Bristol, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

Bristol harbourside veteran Severnshed has made way for this newcomer, which will benefit from the locations and outside terrace of its predecessor. Now under the ownership of Sunshine Capital group, the new "relaxed lounge and pub" will serve "classic dishes done well" according to chef Ross Gibbens (ex-Wellbourne), with "fish and chips, steak and chips, pasta dishes and more favourites" on the menu.

Cleverchefs, founded by chef Nick Collins, launched here in the refurbished Queen Victoria House in Redland in September 2020. Sibling to The Kitchen in Steepleton.

Replacing the popular Birch, as of October 2020, is this restaurant that doubles as a deli (future-proofing at its best) from Pegs Quinn, formerly head chef at Bianchis, and with stints at Pasta Ripiena and The River Cafe under his belt.

“WOW!” – “every mouthful is wonderful and foodgasmic” at the Sanchez-Iglesias family’s “sensational” HQ: a “flawless experience” that has regularly won a place at the top of our list of the UK’s top 100 restaurants. It marries a “stunning, stone-walled venue” on the ground floor of the city-centre’s former General Hospital with “sublime” dishes from a twelve-course tasting menu, with the option of “perfectly matched wine flights”. Getting a reservation is no mean feat though: availability is released on the first Tuesday of each month at noon (UK time) for the period four months in advance! And even fans “dislike being required to pay (non-refundable) in advance at the time of booking”.

Chef-owner George Livesey’s “very adventurous tasting menus” – full of “unusual ingredients and foraged items” – have made this modest-looking, former greengrocers a top star of the Bristol dining scene. Some reporters reckon it’s “a bit of a Marmite restaurant – love it or hate it”, but all are converted by the time they leave, and if some dishes “don’t look appealing on the menu or on the black plates, they certainly taste good”. Service is “friendly and well-informed”, and there’s an “interesting, mainly organic wine list”.

2019 Review: This “fantastic little restaurant in a shipping container overlooking the waterfront” seats 14 diners plus four at the bar, treating them to food that is “simply wonderful, deeply flavoursome and succulent”. Chef Elliott Lidstone returned to his native West Country after successful stints at The Empress in Hackney and L’Ortolan in Reading.

“The most innovative, original and seasonal food in Bristol at the moment” is the claim made by fans of Jan Ostle and Mary Wilson’s Redlands bistro – “a very small place” offering a “reassuringly limited choice of very well-sourced dishes (magnolia blossom and mackerel a surprise and a success) with service that’s charming, enthusiastic and helpful”. At the end of October 2019, the couple announced a further step towards hyper-locality, with new menus incorporating ever-more produce from their own expanding farm.

A “quirky”, even “crazy place for a meal” – a “Victorian lido where you sit and watch Bristolians swim lengths in the open air” while you eat behind glass in the former viewing gallery. This “unexpected venue has even more unexpected culinary standards”, serving “rather interesting food with distinctive Mediterranean elements” – a legacy of former Moro chef Freddy Bird, who ran the kitchen here for 10 years – “and service that is friendly rather than professional. The pool and the building are the real stars, though”.

2017 Review: “Tucked away in a small cul-de-sac”, this shabby-chic Clifton Village bistro has been “a favourite for over 20 years”; it’s tipped for its yummy cakes, “great evening meals” (with a Med slant), and “great al fresco brunch on a sunny day!”