Restaurants / Reviews
Zitto & Bevi – restaurant review
Walk up the steep incline of Nine Tree Hill, through the door of Zitto & Bevi and be met with tantalising wafts of welcoming cooked meats.
Welcoming is also the word for this new Italian wine bar’s extremely friendly and warm staff, who accommodate you like a close friend they’ve greeted into their own front room.
And welcoming is definitely the word to describe the rows of various wines lining the shelves, enough to make even committed beer drinkers water at the mouth.
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Zitto & Bevi (roughly translated as “shut up and drink”) effortlessly replicates the osteria-style backstreet eateries of Italy, and just like those is filled with wine and simple tasty food.
Chef-owner Sergio Carravetta has opened within a few days of Polpo over on Whiteladies Road, the difference being that this has arrived on a shoestring budget and Polpo is part of an expanding London chain.
Get started with a garibaldi, not a biscuit but a Campari and orange juice, or perhaps sample the Ninetree – a specially created cocktail with Brut, fresh oranges and lemons, and chilli.
Glasses of wine start from £2, with bottles from £12 to £21. All are made by Italian cooperatives or family-run vineyards and specially imported by Carravetta, who knows most of the producers personally.
Wanting a lighter option, we were recommended a Cortese DOC Piemonte (£15), a fresh and fruity white.
Zitto & Bevi’s food menu is an example of classic Italian home cooking, but many dishes allow you cater to your own taste with several options available.
Food here – divided into ‘with your fingers’, ‘with a fork’ and ‘with a spoon’ – is served in generous portions and plated beautifully.
The bruschetta (£4) had a number of toppings to pick from including sauté mushrooms and tomato salad. However, I delved into their zingy black olive spread, juicy roasted vegetables and creamy melted fontina cheese.
The delightfully moist polenta (£4) was also a hit, complemented well with thick and flavoursome tomato sauce and served with Italian sausage meatballs.
The feel of Zitto & Bevi fits in seamlessly with this corner of Kingsdown, just a stone’s throw from Stokes Croft.
It’s an unusually laid-out restaurant with a hidden away downstairs dining room in what was most recently The Runcible Spoon and before that the original home of Café Kino.
It also hosted a pop-up in 2012 from Pear Café owner Elly Curshen and Dan ‘Essex Eating’ Vaux-Nobes, taking their much-missed Montpelier Basement supper club on tour.
The ground floor area is decorated with candles and baskets of vegetables, transporting you straight to the hidden corners of the Eternal City.
Extravagantly bearded manager Matteo Amione helps to create the laid back atmosphere. He might direct you to sit on the stools which line the windows, enabling you to watch the hustle and bustle of Stokes Croft below.
Benches outside also allow you to take your food and drink on to the pavement if you wish.
Zitto & Betti is as authentically Italian as they come. Oozing with personality, it’s a charming new addition to Bristol, providing both delicious dining and a place for relaxing and socialising over more than just a few drinks.
Zitto & Bevi, 3 Nine Tree Hill, Kingsdown, Bristol, BS1 3SB
0117 329 7645
Read more: Polpo – restaurant review