Pop ups and supper clubs / Reviews
Cafe Mulino
The fabled St Werburgh’s Sunday Roast Club had simple directions. Go under the bridge, past the Hobbit house, under the next bridge and if you see the tepee you’ve gone too far.
Colin and George (now a baker at the Stock Exchange Bakery) were based at Bocoso opposite the City Farm’s Boiling Wells site and cooked up Sunday lunches of such exquisite simplicity in such bucolic surroundings that I still feel a pang of loss a good two years after they roast their last potato.
This area of Bristol, especially once you pass through the Mina Road tunnel, can feel like a fairytale with its meadows, farm, Gaudi-esque houses and laissez-faire attitude.
is needed now More than ever
Cafe Mulino is the latest one day a week operation to spring up in St Werburgh’s. Run by a family who live in a nearby converted mill, hence the name, it’s currently only open for dinner on Friday nights at the Wild Goose Space in a room that the family patriarch even helped to build.
Looking to open a restaurant soon, for now this is the best they can do, setting up in less than an hour after the end of a Pilates class.
It was Halloween the night that I visited, with carved pumpkins on each table – candles alight inside until the smell of burning fruit got a bit too much to bear – and clips from horror films projected onto one wall.
A screaming Janet Leigh in the famous shower scene from Psycho, thankfully unaccompanied by the piercing strings, was playing as we were served our palette cleanser of gin, grapefruit and basil sorbet between the starter and main courses.
The food was refreshingly simple from chefs who have worked at some of Bristol’s best restaurants including Quartier Vert, Manna and Bell’s Diner.
The core team is made up of siblings Clarrie, Ben and Joe Harvey, who all started working in Riverstation as teenagers. On the night of my visit, Dave Haze from The Lido was also giving a helping hand in the kitchen.
The price at Cafe Mulino is £25 for three courses, with a bring your own drinks policy and no corkage charge.
My starter of ham hock terrine, parsnip and apple purée, pickled girolles and pecorino was beautifully presented, while my partner’s vegetarian option of artichokes and piquillo peppers was declared a triumph.
A main of confit duck had the meat dripping from the bone, served with a creamy pumpkin purée, roast beetroot, farro and grape jus. Over the other side of the table was another fine vegetarian option of Sicilian aubergine involtini.
Dessert was honey-flavoured nougat semi-freddo and tiny toffee apples that would give a dentist nightmares.
Options on other Fridays have included ox cheek ragu and North African-themed sharing platters.
St Werburgh’s has once again struck culinary gold with Cafe Mulino, which surely won’t be a pop-up for much longer.
Cafe Mulino, 228 Mina Road, St Werburgh’s, Bristol BS2 9YP
0117 944 6047
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