Restaurants / Reviews
Pitter Pata of trendy feet
The team behind Hyde & Co, Milk Thistle and The Ox have once again conjured up a new venue in Bristol that already feels as if it has been here for years.
Pata Negra on Clare Street just at the end of Corn Street follows a familiar formula for anyone who knows that trio.
There are mismatched lampshades, plenty of wood panelling and dapperly dressed bartenders with requisite facial hair.
Unlike its brothers and sisters, there is natural light. I even ate my lunch precariously perched on a red cushion in one of the large windows in the ground floor dining room and bar.
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The front end of a life-size pig outside (the rear end can be found above the side entrance on St Nicholas Street) means you can’t fail to miss Pata Negra – literally a “black leg” in Spanish, but in cooking terminology meaning particularly good quality cured ham.
The best ham here is the jamón ibérico, hung behind the bar in a glass case that looks as though it once belonged in a museum.
Also to be found behind the glass are strings of chorizo and salchichón, sausage made with pork from white pigs who have grazed on the plains near Salamanca in western Spain.
You can graze in Pata Negra on Chesterfield chairs with oak barrels for tables, about as large as the water cooler-sized bottle of Bristol-made Psychopomp gin currently behind the bar.
Alhambra Premium is the beer on tap, with Day of the Dead IPA and Porter from Mexico in bottles, an extensive wine list mostly from Spain and Portugal, and some recommended highballs including Tapatio tequila and coke and a gin and tonic with Pata Negra’s own Psychopomp.
I chose from the tapas menu on a lunchtime visit, with three tapas costing £10 between midday and 3pm. After that, three pintxos (smaller tapas) and a glass of fino sherry will set you back just £7.
My patatas bravas were crispy but just a little over-cooked. The tangy sauce was excellent and the diced potatoes made a change from the bravas served at Madrid restaurant in Bath where the sauce is contained within small pieces of potato the size of scallops.
Fiery chorizo was nicely offset by a poached egg with an oozing centre, served with breadcrumbs and a cider sauce just perfect to soak up with bread.
Tortilla had layer upon layer of soft potato, built up with almost as many levels as Pata Negra itself, with a cocktail and music bar on the first floor hosting DJs and bands, and a second floor function room.
Pata Negra, 30 Clare Street, Bristol, BS1 1YH
0117 927 6762
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