The Garden of Easton: ‘Come for the style, stay for the sensational food’ – restaurant review

The Garden of Easton may be Instagram gold but it’s the quality of food that captures the imagination and will keep people coming back.

Arriving just as a muggy summer evening gave way to rain, the floral frontage of the new kitchen/bar, with its rotating globe over the door and soft candlelight within beckons through the drizzle.

Formerly home to Maitreya Social – a veggie restaurant from the days when that was still a relatively rare thing – the transformation of the premises on St Mark’s Road has been years in the making by the team behind The Bristolian on Picton Street in Montpelier.

They were set to open when Covid hit, setting the new venture back by more than a year. Now in full swing, the kitchen/bar is already proving a hit and a small cluster of diners wait patiently just inside the door before being shown to their table.

At a time when foliage in cafés is very ‘en vogue’, The Garden of Easton team have taken things to a whole new level, creating almost a mini jungle of plants – each grown from seed themselves. Green tendrils hang down over exposed wood in the bar area, where low-hanging lights cast a soft glow over the displays of cakes and treats.

The Garden of Easton has taken foliage to a whole new level

If downstairs is beautiful, upstairs is something else. Light pours in through the skylights of the hand-crafted roof, where plants hang down from vast wooden boughs. There’s the sound of soft chatter as diners work their way through the small plate and cocktail evening menu. It’s a scene all the more welcoming for being still so new in this post-lockdown period.

Foregoing the ‘English Rose’ and ‘Romantic Wonder’ cocktails for the punchier-sounding ‘Smokin’ Mezcal Margerita’ (£7.80) and ‘Stinger in the Rye’ (£7.90), the drinks don’t disappoint for flavour or strength.

It sets the scene for a carefree couple of hours, tucked away amid the jungle-like greenery with soft beats playing overhead.

The menu at The Garden of Easton is mostly vegan, with some vegetarian dishes and just a couple of meat and fish. The small plates offering is designed to give people the option to mix and match from options that include crispy cauliflower bites, crushed pea, ricotta and za’atar fritters and free range grilled pigeon breast.

It’s not long before dish after beautifully presented dish is brought to the table by the cheerful, attentive staff in an array of culinary inventiveness.

The burrata cheese and cocktails setting the scene for things to come

The burrata cheese with salt-baked beetroot and pickled golden beetroot, served with a basil oil, rocket and lemon salad (£6.20) is a perfectly-balanced creamy and fresh combination, the olives (£3.75) plump and flavoursome and the homemade kimchi (£3) a delicately spiced crunchy bite.

The smoked salmon pate with cucumber ribbons and leafy greens (£5.80) melts in the mouth and the flatbread with humous (£3.80) arrives just in time to mop up any last remains of the lone fish dish that more than holds its own.

Artichoke hearts with broccoli, confit garlic olive oil and toasted almonds (£4.70) are lightly charred and full of flavour while the generous bowl of patatas bravas with muhummara and smoked vegan aioli (£4.50) are crisp, hot and incredibly moreish.

Smoked salmon pate that melted in the mouth

Moreish patatas bravas with a spicy kimchi crunch and chargrilled artichokes

It’s not a flawless medley of food. The mushroom and spinach croquetas (£5.20) may be crisp and flavoursome but I’d advise non-vegan cheese lovers to steer away from the whipped vegan feta, which is a poor substitute for the real thing. This does little to detract from what is overall a beautiful meal in every sense of the word.

With second cocktails ordered, the option of a ‘drowned brownie’ – a chocolate brownie with Mozart chocolate liqueur and cream (£6.60) is too hard to resist. Coupled with a bowl of vegan sorbets (mango and gooseberry) and vegan chocolate ice cream (£5.40 for three scoops), it is a joyous end to a sensational evening.

Rounding things off with these irresistible dishes

Come for the Instagrammable style, stay for the sensational food served up with a warm welcome and cocktails that leave you buzzing.

The Garden of Easton has been a long time in the making

The Garden of Easton, 89 St Mark’s Road, Easton, Bristol, BS5 6HY
www.thegardenofeaston.co.uk

All photos by Ellie Pipe

Read more: Team behind much-loved cafe open new kitchen/bar in Easton