Pubs and Bars / Pub of the Week
Pub of the Week: The Star & Dove
Shaking off the rain as I walk into The Star & Dove, Ziggy Stardust plays overhead and the fire crackles. It’s the perfect place to escape Bristol’s turbulent weather for a while as you are immediately invited into a cosy yet sophisticated atmosphere. There’s even a stack of blankets to tuck up into if the pub gets too cold.
Labelled as ‘Olde British Tavern and Dining’, the style is rather eclectic. By the bar, there’s a highly decorated wall covered entirely in patterned place mats, forming the adult equivalent of a bedroom wall plastered in Instagram photos.
Follow the curving bar through two sets of doors and you come to the restaurant, where the decor changes as the pub place mats are exchanged for pine cones and antlers. Taxidermy is pinned up on each wall. Chunky wooden tables and mismatched chairs add to the comforting winter feel. It’s more like a decadent holiday cabin in the mountains than a pub in Totterdown.
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“I like the pose on that one,” says the friendly waiter as he points to the Peregrine falcon with its claws out. “It looks like it’s going to steal your dinner,” he laughs.
Managing the bar and restaurant by himself on this lazy Friday afternoon, he is kind and humorous as he hums along to Bowie, making regular checks without ever being overbearing.
More than 50 bottled beers and ciders and six rotating ales have placed this pub in The Good Beer Guide in 2014. When I ask which cider he’d recommend, I’m asked for my specific likes and dislikes before being presented with a Devon Mist Shaky Bridge medium sweet cider in a chunky mug. It’s exactly to my taste.
The food is less pricey than it looks. With an affordable menu of two courses of pub classics for £12, portions are generous and delicious.
Smoked ham hock terrine is elegantly served on a slate platter with pickled tea prunes and small chunks of pickled cucumbers on crackers. They also offer white bait, warmed cheese, beef brisket and soup for starters.
For mains, I go for the roast pork, sage and onion pie. Topped with a rosemary sprinkled hot pastry lid with a side of buttered kale, it is enormous. There are no Jerusalem artichokes as promised on the menu, but these are replaced by crisp, salty roast potatoes. The pastry spills over the bowl, cracking at the edges, oozing heat as the lid cracks open.
Two friends catch up on family gossip over 6oz chuck steak British beef burgers (£9) on the other side of the fire. The music is at exactly the right level to create a lively atmosphere while allowing diners to enjoy conversation.
Timothy Denny and Matthew Duggan have focused on British heritage cookery and the high quality is evident. The pub has WiFi but the atmosphere is so comfortable, you won’t feel the need to use it.
The Star & Dove, 74-78 St Luke’s Road, Totterdown, Bristol, BS3 4RY
0117 933 2892