Bristol, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

2020 Review: “Elegant and imaginative cuisine” and an excellent standard of service again won nothing but rave reviews for James Wilkins & Christine Vayssade’s small restaurant in a Redland sidestreet, whose ambiance was “greatly improved” a couple of years ago “with a new feature street-art wall and intimate décor”. But in October 2019, the pair put it up for sale in order to pursue an opportunity overseas: hence we’ve removed the rating for now.

“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!”

Jamie Randall and Olivia Barry’s “slightly sparse and understated”, “bare-walled” venue near the docks and Old Town is in its fifth year now, but support shows no sign of slacking off. Its imaginative tasting menus deliver “very interesting blends of tastes and textures” and results are “excellent”.

“A harbourside container in the docks” makes for a suitably hipster location for Rob Howell and his partner Megan Oakley’s “unpretentious and fun” three-year-old. It serves a small plates menu that’s “heavily veg-based” and dishes are “interesting and delicious… without being ridiculous”.