The Townhouse Set menu

My partner and I often disagree about deals and discounts. When the bottle of wine says “was £14.99, now £8.49”, she will pick it up, content that it’s a bargain. I, perhaps the more cynical of the two of us, will make noises that it probably was never worth fifteen quid in the first place.

What I can’t disagree with however, is real value for money. And that is why I came away feeling supremely content after sampling the early-bird menu at the Townhouse on Whiteladies Road. Three courses for a tenner. Ten pounds!  When I saw that, I decided I need to take my cynicism and give it a damn good go.

Birch

If there was an award for the highest proportion of glowing reviews in the shortest period of time, I think Birch restaurant in Southville would probably take home the prize. In the few short weeks since they have opened, I have seen countless reviews highlighting just what a star of a place it is. Bristol folk are lining up to get a piece of the action.

So in order to break with tradition, I am going to start my review with the things I didn't like about Birch. The negatives of my meal and the little niggling annoyances I haven’t been able to let go. So here goes…

On the day I went, my birthday in fact, it was raining. Like end of days raining. And my hair got wet, and lost some of its oomph.

Okay, now that’s the negatives dealt with. Let’s talk about the rest...

The Glassboat

How do you feel about restaurants on boats? I've thought about this a lot recently (I know, get a life). I used to associate them with slightly weird cafés and dodgy seafood. Admittedly I think this must stem from the ropey one in my home town. But I really haven’t had a great experience thus far.

Thankfully Bristol is awash (haha) with boat restaurants, none of them ropey. And I had the pleasure of visiting Glassboat a couple of weeks ago with my family. I can report it was neither slightly weird nor dodgy. 

In fact, it pretty much smashed it out of the park. Or harbour. Marina? Oh, you get my drift.

Mathilda's Chilli Bar

When I heard that a new chilli restaurant was opening in the Bearpit, I knew this was somewhere I was going to try very hard to love. I think it’s the attraction of a restaurant that is confident enough to serve one thing. Mathilda’s Chilli Bar serves chilli. Admittedly it comes in two varieties, but that’s about it. Like chilli? Go to Mathilda’s. Don’t like chilli? Don’t. It’s as simple as that.

And speaking of simplicity, Mathilda’s is definitely setting out its stall in terms of décor. Black walls, white tiling and tea-lights in treacle tins are about as decorated as it gets (if you discount the row of tiny cacti and Tabasco sauce bottles above the kitchen). The effect is striking.

The Stable

The Stable opened on the Bristol Harbourside last year, with a promise of ‘pizza, pies and cider’. A West Country chain, they have five venues across the South-West, with a new location in Newquay due to open next month. They focus on South-West producers, and there are plenty of local name-checks to keep a Bristol food-lover happy.

The Stable is an impressively large restaurant, with huge wooden sharing tables and a vast bar which dominates the area. The venue is referred to as a ‘Cathedral to Cider’ which suggested to me that this was a place where the drink might be more important than the grub.

The Ox

I have a bone to pick with The Ox restaurant. It’s only been open a couple of months and yet it is responsible for a surge of food photography which quite frankly, on a Monday morning I could do without. Instagram is suddenly full of rare steaks. I can barely get on Twitter without seeing photos of huge home-cooked chips and delicious things on toast. It’s a good job I have my own office because it’s really not acceptable to drool at your desk.

After several weeks of torture therefore, I decided it was no good. I was going to have to try this out for myself. And so I took my big slobbery chops and got stuck in.

Thali Café Montpelier

My family love Indian food. We cook it, we order it in and we frequently get together to eat at our favourite restaurants. My sister loves it so much she held her 6^th birthday party at our much-loved local curry-house. So bearing that in mind, I could think of no better choice of restaurant for their most recent visit than long-standing Bristol institution, Thali Café.

Thali Café has been serving happy customers with Tiffin take-aways and glorious Thalis for fifteen years. They can now be found in four venues across the city demonstrating the enduring Bristolian love for all things Thali. On this occasion however, the original restaurant in Montpelier was the venue of choice.

The Gallimaufry

The Gallimaufry (or ‘Galli’) was the first place I ate in when I moved to Bristol. In that time I have eaten there on numerous occasions. Some good, some brilliant, some just missed the mark. But all in all, it’s a place which can be relied upon to serve up some decent food with an equally decent price tag.

Local producers are proudly displayed in this bar come restaurant on Gloucester Road. After opening in 2012 they were quickly named Best Newcomer at the Bristol Good Food Awards in the same year, and have upheld a loyal following ever since. The Galli serves up breakfast, lunch and dinner, in a trendy environment displaying ever changing local art and plenty of live music events to enjoy whilst drinking or dining. 

Bill's Bill's Bill's The Triangle, Bristol

I’m not usually a big fan of a chain restaurant. I think a lot of it has to do with the huge mix of dishes on the menu...if I see the words ‘Cajun’ next to spaghetti carbonara I get a bit edgy. So with that in mind, I was a little wary when I first visited Bill’s new restaurant on the Triangle.

It was my first experience of a Bill’s, as I’m reasonably northern and most of their restaurants are in the south, including fifteen just in London. The Bristol branch opened last year and hearing good things, including the buzzwords “good value”, I thought it best to try it out myself.

And it can’t have been bad...because I've been back four times since.

Boston breakfast Boston Tea Party (Gloucester Road, Bristol)

I make no secret of the fact that I’m a big fan of Boston Tea Party. I am a regular frequenter of the Boston on Cheltenham Road, opting to visit for many reasons, not least because it’s five minutes’ walk from my front door. So on a blustery Autumn Sunday I decided to make my legs work a little harder, and headed off to visit their newest addition on Gloucester Road.

This particular branch opened just a few weeks ago, but is already a huge hitter on the Sunday breakfast scene. Having visited most of the Bostons, the thing that struck me first about the Gloucester Road venue was its style - the place really does look fantastic. And I admit that my expectations were high on that front, because the first thing you see as you’re walking in is a giant mural of a boiled egg. What could be a better breakfast welcome than that?

Crème de la crème Bell's Diner & Bar Rooms

Thirteen years ago, my brother, sister and I cooked a meal for my parents’ thirtieth wedding anniversary. Looking back, there are large parts of that evening that escape my memory. I do remember a hugely disappointing main course of home-made meatballs, and I remember painstakingly crafting invitations (for a meal in their own house - genius).  However, there is one memory which has burnt brightly for all this time. And that is of the crème brûlée.

My mum is not a big pudding fan. Unlike me, she can quite happily feel that her meal is complete without a dessert (she is partial to a peanut M & M however). There are few exceptions to this rule but crème brûlée is the most notable. Now, I would forgive you for thinking that this means my mum would be likely to order a crème brûlée whenever it’s on a menu. The truth is far from that. All those years ago on her anniversary, we treated my mum to a crème brûlée made by my brother’s friend – otherwise known in my mother’s eyes, as the chef who made the perfect crème brûlée. After that, there have been years of failed attempts – those with sugar that didn’t produce a true crack, those with custard that was too thick, custard that was too thin and, the very worst offenders – those with fruit in the bottom. None have come close.

Chinese whispers Mayflower Chinese Restaurant

Like most people, I have a mixed relationship with secrets. On the one hand I love being in on one, and that slight feeling of superiority it gives you. On the other, there’s the dawning realisation that in the food and drink world, that slight feeling of superiority actually makes you look like a bit of a pompous idiot. And of course, nobody likes NOT being in the know. That’s the very worst of all.

Alas, last weekend I found myself taken to a restaurant that not only had I never heard of, but that had been mentioned in the Guardian that week as one of the best tips for the South West, and I hadn’t noticed! What a double blow. I tried to point out to myself that having only lived in Bristol since January, it’s probably OK that I’d never heard of it – and to be honest, one of the best parts of living here is discovering new places all the time - however, it didn’t help the feeling that I’d been missing out. And that is a little irritating.

The Butchers' Charms The Butchers' Arms (Eldersfield)

My blog this week is about Michelin-starred pub The Butchers Arms in Eldersfield. Now I know what you’re thinking...last week I said that this wasn’t a critic’s blog, and now here I am, blogging about a Michelin-starred joint. That doesn’t sound like Avon Gorged.

In fact, the reason I have chosen to write about it is because it was very Avon Gorged. It was a really great experience filled with brilliant food. The kind of food that you want to tell everyone you know about, at the same time as wanting to keep it all to yourself. Right up my street some may say - except that it wasn’t because it was in Gloucestershire.

Poco and pork

I think I used to be a bit snobby about small plates. I’m not sure why, perhaps I’d eaten too many plates of rubbish tapas (hello La Tasca). However, they definitely are big news these days. Certainly I couldn’t get away from them in Vancouver, although I used to think that might just be because everyone’s really skinny there.

There have been a couple of small plate restaurants on my list for a while since moving to Bristol, but Poco certainly was at the forefront. I’ve heard nothing but excellent reviews, not just about the food, but the ethos behind Tom Hunt the founder of Poco. That ethos is local, seasonal and ethical. So the big 3 really. Indeed, the first statement on the website is that “90% of our ingredients are sourced from suppliers within 20 miles of Bristol” which is no mean feat.  

No wonder they’re batting for Best Ethical Restaurant in this year’s Observer Food awards. Excited by all these reviews and research, I rambled down after a few beers in Canteen to whet the appetite, to finally find out what all the fuss was about.

The pop-up post Kathers Kitchen at 40 Alfred Place

Twitter is a powerful thing. Twitter told me about last week’s Bristol Big Market, part of Bristol Green Week. Twitter told me Whitney Houston had died before it had even hit the press. Twitter will I’m sure, keep me updated with all the Glastonbury gossip (and further fuel my jealousy). And so it was through Twitter that I found out about 40 Alfred Place, “the world’s first permanent pop-up venue” nestled in Kingsdown.

What a seriously good idea. This place can be rented for parties and events, be an Italian one night, a Mexican the next and finish the week with a wine tasting. My route to work takes me past 40 Alfred Place every day, yet somehow I’d never spotted it. Now I’ve been however, it’s a different story as I’m constantly looking for any faint signs that there might be a new pop-up night being prepared (the biggest clue is often copious amounts of tealights).

BBQ, burgers and brilliance Grillstock Smokehouse

I have a friend who hates any word used to describe food. Well not any word, but those words that people who love talking about food will bash around: delicious, tasty, succulent, smothered, gelatinous, lip-smacking. Oh, you know the sort I mean.

So...I guess he’s going to hate this blog entry, because it’s going to be pretty hard to talk about Grillstock, Bristol’s king of the BBQ, without launching myself into fifty shades of food porn. Indeed, it seems I’m not alone. Nearly every review, tweet or Facebook mention I’ve read of it so far has been dripping in alliterative adjectives (smoky, sticky and succulent – hell, the company’s slogan is ‘Meat, Music and Mayhem’).

So I’ll try my very best but be warned friend, you’re not going to like it. Not one tantalisingly tasty titbit of it.