Bristol Restaurant Guide

2021 Review: “Better food than expected” is to be discovered in this striking, light-filled (perhaps “noisy”) space – part of the recent £25m renovation of the UK’s oldest theatre, dating back to, er, see if you can guess. Open all day until an hour after the last evening performance, it aims to be a community hub, serving a menu devised by head chef Coco Barone (ex-Glassboat and Rosemarino). There are also pre-theatre deals, obvs.

2021 Review: It’s not fancy (wood banquettes and orange school chairs), but this small new Redcliffe Italian turns out “wonderful” fresh stuffed pasta – a USP in this country – that’s full of “interesting seasonal flavours”. The owners, behind Pasta Loco, are fast building a local empire, having opened a deli/café, La Sorella, two doors down from the premises in May 2019, followed by trattoria Bianchi in the old Bell’s Diner (RIP).

2021 Review: Bar Buvette (RIP) has been taken over by (chef) Cosmo and (ex-lawyer, nowadays front of house) Lily Sterck, who met at Bristol Uni and whose CVs include well-known London restaurants, St John and Luca. Local press reports say it’s agreeable, white painted looks and short menu of straightforward Mediterranean-influenced cooking (including pasta, charcuterie and ice cream made on the premises) make it one of the best local openings of last year.

“Always up to a high standard” and “buzzing at weekends” – the Brizzle branch of Carlo Distefano’s glossy national group has long been a consistent performer with “great food, and excellent decor”.

In the unusual and attractive setting of a former river-police station, “this long-established dockside restaurant still continues to offer value and quality, despite the change in ownership a few years ago (to Youngs)”, although nowadays in a much less foodie vein than in its heyday over 20 years ago. As of a 2018 refit, diners can opt for the Pontoon Bar, a popular brunch/lunch haunt, while upstairs “pre-theatre meals are also popular”.

This August 2020 newcomer in the docks replaces the long-standing Servernshed brasserie and aims for the style of a ‘relaxed lounge and pub’ while serving a menu of staples. No reports as yet, but – with the splendid waterside location and outside terrace of its predecessor – it sounds like a similar package for a relaxed bite.

“An extensive tasting menu with amazing flavours” awaits diners at this understated, bare-walls-and-stripped-wood venue near the docks. Adventurous chefs Jamie Randall and locally born Olivia Barry both worked for some top London chefs (Galvin Brothers and Angela Harnett among others) before setting up on their own account in more laid-back Bristol.

This “lovely tapas bar in the fashionable Cargo development” has earned strong ratings across the board since taking over Russell Norman’s Spuntino shipping-container perch. It is a sibling of Wapping Wharf neighbour Cargo Cantina and Bravas in Cotham, in Kieran and Imogen Waite’s Season & Taste group.

2021 Review: Masterchef finalist, Larkin Cen’s original venture is housed in a converted shipping container in Wapping Wharf, serving Asian street food featuring bao, xiao sharing plates, noodle and rice dishes (and a salted caramel ice cream bao dessert that’s gone down a storm locally). He also has a number of ‘Woky Ko’ spin offs, including a new ‘Jing Xu’ branch in Clifton, which – in September 2019 – replaced his ‘Kauto’ branch. The new business is based on Siu Lap Dong (BBQ meats).

Elliott Lidstone, ex-of the acclaimed L'Ortolan and Hackney gastroboozer The Empress, upped sticks to the West Country for this tiny (14-cover) venture in a pair of shipping containers belonging to Bristol harbourside's Cargo development. His produce-led British menu is “always a winner”, with equal amounts of commentary dedicated to the “exceptional wine list”.

Vegetables take the lead roles without edging meat and fish off-stage at this “fun” dockside container venue with a nice terrace for decent weather. It’s from Josh Eggleston’s Eat Drink Bristol Fashion team, led here by chef Rob Howell and his partner Megan Oakley (both ex-Pony & Trap), and its creative small-plates approach leads to “interesting and delicious” eating.

Chef Zak Hitchman has taken over the culinary reins from founder Peter Sanchez-Iglesias at Bristol’s brightest foodie star. And his ‘Casamia 2.0’ – the new, August 2020 iteration of this famous property (sometimes cited, including by us, as the UK’s best) – receives a mixed reception from reporters. Covers are down from 32 to 18, street art and bespoke projections enliven the walls and there’s a new sound system – making it “a joyous temple to food and inventiveness, with a fun club-like atmosphere” to those who vibe with its funky new guise. The quality of the cuisine is not in doubt. “The menu is brevity itself, giving no clue as to the clever interaction of the main listed ingredient and its supporting cast. And what is so impressive is not just the combinations of ingredients, producing visually attractive and novel taste experiences, but also the way dishes that have had similar predecessors are brought up to new, even more striking levels by the clever intensification of various elements.” But even some big fans note that “it’s a fine line between religion and cult, and the slightly messianic service perhaps comes down on the wrong side”. In some cases, the approach seems to verge on the confrontational (“we were told not to return if we do not like the music blasting away…”; “they did not allow for our dietary concerns, and if we couldn’t eat a course told us to skip it – a draconian and arrogant disregard for hospitality”). And then there’s the pricing which seems “hiked” and ever-more “greedy”. Even one or two rating the food “outstanding” say that as a result they “won’t be going back”. “Pity, because the food is just so enjoyably inventive and the atmosphere so unlike any of the other food temples in the UK.”

For a “memorable special-occasion meal”, this “sophisticated” Clifton operation (with a branch in Bath) is just the job, offering “top-end Indian cooking that is pricey, but well worth the money for the flavour and spicing”.

Peter Sanchez-Iglesias’s spin-off from the acclaimed Casamia is a buzzing Andalusian-style joint near the docks where you can sit on the terrace or plump for the eight-seater counter and banter with chefs. The order of the day: “absolutely delicious tapas, with excellent sherry to match” – and this is confirmed in many reports. But ratings blipped this year on the back of a couple of ‘off reports’: “been a few times… too loud and massively overpriced”.

This “wonderful steakhouse (which also does an exceptional Sunday lunch)” was opened by former Jamie Oliver chef-director Sam Elliott three years ago in a spruced-up Victorian warehouse, opposite St Mary Redcliffe church, and serves impressive cuts of West Country beef displayed in chiller cabinets, alongside vegetables and fruit from is own farm. It’s already made a big impact on the local dining scene, and has spawned a spinoff in Cardiff.

2018 Review: An organic Korean restaurant in Bristol’s Haymarket offering a simple set menu of inexpensive bento boxes. The BYO (with £1.50 corkage) policy helps make this an even more reasonable night out.

One of the country’s more eccentric restaurant settings – a Victorian lido’s viewing gallery whose plate-glass windows overlook a heated open-air pool, where swimmers plough their watery furrows in all weathers. Feedback has dwindled since its early years but continues to rate it well.