Restaurants / Reviews
Brigstow Bar & Kitchen – restaurant review
When Natasha Pierce opened the original Brigstow cafe on the Harbour Inlet at the end of 2014, she was taking a big gamble. This newly created development opposite the ss Great Britain was still a desolate ghost town.
But since then, Natasha’s gamble has paid off and Brigstow has been joined by neighbouring tapas bar Spoke & Stringer, with the Boat House bar and deli coming soon.
Despite Brigstow being rather over-reliant on their harbourside location, with tray bakes some of the most imaginative food formerly on offer, it was all going well.
is needed now More than ever
Then disaster struck. Water seeping up through the floor forced them to shut at the end of last year and everything inside being ripped out. The business was shut for more than three months but has now returned and the opportunity to start afresh has been grasped firmly with both hands.
The kitchen has more than doubled in size and most importantly, behind the stoves is Andy Clatworthy, formerly head chef at The Rummer.
Bought-in tray bakes have been replaced by a boldly experimental dining menu that includes ‘a burnt forest floor’ (£6.50 and written on the menu as “many mushrooms, truffle, leaves”); raw scallops with charcoal mayo, pressgurka (a Swedish cucumber salad), sweet and sour dill oil (£7); and treacle cured salmon(£7.50) with horseradish, chilli and skyr (Icelandic yoghurt). And that’s just a selection of the starters.
Andy is planning to introduce tasting menus soon, but this type of food certainly isn’t all this new-look Brigstow is about, with a brunch and lunch menu and snacks and nibbles the likes of breaded hake and charcoal mayo, black pudding fritters, and Bath blue cheese mousse.
On a recent Friday lunchtime, a crispy pig’s belly was a sure sign that Andy and his small team is already firing on all cylinders, golden pork skin splintering off the precisely cooked meat and accompanied by a peppery horseradish potato salad and watercress.
Out of disaster at Brigstow has come triumph. What was not long ago a desolate ghost town is now a must-visit location serving some of the best and most imaginative food in Bristol.
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