Sunday at Soukitchen

Last week was a massive dose of coughing half my lungs out and generally feeling sorry for myself. Sunday I dragged myself out of the house to meet Kym for lunch, something I was really looking forward to. Soukitchen, Clifton branch, has been open about 6 months and despite being five minutes from my door this was my first visit. Absolutely woeful.  Situated just off Whiteladies on Apsley Road as far as I can remember there has been a bar or restaurant at this site. Most of these ventures lasted a very short time, perhaps due to location. Souk has solved this with some lovely bright signage that draws in the eye, that and their reputation.

Soukitchen specialises in Persian cuisine but with a much more modern approach to Middle Eastern flavours. Kym and I ordered some drinks and got to the arduous task of deciding what to eat, which was a tall order I can tell you. Meeting someone at 12 means that you're just about on the cusp of being able to acceptably order brunch. However in my mind eating brunch much more after 12 feels wrong. 

Tempted by their cinnamon French toast or the shakshouka, poached eggs in tomato base with onions spices and flatbread with the option of merguez sausage add on was almost too much to pass up. That is until I saw a leg of chicken on a bed of pearl barley with grilled peppers, Iranian gherkins, red onion and spiced yoghurt. Sold. Kym also followed suit and we ordered some hummous and bread to share.

elderflower and rose spritzer

hummous with Mark's Bread

chicken on pearl barley

Just look at my spritzer, a drink topped with rose petals, beautiful and delicious. The food was outstanding. The bread, from Mark's Bread, was superb, my only slight criticism would be that I found the hummous not as smooth as my tastes prefer, this is personal preference however. The crowning glory of the lunch was the wonderful chicken dish. Packed full of flavours and textures I could easily see this being a firm favourite on my must have dishes in Bristol. The chicken was juicy and spiced enhanced by the smokey yoghurt and the pearl barley was plump, we practically licked our plates clean.

Can't wait to return to Soukitchen they really offer something different and that is no bad thing in a city full of burgers and pizzas, which I enjoy eating, it's just nice to have as many options as possible. To find out more about Soukitchen visit their website.