Where to eat this month in Bristol
Published on
From hidden gems to sweet treats, these are my top five foodie recommendations right now, by Meg Houghton-Gilmour.
WANGS / 66 Bath Buildings, Montpelier BS6 5PU
WANGS has been bringing good times and great Chinese food to the people of Montpelier and beyond for a couple of years now, but this summer they are really turning up the heat. The team ran a successful crowdfund to bring an authentic Cantonese charcoal roasting oven over from China this spring and are now firing it up for a series of barbecue afternoons with a difference. This oven – which looks a bit like a small spaceship – allows the meat to hang freely while cooking over coals. The result is skin on ducks so crisp that it shatters, pork so moist it melts and whole animal cookery that make possible a range of dishes rarely seen on menus. When paired with spicy Sichuan margaritas and an afternoon spent in WANGS’ hidden courtyard garden — well, let’s just say you may have some trouble going back to traditional British barbecues. Find the dates for WANGS’ upcoming barbecues on their Instagram.
Hilda / St Johns Court, Whiteladies Rd, Clifton BS8 2QY
Bristol is spoilt for choice when it comes to bakeries. Need a life-changing sandwich before you get on a train? Hart’s. Fancy a slice of rhubarb meringue pie bigger than your head? Catley’s. Lamination that would make Paul Hollywood cry? Farro. And so on. Then there’s Hilda and founder Will Prosser, who against all odds is running Bristol’s best bakery from the back of a small green van. Hilda does not necessarily fit a particular niche or fill a gap in our well-proven market; it’s just excellent, seasonal pastries that are consistently, eye-rollingly, good. If you don’t believe me, just go and check out the queues outside COR and Clouds on the days Hilda has a pop-up there. It seems everything Will touches turns to golden, buttery flakiness, and just when we thought Bristol’s bakery game was unimprovable, Hilda has elevated the game.
Brother Thai / 104 Stokes Croft, St Paul’s BS1 3FH
Brother Thai is one of Bristol’s newest restaurants, though ardent food fans may recognise the name from jaunts to Cardiff, where this ‘brother’ has been delighting Welsh eaters with laden sticky beef rotis and piquant waterfall salads for over ten years. The restaurant ventured across the bridge to open a second site in the Carriageworks earlier this year and has already received a rapturous response, and quite rightly so. Sit at one of the window seats if you want to people-watch on one of Bristol’s most interesting streets – Stokes Croft — while enjoying your pad krapao. Both meat eaters and vegetarians alike should plump for the crispy mushroom laab which is one of the most innovative and impressive treatments of a mushroom I have seen in many years of good eating. But it’s the loaded rotis which are truly non-negotiable. Make sure you have adequate napkin coverage and understanding tablemates before you dive in.
Chez Candice / Boiling Wells Ln, Bristol BS2 9XY
Living in a city like Bristol is invigorating, busy and energetic. We love a harbourside pint, a protest, a maddening traffic jam. We are creative, switched on people. But every now and then a micro-escape is needed; the chance to stop and dwell on the wonder of plants thrusting through soil and lambs nursing from mothers. Chez Candice, a horsebox on Boiling Wells Farm, presents an opportunity to do just that while enjoying an unbelievably good lunch, all without leaving the city. Candice’s blackboard menu presents two or three simple offerings per day – usually a form of flatbread topped with whatever the farm has offered up that morning. If you’re lucky enough to visit on a day when Candice has a tart on the menu – particularly her treacle tart – that, with a flat white, is non-negotiable. Make sure you have a good nosey inside the on-site yurt that Candice’s parents built (perfect for eating in on slightly soggier occasions) and the neighbouring barns too. You’ll feel rehabilitated and ready to take on the world (or at least Bristol) in no time.
COR / 81 North St, Bedminster, Bristol BS3 1ES
The magic of an evening spent in COR lies somewhere between the twinkly lights, the ambient chatter of happy customers, the Goldilock-esque ‘just right’ food and the exceptional warmth of the service. It is somewhere that I always find myself feeling perfectly content — whether sitting at the bar with a negroni bianco and a plate of bread and whipped black garlic butter or enjoying some late afternoon sun at one of the panoramic windows with a glass of white wine and a seasonal savoury canelé. I’ve even popped in for an afternoon coffee before and been pleasantly surprised that even their barista skills are worth a serious detour. In the summer, the combination of the big, open windows and the Mediterranean-inspired food makes a trip to COR truly feel like a micro-holiday. The only problem will be when it’s time to check out.