The Bridge Bar & Restaurant

Rating: 1

We ate dinner here in July 2026.

Cauliflower steak with mash and salad
Korean fried chicken with rice and slaw

On a Friday night at 6:30, The Bridge was doing a steady trade in the 50+ crowd. Perhaps it was the tellies showing 4 different sports simultaneously, perhaps it was the 70s jams with music videos played two seconds out of sync, perhaps it was the tantalising offer of free snacks at 7pm. We were very keen to ensure that we got our share of all - women’s motor racing, the Blues Brothers, and we made damn sure we had purchased a drink between 630 and 7 which gave us the coveted access to grab some fried goodies from the roving grazing platter which went past our table between 7 and 7:05.

Much as we love free fried goods, we paid a hefty price. Perhaps not financially, the monetary cost was actually quite reasonable, but the spiritual cost was heavy. We had three different cocktails and they were all bad. We do give The Bridge a modicum of credit for having a cocktail menu at all, as it was stretching their bounds. But the Tom Collins and Negroni were both awful, and the on-tap espresso martini wasn’t worth having.

Neither was the food. The cauliflower steak was woody as heck and not crispy as advertised. It at least had an interesting spice blend, which is more than you could say about the bland mash. The Korean fried chicken, despite a tasty sauce, was extremely dry. The rice was offensive. It had clearly been sitting in the rice cooker for some time, long enough to form a skin/shell. Give your rice a fluff, you monsters!