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Wednesday 28 May 2014

Tapas at The Tipis for Eat Drink Bristol Fashion

On the penultimate day of Eat Drink Bristol Fashion, I headed down to the tipis to check out some of their tapas. Before doing so I had canvassed Twitter for some of the best dishes to order, ribs and scotch eggs rated highly.  Our group arrived around 7pm Saturday and boy was it busy, almost all of Queen Square had been turned into a mini festival, there was dancing, long queues for portaloos, extremely drunk people and lots of music.  After taking a bench outside we decided after being harassed by a group of drunk guys that we would head on inside the tipis.

The tapas menu, is pretty extensive, more British inspired twist on a tapas than traditional Spanish fare, the prices weren't too expensive, although £5 for grilled asparagus and £4.50 for a mini burger I did think was a touch steep. Anyway we sent the boys to the bar to get us some cider whilst we pawed over what to order. We decided a mix of dishes, including the smoked sticky ribs, to share between the 6 of us and sent Jo off to order. 
Eat Drink Bristol Fashion
field meets disco
Eat Drink Bristol Fashion
asparagus and roast garlic lemon mayo
Eat Drink Bristol Fashion
smoked sticky ribs
Eat Drink Bristol Fashion
deep fried macaroni cheese
Eat Drink Bristol Fashion
garlic and spelt risotto, battered sausage and a scotch egg
Eat Drink Bristol Fashion

If I am honest I found the food a little bit hit and miss, the mess of the queues aside, there was a lot that was sold out and the seasoning for some of the dishes was lacking.  I was expecting a proper sticky barbecue rib but this was more like a slow cooked rib stew, although the meat did fall off the bone rather nicely.  I found the risotto astoundingly bland as was the deep fried macaroni cheese. The cheese plate was served with Carr's water biscuits which was a bit of a cop out, classic as they are I was expecting something more local, also the chutney was far too sweet an accompaniment for the cheese.

As for the good elements, the Butcombe and English truffle rarebit was marvellous, hugely indulgent and flavour packed. I also rather liked the battered sausage, a very light a crispy batter that came with a delicious grain mustard dip and the asparagus was perfectly grilled and fresh tasting.  So there were good elements but I felt that maybe it was lacking somewhat plus it was pretty chaotic in that tent, maybe I expected too much for a Saturday night. The atmosphere outside completely jarred for me with the inside however there is no doubting the popularity of the tipis and I expect they will be even more so next year. Did you get to sample any of the tapas? Or get to go to any of the Eat Drink Bristol Fashion events, although they were too rich for my pocket I know from the first year the food you get is pretty good.

To explore more of what Eat Drink Bristol is about check out the website and wait for next year to see what events they are planning and what chefs they have caught in their net. 

4 comments:

  1. I went to the tipis for tapas a few times - I got a bit obsessed with the rarebit, the ribs were really tasty and I thought the slider was one of the nicest burgers I've ever tasted. I thought the macaroni cheese was a bit bland, but the sauce with it was great!
    Overall I thought there were a decent range of dishes, good value and whenever I went (Sunday evenings and one night during the week) the tipis were pleasantly busy with a lush atmosphere and lovely music - I can see that the final weekend must have been manic though, so am glad I didn't make it there then :)
    Roll on EDBF 2015 - hopefully with a better range of prices for the fine dining area so I can go to that too! ;)

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  2. The rarebit was crazy good I have to say, I liked the texture of the ribs just not the flavour, and I must have had a bad slider as it was really bland too. I think the value was pretty good though I agree, final weekend was a mistake though it was like the end of days! Ha yeah the fine dining was stupidly priced they should do a range of prices for all budgets!

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  3. I went to a fine dining night at the start of the festival. Much like your evening, my experience was good but not great. I wrote a mini review with pics here: http://www.gamblingnetwork.com/forums/general-chat-fun/12045-bristol-cheltenham-restaurant-review-thread-4.html#post220898

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  4. Good to hear about the fine dining side of it. I just think they need to pull their socks up a bit to charge those prices, surely it's about enticing people to try the actual restaurant if they have a great time at the tipis?

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