry by the glass.