Katie & Kim's Kitchen

I haven’t lived in Bristol for very long. This annoys me because I hear about all these long-lost lovers of Bristol food that I have missed out on. Katie and Kim’s horsebox was one of these things. I’d heard mention of them in relation to the Street Food Awards (they took the title in 2013), but had never had the opportunity to try out their famous grub.

That was until last week, when I visited their newly opened (and permanent) café on Picton Street in Montpelier. Finally I had the chance to sample the goods!

And oh, how good they were…

Katie and Kim have opened their café next to the Radford Mill Farm shop in an area which is turning into somewhat of a culinary oasis (their nearby neighbours include Bell’s Diner and the Thali Café). The café is noticeable by the blancmange-pink makeover given to the outside (this is a complimentary description by the way) but there’s little signage, so you do need to keep your eye out for it a little.

The inside of the café is small, with one huge communal table and a tiny kitchen at one end. This definitely works for me. I'm a big fan of communal eating, and at Katie and Kim’s you’re practically eating in the kitchen. With the size of venue they have, it’s also the best use of space by far. Plus it lets you nose at what everyone else is eating.

Katie and Kim’s in open for breakfast and lunch (dinner to come soon), Wednesday to Sunday, and offers great coffee provided by Clifton Coffee Roasters. The food menu is short and sweet, with daily changing specials including sandwiches, soups and pastries. Although as I write those words I feel that I'm doing them a disservice. This is not your everyday café fare. The homemade bun filled with chorizo sausage, basil oil and aioli that I scoffed was as far away from the usual sandwich as you can get. It came with a pile of carrot salad with a date dressing. It was unbelievably good.

The veggie version also sounded tempting (roasted aubergine with tahini) and the smell of the celery soup was intoxicating. Couple that with one of their famous cheese scones and you'd definitely be on to a winner.

The pastries on offer that day were custard tarts, still warm out of the oven, with a sticky coating which clung to your lips in just the way it should. It barely lasted the journey home. A regal-looking lemon meringue pie also tempted from the counter alongside a pile of huge sausage rolls that I was disappointingly too full to try. Also, accordingly to my companion, it might look a little greedy to have a sausage roll after a sausage bun. I'm ashamed to say I gave in to peer pressure.

Undoubtedly, Katie and Kim know what they’re doing. They can bloody cook. The main thing that struck me however, was the atmosphere that they have created in such a short time. I have rarely felt as at home as I did at Katie and Kim’s. The welcome they give their customers is probably the best I've experienced. And it is this, alongside the food, which will make me go back.

Of course it helps that they happen to serve all my favourite things and it’s only five minutes’ walk from my house. But I have to say that wherever in the city it was, I’d be going. And I urge you to go too. Just don’t eat all the sausage rolls before I get there.