Neon Fish named best restaurant in Sheffield thanks to 'finest seafood'

On Monday, September 12 the fourth annual British Restaurant Awards were held in London at the Porchester Hall.

In total, nine restaurants from Sheffield were nominated for the prestigious awards. These were Neon Fish, Piccolo’s, Ego Mediterranean, Silversmiths, Vero Gusto, Domo Restaurant, Revolucion De Cuba, Whirlow Hall Farm and Joro.

Sheffield would come away from the 2022 awards with one winner – Neon Fish at Millhouses.

The popular seafood restaurant opened very recently in September 2021 and was nominated for two awards at this year’s British Restaurant Awards – Best New Restaurant and Best Sheffield Restaurant.

On Monday evening, the restaurant won the Best Restaurant in Sheffield award, something co-owner, Cary Brown, described as a ‘massive’ achievement for a one-year-old restaurant in these ‘uncertain’ times.

"For us, this is massive,” said Cary. “To open a restaurant in these times, uncertain times, and with a new team and new customers, and with seafood being quite a challenge anywhere, nevermind in the middle of the country, it is really fantastic to achieve this in a year.

"The first year has been fantastic – we were flowing and having to turn people away, fully booked every evening. Maybe a month ago when everyone was talking about utilities and everything, we had a bit of, although we were still busy, you could sense people were more cautious (with eating out).

"As we are more expensive due to the product we supply, it is going to affect us, but we are in a great area for that and people still want to come out and have our food. So it (cost-of-living increase) has affected us slightly – but I still could not wish for a better first year.”

When Neon Fish was nominated for the Best Restaurant in Sheffield and Best New Restaurant Award, which is put forward by customers, Cary and his team were delighted to simply be nominated and did not expect to win.

Competing against some of the best in Sheffield, the seafood specialists managed to come out on top and scoop the Best Restaurant in Sheffield award, to Cary’s surprise.

"When they read the results I just said ‘really, is that us?’ and it was an absolutely fantastic feeling. This award is not just about me, it is about the team.

"We just feel privileged and honoured that we have won this award, it gives a nice little boost to all the staff here who have for the last year, despite everything thrown at them, have been brilliant.”

According to Cary, two of the most popular dishes at Neon Fish are the Monk Fish dish and a ‘Seafood Slammers’ dish, which is the name of an old restaurant of Cary’s. Cary does add that they serve a varied menu with ‘so much’ fish.

Neon Fish can be found in Millhouses, Sheffield at The Park Lodge, Archer Rd, Sheffield S8 0LA.