Noah’s is on Spike Island. That’s Noah’s the fish restaurant, not the builder of the biblical ark, and that’s Spike Island in Bristol, not the Spike Island in Cheshire that was taken over by the Stone Roses back in 1990. It’s important to clear these things up. Spike Island in Bristol is an old harbour area with working boatyards, art spaces, a museum and several pubs.
If people tell you that Noah’s is “a funny little place under a flyover”, do believe them. Does anyone, I wonder, visit this place for the first time, see its odd, curved-timber structure hiding where you’d expect only skateboarders to congregate, and not wonder if they are lost? Inside, however, once you’ve climbed up a small set of steps, all uncertainty falls away. This is an elegant space in which to have a proper lunch, with turquoise banquettes, a smattering of maritime decor and a terrace at the back for warmer days. The place has about it a “Captain Birdseye opens a fancy 1980s wine bar with Simon Le Bon” vibe – and in the best possible sense.
