Bakers & Co

You guys know I like brunch right? In fact, I love it. It has all the best things about breakfast, but with the added enjoyment of a lie-in. Thankfully Bristol has a fair amount of options for those of us looking for our mid-morning food fix. You can choose from nearly any cuisine in any area of the city and not be disappointed. The problem with this however is that when opening somewhere new, you have to be pretty special to stand out.

And that is just what Bakers & Co is hoping to do. The ‘San Francisco style’ café opened on Gloucester Road in March to a whole host of anticipation. Brought to us by the people behind the hugely successful Bravas on Cotham Hill, the Bristol community’s expectations were sky high. I visited a few weeks after opening, to see if it could live up to the hype.

I was prepared to have to wait. Opting for 10:30 on a Sunday morning I’d resigned myself to queuing on the pavement. Luckily it seems that you Gloucester Road crew like a lie-in even more than I do, because we managed to grab a table straightaway. By 11:00 however, it was full. A good sign indeed.

The menu at Bakers really speaks to my inner soul. They offer a selection of smaller plates available first thing. They range from toast with homemade chocolate and hazelnut spread to yogurt with blood orange and pomegranate. The bigger (read meatier) options start from 10am which help bring in the brunch crowd and offer something a bit more substantial for anyone of you who may, say, be suffering a little from the night before. We all know that brunch is a cure-all for that.

As soon as I saw the roast pork belly, my mind was made up. When you combine that with sweet potato hash and poached eggs, you’re verging on the perfect breakfast for me. It arrived looking just as good as I wanted and more importantly, with the addition of crackling. You get crackling on your breakfast. Why do I not have this every day? What a winner. Perhaps a tad too much hash in ratio to the rest but not a major gripe. I’m not going to moan about having too much food.

The Bakers breakfast was sampled by one plucky companion and was also declared a hit, with particular emphasis on the fennel sausages. The Huevos Rancheros were also well received, the sharp red and green salsas helping to cut through the rich beans and egg. It’s nice to see homemade tortillas too. Although to be fair, the name Bakers & Co suggests they probably would know how to make a decent flatbread.

In the interests of research I thought it only fair to try out some of their sweet baked goods, opting for the financier with rhubarb and cream cheese frosting. It was delicious, with just the right balance of acidity in the rhubarb. I do love a place which actively promotes breakfast pudding. Other offerings included bacon and maple sticky buns (the food combo du jour), brownies, and rosewater meringues the size of your head. A plethora of options for anyone with the merest hint of a sweet tooth.

We must have stayed hours. We managed to get through half the menu and probably proved a constant annoyance by the frequent addition of new members to our group. I have to say the service was great. Being a freakishly hot spring day, one friend arrived a little hot and bothered. A glass of water appeared as she took her seat. After we’d finished chatting and decided what we wanted to eat, I looked up to try to find the server to order. He was already there, pen in hand.

The only negative I can think of was that my financier arrived after I’d finished my second cortado. Which is probably the most middle-class sentence I've ever written. And if that’s the only negative, well, they’re doing ok.

So the million dollar question is this – is it good enough? Does it stand out enough in a city already full of brunch havens? The simple answer is yes. Excellent service, great attention to detail and an exciting menu which offers something different to your average full English. Add in a changing selection of homemade sweet goods and it’s obvious that Bakers & Co is most definitely here, not only to stay, but to really make a mark on the Bristol brunch scene.

Oh and they do crackling. Did I mention that? You get crackling on your breakfast.