Best Places to Eat in Bristol This Month
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Meg Houghton-Gilmour reveals her top five Bristol foodie recommendations for July.
The Pony Chew Valley
Knowle Hill, Newtown, Chew Magna, BS40 8TQ
The drive from Bristol to Chew Valley is beautiful at any time of year — but on a summer’s day, with the reflections off the lake and the dappled light of the trees on the road, it’s transporting. Then you arrive at a very ordinary looking pub, and it’s not until you walk through to the dining room that you really realise what a special place you’ve landed in. The food - burnished, sous vided, pickled, fried, dressed or sautéed into shape from recipes perfected over twenty years — is the main event. That, followed by a wander round the garden, where most of the food is grown, with a glass of the Pony’s 20th anniversary collaboration perry in hand? It doesn’t get much better.
Soft Buoys
The Kiosk, Welsh Back, Bristol BS1 4SB
I sat on Soft Buoys’ picnic bench in the biting chill of January, eating soft serve for an hour. I would do it again. This little shack on the waterside cobbles of Welsh Back may look unassuming, but don’t be fooled. Start with one of the grilled cheese sandwiches, as they’re the best in Bristol and it’s good to line your stomach with something savoury before working on all that ice cream. Then order whatever soft serve specials they have on so you can truly appreciate the artistry that goes into these creations – it’s best to go with friends so you can work your way through the entire menu. Rumour has it that July will see a ham, egg and chips grilled cheese special (be still my beating heart) and as for the soft serve, whatever they’ve got on, order two.
Catley’s
14 King’s Rd, Clifton, Bristol BS8 4AB
To walk into Catley’s is to embrace decision paralysis. If you’re lucky enough to make it before the famed lemon meringue pie sells out, then that is non-negotiable. If you hear word on the street that the salted caramel and chocolate tart is on the counter, drop everything and run. And if you’re in the vicinity when the sun is shining, then let me tell you a secret: you can get soft serve swirled directly into a croissant. Yes, Catley’s have taken two of life’s greatest treats and smashed them together, so you can have ice cream for breakfast this summer. A soft, buttery croissant is infinitely better than an ice cream cone after all. Pair it with a tiramisu iced coffee and you’ll be the envy of the village.
Mon Plaisir
Rear of 32, 34 Hill Rd, Clevedon BS21 7PH
Mon Plaisir is about to become Ton Plaisir. This new spot in Clevedon will inevitably be one of the best new restaurants the South West welcomes this year and the doors are opening just in time for your sun-washed trips to the nearest seaside over the summer. Behind the pans at Mon Plaisir is father-and-son duo Toby and Harry Gritten, who most recently ran the superb Pumphouse on Bristol’s harbourside. The two have taken over the site that previously housed Puro and reinstated the old name — Mon Plaisir — but with a fresh French menu and a wine fridge that would like to be taken seriously, thank you very much. The sample menu leaps from one classic to another: a savoury tarte tatin, escabeche and stuffed rabbit among other love letters to La Belle France.
Your Kitchen
95 Queens Rd, Clifton, Bristol BS8 1LW
Your Kitchen - no, not literally - seems to have mastered sitting in the middle of several venn diagrams. There are vanishingly few places that you can enjoy a succulent Chinese meal al fresco, but here they have a big terrace tucked just back from the road where you can enjoy dinner in the evening sun. They have an enormous menu that comprises both British Chinese takeaway classics with more authentic and harder to find dishes — so you can pair your sweet and sour chicken and special chow mein with tofu skin and Hunan-style marinated pork tripe. If the heavens decide to ruin your best-laid plans, there’s a number of tables under umbrellas and many more in the maze-like restaurant inside. Your Kitchen is always among my first utterances when someone asks me the best Chinese restaurants in Bristol — and we have many — but this one is unique and remains firmly lodged in my good memories.