Looney Toony. The minute I saw that on the Grosvenor Fish Bar menu, I knew that I had to taste it. I turned to Stephen and said that whatever we did eat that day, it had to include a Looney Toony.
We'd arrived in Norwich in the late afternoon after spending the day at Felbrigg Hall. After navigating some twisting alleyways and lanes, we soon spotted Grosvenor Fish Bar and I immediately fell in love with the retro feel of the place. There was a long line of people waiting to be served but we decided to head downstairs to the eat-in section.
We had a choice of rooms in which to sit downstairs and chose one with a vintage food truck in. With my mind set firmly to the English seaside of the 1950s, we turned to the menu.
We decided to choose a number of dishes to ensure we got a good feel for the variety of food offered. That is blogger speak for, we were ravenous and made complete gluttons of ourselves. Perhaps it was the reasonable prices that made us underestimate the generous size of the portions but as you can see, we received a veritable feast.
The first thing we agreed on was the Looney Toony, of course, followed by the Shark Bites and 5 Quid Squid, served with Chips & Cheese.
The Looney Toony is a tuna steak in batter, wrapped in a wholewheat roll with lettuce and wasabi mayo. As soon as I bit into it I experienced an explosion of flavour in my mouth and was immediately regretful of my decision to share everything with Stephen. I knew that I couldn’t finish everything on my own but I wasn’t quite ready to share the good bits either. The Looney Toony was delicious and I certainly understand why it is one of their most popular dishes.
Next I tasted the Shark Bites, shark nuggets served with a miso dip. I thought they tasted not dissimilar to cod but slightly less oily as white fish goes. Stephen disagreed but politely said that shark must be an acquired taste. I concurred and polished off the rest of them.
The 5 Quid Squid was a serving of large crispy squid rings in batter served with garlic aioli. Naturally I steered clear of the garlic dip but the rings on their own were very tasty indeed and I enjoyed them. These were Stephen's second favourite.
Together with our meal, we enjoyed a massive portion of Chips & Cheese which was exactly what it says on the board. We so enjoyed the chips that we stayed an extra ten minutes just to eat a few more. It is also possible that we had eaten so much that we couldn’t actually move.
Grosvenor Fish Bar was such a fantastic and unexpectedly fun experience that I'd definitely recommend it and will certainly return when next I'm in Norwich.
I loved the atmosphere of the place and noted that like us, many of the patrons felt comfortable enough to spend a long time there, relaxing and chatting or even sitting alone and reading. It is not often that an eatery feels like home and it is easy to see why Grosvenor Fish Bar is achieving somewhat of a cult status in Norwich.
As much as I loved it, we did eventually have to leave but we did so knowing that we had discovered an absolute gem of a place.
Grosvenor Fish Bar
28 Lower Goat Lane,
Norwich,
NR2 1EL.
Opening Hours
Mon - Sat 11:30am - 7:30pm (ish)
Closed on Sundays.
We visited Grosvenor Fish Bar during our visit to the Norfolk & Norwich Festival, one of the UK’s longest-running and largest international arts festivals featuring film, dance, contemporary music and a host of other events.
I’d like to thank Visit Norwich, Look Sideways–East and Grosvenor Fish Bar for inviting me to try out the menu. Our visit was complimentary and as always, all views, enthusiasm and gluttony are entirely my own.
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