Buskers Banquet, Kitchen by Kask – ‘A beautiful evening of chilled wine, good food and brilliant music’

On a recent Thursday evening, some of the hottest emerging talent on Bristol’s music scene partnered with a local chef and a neon-filled kitchen cum-wine-bar to nourish both the stomachs and the souls of a small crowd of lucky revellers attending Busker’s Banquet.

The sense of anticipation fogs the windows as the instruments are arranged in the corner, whilst couples in their fanciest garms peruse Kask’s curated wine list. It may be Thursday but wine is being enjoyed at an alarmingly Friday rate, a sample of the success that Kask’s original venue over the road has enjoyed. There will be sore heads in the morning.

The announcement of Dan Ashford, the chef from The Wave, stills the lively chatter. ‘Inspired by my time in Greece, an amuse-bouch, followed by hay-baked chicken or parsnip and potato pie’.

A woman wearing sunglasses indoors in late-September grins hungrily as she takes a skewer offered to her from a platter travelling around the room. Cubes of feta, olives and oven-dried tomatoes have been impaled on wooden skewers making for something of an obstacle course of a mouthful, given the fact that no further cutlery or crockery was provided.

The amuse-bouch is a salty and juicy invigorating dip in the mediterranean. Appreciative murmurs follow embarrassed chewing like a mexican wave. So far the only music plays from speakers in the corners of the room.

A set menu was designed for the evening. photo: Issy Packer

The skewers are cleared. The barn-doors of the kitchen swing open from the momentum of multiple plates carrying hay-baked chicken.

‘I just wasn’t expecting it’, exclaims a twenty-something. Despite seeing it on the menu, and hearing about it in Dan’s welcome, she seems most surprised to find her dish garnished with popcorn.

Hay-baked chicken leg, garnished with popcorn, sat atop a celeriac puree and was accompanied by a carrot – photo: Meg Houghton-Gilmour

The clink of cutlery can barely be heard above the waves of chatter. Fingers curl around wine glasses. Chicken is devoured quickly.

Dessert has been paired with a shot of belgian beer, and the thirty odd people sat shoulder to shoulder along Kitchen by Kask’s benches are challenged to guess what eighties pudding the concoction is inspired by.

Dan is correct. A brownie, malted ice cream and the cherry coke flavour of the beer fuse to make the flavour profile of a boozy black forest gateau. Eyes light up across the room with discovery.

Stan Elliott is charged with kicking off the next course. “We’re going to play you some tunes to fill up your hearts. Hopefully your stomachs are full already”.

Segueing into some beautifully chilled songs and accompanied by his friend Oscar on the saxaphone, the singer/songwriter from Bath knew how to warm up the crowd.

Stan Elliott and Oscar kicked off the musical portion of the event. photo: Issy Packer

The acoustic songs allowed us to reminisce over childhood memories and long-gone years. The added musicality of the saxophone created a bubble of wistfulness as the audience became captivated by the duo.

It was perhaps over all too soon with the length of the songs taking up most of the set however it was a great way to kick off the musical portion of the evening.

The final set of the night came from The Hangover Club who claimed to write and perform “only cowboy songs”.

If Stan Elliott kicked things off then The Hangover Club put it into overdrive. Full of energy, instruments, upbeat melodies and synchronised vocals, the band went head first into their performance.

The three piece band squeezed as much as they could into the small venue. photo: Issy Packer

It was a great moment to see them not hold back and in turn the audience ate them up with the same passion they had for the food. People were up and dancing, clapping along and attempting to singalong.

The band squeezed all they had out in that half hour set, delivering a very special end to a very lovely evening.

A beautifully warming evening set in an intimate setting with not only Bristols local food scene but also musical talent on display. What more could you want?

Keep up to date with what’s next for the Buskers Banquet via their Instagram.

Main photo: Meg Houghton-Gilmour

Read next:

• Buskers Banquet: The lockdown venture that fuses independent food with Bristol’s music scene
• From street food to tortilla production line
• Flipside, Whiteladies Road: ‘The very definition of a hidden gem’ – Restaurant review

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