Bristol Eating Adventures
Bristol food blog. Come read about our adventures cooking and dining and occasionally wining out in our fair city of Bristol. Restaurant reviews, recommendations plus food and drink tasting in and around Bristol.
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Tuesday 13 February 2018
Poké Bowls at Poké Shop Bristol
Wednesday 24 January 2018
Pizza Workshop, on my Doorstep
We have a lot of pizza restaurants in Bristol and each has their own loyal following of fans. The best ones offer something different so you can have a selection to rotate, depending on your preference on a particular day. I am fairly sure this one will enter my rotation under the, close by and traditional. To find out more about the pizza selection check out their website.
Tuesday 16 January 2018
Gopal's Curry Shack at Cargo 2, Wapping Wharf
After my first run in with chaat at Sholay I was interested in trying other examples of this dish. Gopal’s crowdfunded their permanent home at Wapping Wharf and after reaching their goal, thanks to many loyal fans they opened up about 6 months ago. Sporting an all Vegetarian and Vegan menu that will warm you through the Wintery months. A menu of Indian street food with dishes such as a selection of dhals, the Mumbai toastie as well as seasonal curries. With chaat on my mind I went in to order the samosa chaat dish. Whilst a good deal of the cargo containers are designed for takeaway, and Gopal’s is no exception, there are a couple of stools to perch on.
Gopal’s samosa chaat consists of crushed up samosas topped with spicy chickpea curry topped with various chutneys, yoghurt and pomegranate seeds. At £7.50 it might seem a little pricey for lunch but the portion is enormous, if you can finish it in one sitting you are a hero to me. This was just what the doctor ordered on such a grey day, and we had braved sitting outside. The chickpea curry was a tad hot but I popped back in and they gladly gave me a pot with extra minty yoghurt to cool it down. This dish is wholesome, warm and comforting. The samosas are still slightly crunchy and add a nice texture, and the fig and tamarind chutney adds a wonderful sweetness. Because the flavours change with each mouthful it was a delight to eat, and even when I was full I still wanted to go back for another mouthful.
Gopal’s shows how imaginative Vegetarian and Vegan dishes can get. The vibrancy and flavours certainly don’t make you miss meat at all. I am looking forward to exploring more of their menu over the next few months whilst we endure more freezing temperatures. To find out more about their food visit their website. Gopal's will also cater for events and parties if you are looking for something a little out of the norm.
Thursday 7 December 2017
Modern Indian Dining at Sholay
The most recent restaurant opening at Cargo 2 is Sholay. An Indian kitchen from the owners of The Mint Rooms with a more casual approach to Indian cuisine. Named after the 1975 smash hit Hindi language film, Sholay is regularly named in the top 10 lists of best Indian cinema. Sholay, the restaurant, has quotes and scenes from the film painted on it’s walls. The menu consists of snacks and medium sized plates, with the idea that you order a few and share. Whilst there will be some dishes on the menu that are recognisable to those that are fairly familiar with Indian food there are a lot of different ones to explore. My companion for the evening was Annupa, to help me guide my way through the unfamiliar and cast a focused eye on what was offered up.
We decided upon the Sholay chaat. Chaat is a street food dish but also one that is served with many other dishes, it’s rather hard to describe but it’s sort of like a textured salad, normally made from samosas with lots of sauces. We also ordered some vegetable patties (sabzi ki tikki), baby aubergines in yoghurt and coriander(dhal baingan), grilled poussin with a pepper sauce(tawa poussin) and paneer and chutney sandwich. Most of the dishes hover around the £7-8 mark and there are plenty of vegetarian options too.
Wednesday 27 September 2017
Taco Frenzy at Cargo Cantina
It’s no secret that Wapping Wharf is knocking it out of the park with their food offerings. I have only tried a small number of them but everything I have had so far has been pretty special. So when Kym messaged me to tell me we had to go to Cargo Cantina, I sat up and listened. The brains behind Bravas set their sights on Mexico’s favourite snack, the taco. The menu consists of five different types of taco, plus sides to go with them, and some specials. To make it simple everything here is gluten free. From the blue corn tacos to the chilli sauces.
If you like tequila you are well provided for here, they offer up a variety of ones to sample and some cocktails for those who don’t want the mixers for their spirits to just be salt and lime. As with much of Wapping Wharf booking is not offered but Kym and I sauntered up in the rain with hope and a dream and we were welcomed in by two handsome angels just as two spots at the bar opened up. It was kismet, one might say. As Kym had been here before I followed her lead. For £18 a head you can get all five of the regular tacos with all the sides and salsas, which is just as well because I enjoy a full sample of a menu.
A tray of delights was brought to us shortly afterwards, blue corn tacos make for a moody insta food shot I can tell you. Being able to build your own combination of taco means that every experience will be different but the food is nothing short of superb. One of my surprising favourites was the avocado and cactus the ancho chilli gave it a real warmness and was bursting with flavour. The slow cooked meat options of pork shoulder, pibil style and the rich ox tongue and cheek, braised overnight, melted in the mouth. The food is fresh, clean and moreish. The only filling that didn’t shine for me was the seafood mix of octopus and prawns. To me it could have had a bit more oomph, octopus can be sublime and I could have taken a smokier flavour.
Cargo Cantina’s food excites and judging by the constant queues of an evening, the rest of Bristol agrees. I can’t wait to return and sample some of their specials. Bare in mind you cannot book tables at Cargo, it’s small so is a turn up and see affair. With some great food options at Wapping Wharf you won’t go hungry if you can’t get a spot at your first choice, you should be able to find something just as good and a new favourite behind door number two. To see what Cargo Cantina has to offer visit their website.
Monday 18 September 2017
Burger Cures at Hubbox
What feels like Bristol’s umpteenth burger restaurant, Hubbox opened this Summer to a few teething problems but soon they were smoothed out and serving burgers to the citizens of Whiteladies and beyond. One Sunday when we were hungov.. tired and emotional we managed to drag our carcasses off the sofa in search of salt and a hope that one day we might be able to be out in sunlight again without wincing. We stumbled in to Hubbox to check out the latest new burger in town.
Hubbox does offer up a selection of beef, chicken and veggie/vegan burgers but it also has the choice of two fish burgers which is something a little different. You can also order hotdogs, some barbecued items as well as loaded fries, wings and mac n cheese. As is the current trend burgers do not come with sides but as the burgers hover around the £8 mark adding on fries doesn’t make this too pricey.
When you have so many burgers to choose from you do start minutely detailing how they differ from each other. Hubbox doesn’t crack my top three but you know what? That fried chicken burger is enough to get me back there especially with a hangover the size of Brazil. They offer up just few different things to give it a second glance over the behemoth that is Bristol’s Burger scene, of which I still have many more offerings to sample. To find out more about Hubbox visit their website.
Tuesday 5 September 2017
Souvlaki Realness at The Athenian
Greek food. Often relegated to the post beer kebab category strips of greasy mystery meat that tops a grilled pitta glistening with intent and lots of garlic mayonnaise. You want a kebab now don’t you? But it gets a bad rep being the drunk’s choice, Greek food, done right is a wonderful thing. Bristol doesn’t have much in the way of decent Greek restaurants, maybe 4 ish at most, the somewhat secret Cyprus Kebab House being a particular favourite of mine. However Cargo 2 has come to the rescue with the arrival of The Athenian. Athenian already has a few openings across London, including Boxpark, the first shipping container retail and dining mall which Wapping Wharf is based on. What the Athenian is offering up is souvlaki. Souvlaki are derived from the Turkish doner kebab, in fact gyros comes from the word to spin. The Greeks have made them their own by adding fries into the meat and salad combo.
The Athenian offer options for carnivores, veggies and vegans alike. You can choose from beef and lamb bifteki, the Greek word for kofte, chicken, pork, halloumi, mixed veg and mushrooms. It also offers options for varying states of hunger. Which is lucky because I am usually ravenous. Each main filling comes with a designated sauce, chicken for example comes with a honey mustard style one, and the kofte with a light tzatziki. There is also the option to add extra meat and/or halloumi. The halloumi is proper imported Hellenic stuff and it’s texture is a lot firmer and more delicious than what you can buy in the supermarkets, so well worth a punt I’d say.