Starlings, Queen’s Road: ‘A strong entry into the bacon roll world championships’ – restaurant review

When the students once again descend on Bristol in September, those that frequent the Richmond building will no doubt be pleased to discover a new brunch venue on their doorstep. Not just any brunch venue either – a brunch venue that puts edible flowers on all their dishes! Edible flowers can mean only one thing; Starlings is sure to be an Instagram sensation.

In the four days that they’ve have been open they have already managed to bag some repeat customers, evidenced by the jokes being exchanged over the Starlings branded coffee machine. The front of the café-cum-wine bar is also a deli, and upon arrival you are greeted by a table of fresh loaves, eggs, chocolate, and mountainous meringues.

A deli table that even Gloucester Services would be proud of.

Starlings have taken the best thing since sliced bread idiom to heart; every dish on the menu is served on or with sourdough. Bristol Loaf sourdough, to be specific. I can’t argue with this – Bristol Loaf sourdough is some of the best in town. It would seem Starlings know their limitations, which is commendable. Nothing worse than someone insisting they can do everything and then watching with delight as you try to gag your way through their third attempt at sourdough. Best to stick to what you know and use the gaps to platform other brilliant local businesses. No qualms here.

We order all but one dish on the menu. This sounds extravagant, but there are only five dishes to choose from.

Firstly, the bacon roll (£5.50). This is a make-or-break moment – if you can’t make a decent bacon sandwich then there really is no hope. It’s a promising start – quality thick-cut bacon with a rosemary ketchup on a Bristol loaf seeded roll. Whilst it’s unlikely to win, it’s a strong entry into the bacon roll world championships (if only they existed). For me the bread:bacon ratio is a little too high in favour of carbs. I feel as though the bread should primarily be the vessel for the meat and that it shouldn’t draw your attention. My companions disagree; in their eyes the stability and fluffiness of the chunky roll is ideal. If there’s one thing everyone can agree on, it’s that the debate around what bread/roll/bun/bap bacon should be served in is an argument as old as time.

Not quite as good a cross-section as Little Bagel Co or Sandwich Sandwich, but enticing nonetheless.

Next up, mushrooms on toast (£8.50) In case fried mushrooms weren’t enough, they’ve also thrown in blended mushrooms in the form of mushroom pate. It’s tasty; the mushrooms have been treated well and thus retained their moisture and umami punch. However, it is slightly lacking in pizzazz. Satisfying no doubt, but the addition of garlic, thyme and some wild porcini wouldn’t have gone amiss. I’d recommend the Guardian’s ‘how to eat’ column on the subject as further reading. By the time you get to the middle of the single albeit huge slice of toast, the pate has started to become a little bit too familiar with the bread. This doesn’t detract from the overall experience too much – if you’re eating it with a knife and fork that is. God help anyone who goes in with their hands.

When ordering at the counter I opted to add an egg, which goes very well and I’d recommend it. The yolk could’ve been runnier and the underside insinuates a little too fast on the frying front, but we’re talking minor details here.

Mushrooms on toast was never going to be the most-aesthetic of dishes. Maybe avoid this if it’s purely Instagram content you’re after.

Now for the showstopper, Nordic sourdough (£9.50) described as gin-cured salmon, pickled cucumber, herb crème fraiche on toasted sourdough. If my handshake had as much gravitas as Paul Hollywood’s (although I’m not sure he’s something to aspire to) then I would have given them one for the Nordic sourdough. All the brunch dishes were good, but this was the epitome of smoked salmon. This is where every salmon, desperately swimming up that hill would make a deal with God to end up. Thick cut, gin-cured, meaty. The crème fraîche’s fraîche-ness boosted by the addition of dill, the cucumber lightly pickled but enough to wake you from any weekend slumber. The capers had clearly been going to the gym, huge and fit to burst. A feast for all the senses.

The pièce de résistance – and I challenge you to try resisting this.

The Mediterranean sourdough (£9.50) is also a beautiful dish, although it’s connection to the Mediterranean is ambiguous to say the least. I can’t say sourdough is something that springs instantly to mind when I think of the med, and the name might lead one to imagine a tomato-based dish, perhaps with olives or feta. In fact, what arrives is goats cheese and ham on toast, peppered with rocket. It’s very nice, if goats’ cheese is the kind of thing that gets you going in the morning. It’s the kind of thing that you’d pay fifteen euros for in the airport on your way home from the Mediterranean perhaps, but that’s the only connection I can see.

Possibly the most beautiful of the dishes, but also the most confused.

Who said that brunch couldn’t be followed by dessert? On offer at Starlings are a range of cakes that have been procured from Cakesmiths – suppliers to many an excellent café in Bristol. We tried the chocolate and hazelnut torte (£3.00) and found ourselves caught in the crossfire between Nutella and a Gu chocolate pudding. A bit much considering it was still pre-11am, but Bruce Bogtrotter would’ve finished it off no problem. The plan is for Starlings to rotate the providers of their baked goods which bodes well considering the quality of the bakeries available on their doorstep.

This tasted like three slices compacted into one incredibly dense chunk.

It would certainly be nice to see a few options on the menu that aren’t bread-based, as it stands it’s a coeliac’s worst nightmare – although I didn’t actually remember to ask if they offer gluten-free bread (sorry!).

Also, only one brunch options is vegan which I would argue isn’t nearly enough in Bristol, however they do have plans to change the menu regularly.

The coffee is good and the service is faultless. They’ve managed to achieve the relaxed atmosphere that is essential in an all-day brunch establishment. The next phase of Starlings’ world domination is to start opening in the evenings from next week, serving wine, charcuterie boards and cocktails. I look forward to tasting their evening equivalent of the Nordic sourdough and seeing if their obsession with bread continues after hours. I’ll be back.

Starlings, 99 Queen’s Road, Clifton, BS8 1LW
www.starlingsuk.co.uk

All photos: Meg Houghton-Gilmour

Read more: The Crafty Egg, Fishponds: ‘Check you’re not dreaming’ – restaurant review

Listen to the latest Bristol24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast: