Cheap treats at St Nick's

Apologies for another Bristol food scene gloat but it's the first time for a while I've been down at St Nick's, the covered market in Bristol and I'd forgotten just how good it is.

There's a row of cafés down the centre including a Pieminister pie outlet, a Moroccan restaurant, Al Bab Mansour and the Caribbean Wrap but the best value of all by common consensus is the Portuguese cafe called Portuguese Table which doles out hearty homemade Portuguese food for a song. Even though it was raw and cold we sat on the pavement outside and tucked in to steaming platefuls of feijoada (my husband) and salt cod and potato bake (me) which cost us £4 and £5 respectively. We also bought a couple of custard tarts (see below) for a friend who particularly likes them and are going to try our best not to eat them before we see him tomorrow. At £1 each that bought the total cost to £11, cheaper - and of course infinitely tastier - than eating in most chain restaurants.


We also picked up our weekend meat from Source an excellent café and food shop I've written about before (it used to be called Taste at St Nick's). Their meat comes from chef suppliers Chef Direct so they have plenty of things you don't find in most butchers - let alone supermarkets - and at a very good price. Bavette, onglet and ox cheek for under £10 a kilo, duck legs for £2.25 each, pigeon breasts for just 90p, And staff who can actually advise on how to best to cook them. It must be the best butcher in Bristol.