Bristol's best restaurants: 11 places to eat in 2024 - part one
Bristol's best restaurants: 11 places to eat in 2024 - part one
Roll up, roll up! It's a round up.
I have not written this list for you. Oh no. Far from it. I have written this list for me, so that I might send it to the many, many people who enquire on a regular basis where they should go for dinner. That said, I hope you find it useful. Bristol is a city that loves its food. We have quality restaurants on some of the most distinguished roads in Redland and on the most unsuspecting streets in Easton. I have tried to capture a range of the ones that have impressed me the most.
So, in no particular order, here goes:
Wilsons, Redland
Wilsons is the best restaurant in Bristol and anyone who says otherwise is wrong. Jan and his team serve a super seasonal, thoughtful and beautiful tasting menu to the diners lucky enough to be gracing one of the handful of tables in this small, whitewashed Redland restaurant from Wednesday - Saturday. A substantial chunk of their produce is grown in their own market garden and tastes all the better for it. Read my full review from November 2023.
What it’s good for: Special occasions, ridiculously good value £35 lunch menu and when you want your socks blown off by new flavours and ideas.
What it’s not so good for: They cater to dietary requirements well - just let them know in advance - but this isn’t the place for very fussy eaters.
Wilsons, 24 Chandos Road, BS6 6PF
COR, North Street
COR is proof that you can have it all: outstanding Mediterranean small plates, expertly made cocktails, flawless service and an atmosphere that leaves most restaurants wanting. Sitting at the open window on a warm summers evening sipping a negroni bianco, you could be mistaken for thinking you are on holiday somewhere much more exotic than south Bristol’s North Street. It’s no wonder they were awarded Michelin’s Bib Gourmand for outstanding value less than a year after opening. Pop into nearby Kask for a pre or post-dinner glass of wine to complete your evening.
What it’s good for: Sharing with friends, family or a date. Don’t neglect the cocktail menu and always order the seasonal canelé!
What it’s not so good for: If you’re afraid to go south of the river. Your loss.
COR, 81 North St, Bedminster, BS3 1ES
Authentic Hot Pot and Hand Pulled Noodles, Redcliffe
It’s one of the most bizarre and fun restaurant experiences you can have in Bristol, but Authentic Hot Pot and Hand Pulled Noodles is not one for the faint hearted. It’s lip-tinglingly hot, there’s mountains of offal to try and ordering is a bit like trying to decipher the enigma code. I love it and I’ve yet to meet anyone who doesn’t feel the same.
What it’s good for: Hand-pulled noodles - in fact it’s the only place in town you can find them. It’s also good for when you’re particularly hungry, as it’s all-you-can-eat.
What it’s not good for: First dates, booze (there is none) and short, catchy names.
Authentic Hot Pot, Thomas Ln, Redcliffe, BS1 6JG
Matina, St Nicks Market
Matina is the best lunch in Bristol. Those steep hills of salad are ones that I am willing to die on, especially after they’ve been piled into a pillowy wrap with chargrilled chicken or lamb. Ask them to cut it in half so you can truly appreciate the cross section, and see if you can nab a nearby stool to soak up the atmosphere of St Nick’s Market while you’re at it. Top tier people watching.
What it’s good for: Cheap, cheerful, quick and insanely delicious.
What it’s not good for: If you’re precious about what you’re wearing. You might require a bib.
Matina, The Glass Arcade, St Nicholas St, BS1 1JQ
The Scrandit
The Scrandit is a most unique restaurant. They don’t have a chef and the menu is changing constantly. They barely have a kitchen and quite often you’re made to sit round a table with a collection of other diners. Yet it’s one of my favourite places to go for dinner. The pop-ups change weekly, but the quality is astoundingly consistent and the rotating roster of chefs are always pushing boundaries in the best way.
Read my review of Ramen Nakama at The Scrandit.
Read my review of Barang Streek Kitchen at The Scrandit.
What it’s good for: An over-the-bar chat with owner and fellow food lover Josh. And it’s probably the most interesting place in Bristol you can go to eat.
What it’s not good for: When you want to know exactly what you’re getting and you don’t want to risk conversation with strangers.
The Scrandit, 14 Christmas Steps, BS1 5BS
Danny’s burgers - various location
Well well well, if it isn’t the best burger in the UK (or at least it was in 2022). I haven’t tried all the burgers in the UK, but then again there’s little point when you’ve already had the best. We’re talking high grade smash burgers and specials that will have you dribbling like Pavlov’s dogs.
What it’s good for: When you want a damn good burger, duh.
What it’s not good for: Fresh fish, pasta dishes, pizza or noodles. They don’t do none of that.
Danny’s Burgers, usually found in the garden of Fierce and Noble, 25 Mina Rd, St Werburgh's, BS2 9TA
Chez Candice, Boiling Wells
Chez Candice is an utter madness of a lunch spot, which can be found after an adventure through a tunnel, a stroll up a winding path and a meander through a farm. Candice’s sandwiches will be world famous one day, I’ve no doubt, if not for their creativity and composition but the wonderfully bizarre ex-horse-van from which such wonders are served.
Read my full review of Chez Candice from December 2023.
What it’s good for: Sandwiches, coffee, tarts and petting farm animals.
What it’s not good for: When there’s been heavy rain - the tunnel has a tendency to flood.
Chez Candice, Watercress Farm, Boiling Wells, BS2 9YJ
Jean’s Bistro, Gloucester Road
When you’re looking for exceptional Thai in Bristol, there’s only one place for it. You won’t regret a second of the march up Gloucester Road once you’re tucking into those barbecue meats and that fried fish. Go with friends, armed with bottles of wine or beer and order a mountain of food so that you have leftovers for the next day. Oh and say hi to Jean, she’s a total sweetheart.
What it’s good for: Authentic, expertly prepared Thai and if you have a passion for bringing your own booze.
What it’s not good for: People who like paying by card.
Jean’s Bistro, 441 Gloucester Rd, BS7 8TZ
Littlefrench, Westbury Park
Reviewed and revered by many a national restaurant critic, Littlefrench is little in name but little else. In fact, I highly doubt anyone could possibly write it better than Marina O’Loughlin, so I shall just save us all some time and quote her:
“The finest French food I’ve eaten in a long time is here, in Westbury Park, Bristol-sur-Avon, a newcomer from the chef Freddy Bird (late of the local waterfront stalwart the Lido) and his French wife, Nessa. Bird, a bearded bear of a man only just contained by his tiny kitchen, radiates infectious delight in his new baby. We can peer in from our booth at the back and he hardly seems to stop beaming, hugging his fellow kitchen devil and booming “Chips! Moules! Scallops! Rabbit!” from the pass.”
Phwoar. The food is almost as good as that writing. Order the guinea fowl, if they have it.
What it’s good for: Fancy, treat yourself vibes and Francophiles.
What it’s not good for: Your wallet.
Littlefrench, 2 North View, Westbury Park, BS6 7QB
Pizza is Lovely, King Street
Pizza is Lovely is due a rebrand. A more suitable name would perhaps be Pizza is Exceptional, Pizza Will Have You Making Inappropriate Noises In a Restaurant or perhaps Pizza That Has Surely Come From The Hands Of The Gods. Do not expect any floppy foldy nonsense here, this is deep dish and deep joy.
What it’s good for: Veggies and vegans. They have lots of meat and cheese alternatives.
What it’s not good for: I told a lie - they do serve that floppy foldy nonsense downstairs - which I’m sorry to say is not worth your time. Go upstairs, ascend to the heavens.
Pizza is Lovely, Renato’s, King Street, BS1
Root, Wapping Wharf
No conversation about Bristol’s best restaurants omits Root. Root is Bristol in a restaurant. It’s in a shipping container overlooking the harbour, naturally, and meat and fish are firmly shoved to the back of the queue in favour of the freshest, most exquisite veg around. Expect ingenuity, creativity and flavour that goes far beyond the remit of the small plate.
What it’s good for: Convincing meat obsessives there are other food groups.
What it’s not good for: Genuinely stumped. I don’t think they have a kids menu…
Root, Unit 9 Cargo 1, Gaol Ferry Steps, BS1 6WP
That’s all folks. Stay tuned for part two coming soon!