Tasty To Go, St Augustine’s Place: ‘A taste and textural rollercoaster’ – review

If you happened to be overlooking the balcony of Bambalan of an evening, at around 5.30pm you might spy a group assembling on a corner. They’re gathering outside a new restaurant, eagerly assessing the menu printed on the door, keen to begin a culinary adventure that may take them into uncharted territory. They’ve arrived early; they had to in order to bag a table. Whether the demand is due to the food or the fact that there are only three tables remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure – the contents of the menu will make for a memorable meal.

As implied by the name above the door, Tasty To Go is not designed for dwelling. A handful of stools surround the small tables, which are packed into a small white room amongst a seemingly random assortment of kitchen gadgets. The vast menu adorns the wall in both Chinese and English.

The menu is divided into three sections ‘a bite of tasty’, ‘special dishes’ and ‘meal set’. We’re on a mission to try a wide range of what’s on offer, so we order a small slow cooked trotter (£3.80), special black fungus salad (£7.80), dry-fried pork intestine (£12.80), Huaiyang braised meatball (£4.80), duck blood vermicelli soup (£7.80) and an egg fried rice (£3.80). Do not come here expecting sweet and sour chicken or a special chow mein – this is real, authentic Chinese home-style cooking which has not been carefully adapted for the western palette, and rightfully so.

The first to arrive is the fried intestine. A generous pile of golden ovals dotted with dried chilli and crescents of celery. Each thinly sliced, golden disc delivers an intense, fatty, pork flavour but is not greasy and is backed by a warm chilli kick. They’re not dissimilar to pork belly, only chewier, and are pleasantly moreish.

The slices of fried intestine almost resemble fried plantain chips

The dishes arrive as and when they are ready, and next up is the slow cooked trotter. It seems this is usually very much a sticky, bits-in-your-teeth style hands-on affair, so much so that they usually serve it with a pair of gloves. As they’ve run out of the necessary PPE today, the staff kindly offer to cut it up for us. You would really have to invest time and effort into this to feel like you’d eaten something, and for me the gelatinous morsels of delicate pork flavour between bone are not sufficiently rewarding. It is not a dish designed for aesthetics, both in terms of how it looks on the plate or how you might look eating it. Thus, approach with caution and in good company.

I would also struggle to know what to garnish a pig’s trotter with

Next is the braised meatball, a tennis ball of pork dotted with crunchy water chestnuts. It’s almost alarmingly soft, as though the pig waltzed in voluntarily and was treated to a massage before meeting its demise. My chosen dining partner this evening, my Bristol24/7 colleague Miles, enjoys it so much he reckons the best way to enjoy this would be to have one in each hand and eat them like apples. The meatball is served in a viscous chicken gravy which tastes like it’s seen its fair share of Bisto, an unexpected but well-considered pairing that makes for a soul-soothing snack.

One meatball is more than enough when they are bigger than your fist

The spicy black fungus salad commands the table with its cold, black, animated curls. Dressed in a sweet punchy vinegar and fresh coriander it provides a welcome contrast to the pork fest we’ve engaged in so far. The wrinkles of fungus slither smoothly over the tongue and leave a smoky aftertaste. It’s unique and refreshing, and Miles is captivated by it despite it mocking him with its ability to defy his chopsticks.

By far my favourite dish to look at, the black fungus salad

Among the friends I shared the menu with before visiting, there was a firm consensus; that I must try the duck blood soup – a destination at the very edge of curiosity. I’m surprised by what arrives; a pale broth with cubes of ‘blood’ and teeming with glass vermicelli noodles. I had imagined it to be darker, murkier, bloodier. The noodles are too soft for my liking but slurp surprisingly well with the savoury broth to create a truly warming, comforting experience, but not one that sings of satisfying duck flavour.  The cubes of blood are earthy and mushroomy chunks of a memory foam mattress. One is enough for me.

The portion sizes at Tasty To Go are as generous as they look

The final stop in our tour is an oxymoron; braised, fried pork skin. The slithery slices of pork skin are chewy like the soles of a shoe and taste of something sweet that I can’t put my finger on. It’s not to my taste, or rather my texture. They appear to be bolstered by fried slices of spam which are a fun and unexpected addition, and rehydrated prawns which add a pleasingly fishy note to the concoction, loosely tied together by another Bisto-inspired chicken gravy. Sadly the pork skin is not the blistered, melt in the mouth sensation I’d hoped for and the other, rather unharmonious elements on the plate feel like last minute substitutes.

Any crispiness from frying the skin has long been lost since the immersion in this sauce

The egg fried rice does the job of mopping up the various sauces we’ve accrued well.

The staff are cheerful and enthusiastically share their favourite dishes from the menu. There’s a high turnover on the three small tables and a queue out of the door the entire time we are in there, meaning in the few short weeks it has been open Tasty to Go has clearly developed a reputation.

The menu is a taste and textural rollercoaster. As demonstrated by the reaction to our previous article about Tasty’s opening, there are people who will decry duck neck, pigs ears and chicken feet on a menu. I believe that if we are going to continue to eat meat in this climate-ravaged world then it is about time that we embrace all of the animal, not just some of it. In doing so, we will discover the host of exciting possibilities that lie in wait, as some cultures have been enjoying for years.

Tasty To Go is small but perfectly formed

Ultimately, Tasty To Go leaves us where every good adventure should end; home. This is not the comfort food that I know and love, but that is without a doubt what it is to those who seek to sit on one of these stools. With its random kitchen appliances, cheery staff and uncomplicated seating arrangement, Tasty To Go does encompass the slightly chaotic but ultimately endearing and comforting atmosphere of a true home kitchen, which I suspect is exactly what its clientele are searching for – and it seems clear to me that they have found it.

Tasty To Go, 4 St Augustine’s Place, Bristol, BS1 4UD

All photos: Meg Houghton-Gilmour

Read more: Pig trotters, duck blood and chicken feet on the menu at Tasty To Go

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