Restaurants / Reviews
Bellita – restaurant review
Some restaurants appear out of nowhere, with unknown names and a mystery CV. Others can trace their lineage back through numerous other establishments; the locale which they have now created being the embodiment of what has gone before with a new twist.
Bellita falls firmly into the latter category – and it’s the most exciting opening in Bristol this year.
is needed now More than ever
Kate Hawkings and Connie Coombes first worked together at Rocinantes and Quartier Vert, before joining forces at the Arnolfini and then Bell’s Diner & Bar Rooms, from where head chef Sam Sohn-Rethel (ex-Rocinantes, Lido and Manna) has joined them to help open what they describe as Bell’s “boisterous little sister” on Cotham Hill, in what was formerly the much-loved and much-lauded Flinty Red.
Sam’s former sous chef Joe Harvey (part of the Cafe Mulino family) heads up the kitchen while front of house manager Alex de Salengre was at the Pony & Trap before helping to launch Salt & Malt.
It’s quite a team – and the boisterous nature of this new venture was to the fore from day one. On an early Saturday evening visit, a cocktail created especially by The Ethicurean’s Jack Bevan (the Somerset Royale featuring The Collector vermouth, Somerset cider brandy, sloe gin and coffee liqueur) had already been drunk dry.
But all was not lost with a bellita (£6) – Chase Seville orange gin with raspberry, thyme and black pepper shrub – possibly the magical cure for the common cold such is its peppery kick.
Another of Kate’s shims (“gorgeous little hits of hooch to get you in the mood”), the greengage and Irish (£5), featuring Tullamore Dew whisky with greengage and ginger shrub, was an ideal drink to imbibe while the sun was setting – Kate even rustling up a four-year-old-friendly version of the bellita for my young daughter as my own second shiim went swiftly down the hatch.
Alhambra beer is on draught and perhaps uniquely in the UK, the wines on offer at Bellita have only been made by women, including a pink pinot noir made by Ingrid Bate of Dunleavey Vineyards in the Wrington Vale.
A proper sampling of the food inspired by Spain, North Africa and the Middle East will have to wait until my next visit. On this debut trip I only had time to taste the delicious jamon iberico croquetas (£2 each) and potato and parmesan fritters (three for £3) from the bar menu.
The menu is divided into sections named bar, veg, seafood, meat and pudding; and for next time I’ve already eyed up the Cornish clams cooked in garlic butter with leeks and pernod (£7.50) and the pork cheeks slow cooked in Pedro Ximinez with cauliflower puree, wild mushrooms and sage (£12).
There are also Bell’s own ice creams (£2.50 each), with flavours currently including stracciatella (an Italian-style sorbet made with milk packed with chunks of chocolate), saffron and raspberry sorbet.
Bring friends and try the charcoal-grilled eight-year-old Galician beef sirloin with chicken stock potatoes. Advised for two or three people, it costs a special occasion worthy £55.
But a special occasion certainly isn’t needed to visit. To paraphrase Bill Bryson extolling the virtues of Durham in Notes From a Small Island: “If you have never been to Bellita, go there at once. Take my bicycle. It’s wonderful.”
Bellita, 34 Cotham Hill, Bristol, BS6 6LA
0117 923 8755
Photos by Emma Woodward