Noah’s launches in Bristol serving fish & chips and seafood

Husband and wife Dan and Joie Rosser have opened their first restaurant together in Bristol serving premium fish and chips and seafood. 

Noah’s, named after the couple’s son, sits snuggly under a flyover with views of the River Avon and the Clifton Suspension Bridge. 

A busy cafe before it closed last year, the lock-side unit appeared in the sitcom Only Fools and Horses as Sid’s Cafe. It now looks unrecognisable with wooden cladding and porthole windows giving an ark-like appearance. 

Serving 54 covers inside, Noah’s also has an outside terrace which, when opened later, has the potential to double capacity. 

The menu includes starters such as oysters, scallops, mussels and prawns, and mains such as cod, haddock, fishcakes and monkfish tail. 

A fillet of MSC certified cod, chips, mushy peas and tartare sauce costs £16.90 and cod loin £18.90.

While Dan heads up the kitchen, Joie runs the front-of-house, both supported by a team of 10.

Dan, who was previously the chef at his family’s takeaway The Oyster Shell in Bath, is excited to make the move even though it’s a slightly different proposition. He comments: “For me and Joie, we’ve worked hard in our careers and we feel very blessed to have this opportunity to open our own restaurant. It’s a tough journey ahead but our future is in our hands.

“It’s very different to The Oyster Shell in Bath, which is flooded with tourists and residents. Here we are not blessed with tourists but we are in a city that is five to six times the size of Bath so there are definitely people there, we just have to become that spot where people come to eat fish and chips and seafood.”

Considering five sites before settling on this one, Dan said it was the uniqueness of the building and its location that finally won him and Joie over. 

“It is quite an iconic building in Bristol, not just for the fact it’s been in Only Fools and Horses, but also because it’s under a flyover,” says Dan. “Every time we looked at it, it grew on us a little more. It’s one of those places that once you’ve been to, it sticks in your head so I feel like if we can do a good job here, produce some amazing fish and chips and seafood, it should become that destination that people keep coming back to.

“And the fact it was a little cafe before, it felt very British and very humble, so to be serving something as humble as fish and chips and great seafood, felt right. It’s super casual, under a flyover in a really quirky building. And, of course, there’s no better place to eat fish and chips than by the water.”

Open for just over a week, Noah’s is already making waves with residents and businesses. 

Dan adds: “We’re getting busier each day. Friday evening we did 70 plus covers and Saturday evening we did 70 plus too so word is getting out there. 

“Because of our location, Noah’s can feel like it’s on its own, but we’ve got Bristol City football ground close by and a lot of residents. I think we underestimated how much of a neighbourhood there was here because a lot of people to the restaurant have been local people, showing their faces, taking a menu and posting it on their Facebook groups. 

“The other businesses have all really welcomed us to the area too.”