Restaurants / Reviews
Fuego
Fuego – it means fire. Fire in your soul and fire in your belly. And it’s the latter which is most easily achieved at Fuego, now open on the centre, with its own sauces in five degrees of ever-increasing spice made especially for them by the Upton Cheyney Chilli Company.
Number five is a habanero blend, enough to virtually cure me of a cold that had been lingering for a couple of weeks.
In what used to be My Burrito on Broad Quay, this new restaurant has a bright yellow paint job outside and has been thoroughly Simple Simon-ed inside.
is needed now More than ever
The Paintworks-based design firm have gone to town here with their best-known touches seen in places like Beerd, Graze, Grillstock and Manos: corrugated iron, painted wooden crate stacks, colourful metal bar stools, white tiles and a feature wall of colourful scenes from across Latin America.
Fuego co-owner Gonzalo Trujillo whipped off his jacket on Wednesday revealing a branded red t-shirt and jumped behind the till when things started to get busy during the lunchtime rush.
Columbia-born Trujillo was involved in setting up Pieminister and Grillstock, so he has form when it comes to successful food businesses with their beginnings in Bristol.
The menu at Fuego is currently just a taster of things to come, what the promotional literature promises as a “whistle stop tour of Latin America, through its market and street food culture”.
A popular option from 7 Broad Quay’s most recent incarnation remains the burrito. Still wrapped tightly within tin foil, there are now six options, all costing £6.35, including smoked beef, pulled pork and braised shredded chicken.
My quesadillas (£5.90) came with chunks of chorizo and generously spiced potatoes. Esquites (£2.50), sweetcorn drizzled with cheese, chilli, garlic and lime juice, made for an ideal accompaniment.
Another Latin-themed restaurant, Las Iguanas, now a national chain with 39 restaurants, started in Bristol in 1991 in humble beginnings on St Nicholas Street in what is now Chomp.
It doesn’t take a huge leap to imagine Fuego firing on all cylinders and getting close to achieving this success within the next couple of decades.
Fuego, 7 Broad Quay, Bristol, BS1 4DA
0117 929 7239
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