Manna and Bravas

Manna & Bravas may sound a bit like an upmarket deli (or a '70s pop duo) but these are in fact the names of two separate wine bars that have opened in Bristol in the last two weeks. And what a great addition they are to the Bristol restaurant scene.

Bravas is the welcome consequence of the Bravas supperclub, which I never managed to get to, and is basically a tapas bar - a pretty authentic one at that. There are small circular tables at the front you have to perch at on stools, a glass-covered counter and some tightly packed tables at the back with - I vaguely remember - some fairy lights festooned around the place. I came straight there after a heavy couple of days in London so my recollection is a bit hazy.

There are typically tapas-y things to eat like lustrous fat green olives, a slightly over-gooey tortilla, chorizo in cider and excellent patatas bravas served, imaginatively, as deep-fried potato slices to be dunked in an accompanying punchy bravas sauce. One to try at home, definitely.

Other good dishes were some impeccably fresh, simply fried hake, a perfectly cooked lamb chop and some very tasty Iberico pork. But it’s the wine as much as anything I’d go back for - a brilliant short list of artisanal Spanish wines and, of course, sherries. I was off-duty with friends so didn’t take notes - or photographs - the light was too murky.

I was going to go back before writing about it but last night happened to be the opening night of Manna, a similar set-up in the Westbury Park neighbourhood so it makes sense to group them together. It’s run by the team who operate the immensely successful Prego opposite but is in fact more like a restaurant with small plates - similar to Flinty Red, if you’re a Bristolian and familiar with that.

This kitchen obviously likes meat too. There was a first class slab of brawn, nicely seasoned with tarragon, a lovely sticky pice of veal cheek with what tasted like home-made morcilla (certainly I’ve never tasted morcilla with as much cumin in it) and some outrageously rare onglet lavishly scattered with grated horseradish - but served without chips to which I think they’ll have to succumb in the long run.

Other dishes sent out (unbidden, but thanks) included some beautifully tender chargrilled squid with a punchy salsa, ‘butifarra’ (Spanish-style meatballs) with beans and aioli and fresh peas in their pods with mature parmesan (pecorino would have been better, I think). Oh, and we also ordered a pissaladière which was correctly oniony rather than tomatoey. The winelist is pretty short but decent and there’s a good selection of beers including two from one of my favourite West Country brewers, Moor’s of Pitney in Somerset.

The interesting thing about the tapas/small plates format is that it’s not cheap, or not cheap if you’re as greedy as we are. At Manna we spent about £30 a head (excluding the complimentary dishes), at Bravas about £38, the same as a conventional meal. But you don’t have to spend that much - you could drop in for a glass and a couple of dishes. And this style of eating means a faster throughput than a conventional restaurant, hence more profit for the restaurant and a greater likelihood these places will be around for some time. All good news.

Which should you go to? It depends what part of Bristol you live in or whether you're just visiting. Bravas is more central with more of an urban vibe. Manna, on the basis of last night’s experience, attracts the sort of crowd you might find in a local village pub and is more of a neighbourhood joint. But I suspect it will pull in people from wider afield as the word gets out.

We’ll certainly be back to both.

Bravas is at 5 Cotham Hill. Open Tuesday-Saturday 5-11pm www.bravas.co.uk Manna is at 28 North View, Westbury Park, BS6 7QB www.mannabar.co.uk Check the opening hours 0117 970 6276

A tale of two restaurants: why good food is not enough

I’ve had two meals recently, one in Bristol, one in Bath that have underlined why ability in the kitchen doesn’t necessarily make for an enjoyable restaurant experience. Of course you need good food but there are so many other factors - design, location, service and above all, good old-fashioned hospitality that determine whether you leave looking forward to going back again.

Telling your customers that their credit card will be docked £68 per person if they cancel within 48 hours (if they can’t resell the table) isn’t a good start. Which is what happens when you book at Casamia in Bristol. The two chefs Peter and Jonray Sanchez-Iglesias shot to fame a year or so ago when they won Gordon Ramsay’s Best Restaurant competition on Channel 4 and the pair are undoubtedly talented but that kind of attitude doesn’t make for a cossetting experience.

Nor does their inflexibility. Given the fact they had a no-choice menu we’d been asked to express dietary preferences (no dairy, in my husband’s case) so with the exception of the last course where they provided a rhubarb sorbet they simply left out the offending ingredients. My broad bean tart was a delicious creamy mouthful. His was a tart shell with a few skinned broad beans. My John Dory with lemon jelly (lovely and the best course on the menu) arrived with a creamy cider sauce, his was totally undressed. It was as if the kitchen were saying ‘oh FFS’.

You got that sensation a bit too with the main course of roast lamb with mint jelly which came with a spookily Bisto-ish gravy (not that I'm suggesting for a moment it was). The boys, I remember from my one previous visit, used to go in for foams and other elements of Heston-esque molecular gastronomy. Obviously that didn’t go down too well with the locals so they seem to be saying ‘you want a roast dinner? We’ll bloody give you one’. The lamb was cooked at a fashionably slow temperature, granted, but to be honest my late mum cooked a better roast dinner than that. And she served potatoes which were notably absent, replaced by an ‘onion and garlic family’ of crunchy, undercooked spring onions and leeks.

Obviously the Sanchez-Iglesias brothers don’t approve of carbs. Or fat. Which is praiseworthy and I’m sure they’re the fitter for it but if your customer asks for some bread as we tentatively did, “no I’m sorry we don’t have any” is not a good response. Nor is a powdery, fat-free (I would guess), granola-style topping with undercooked rhubarb going to satisfy someone who spots rhubarb crumble on the menu.

The minimum you can spend on food in Casamia is £45. On a Friday or Saturday night the menu is £68 or £88 - or 88 sterling pounds as they irritatingly put it - with an extra £40 or £55 respectively for an accompanying wine flight. With service, water and coffee that could easily top £250 for two - a lot to pay for a restaurant without views in a suburban shopping parade.

There are similar problems at Menu Gordon Jones, the bizarrely named new restaurant in what looks like a converted estate agent's on the corner of the busy A367 on the outskirts of Bath. Like the Sanchez-Iglesias brothers the eponymous chef has an impressive pedigree (Martin Wishart, Martin Blunos and The Royal Crescent) but only offers a ‘surprise’ no choice 5 course menu. At least it included some delicious and imaginative red cabbage and caraway bread though that appeared to be one of the courses. And the asparagus soup was as good as any I've had. But serving ox cheek and then reverting to fish is a disorienting experience and plays havoc with with your wine choice. And with just one other table (the place only has 14 covers) it lacked any real warmth or atmosphere. Although they only charge £25 for lunch, which is a bargain for the quality of food they offer, I wouldn't go back.

Obviously the economic situation is tough for new start-ups but in their desire to express themselves it’s as if these chefs have lost sight of what a restaurant experience should be. OK, they spring a surprise menu on you at Noma but Noma is Noma with one of the most talented chefs and brigades in the world and the food is not only cutting-edge but delicious.

The main problem is that none of these chefs has grasped the importance of a stylish (though not necessarily expensively fitted-out) interior and a warm and welcoming reception which is what separates successful restaurants from merely good ones. Compare this with the recently opened Dabbous whose eponymous restaurant works like clockwork. Or Ollie Couillaud’s Lawn Bistro in Wimbledon which is casual, friendly but with no lack of culinary fireworks. It's a shame.

What do you think of no choice or surprise menus? And is it fair for restaurants to charge for no-shows - a growing problem for the industry?

5 reasons why the River Cafe is still one of London's best restaurants

I had lunch at The River Café this week. I wouldn't normally say that because I find it hard to justify spending that amount of money on a meal but this month (and during late January and February for future reference) they have a winter set lunch offer where you can get 2 courses for £25 and £35 for four. Normally a main course alone will set you back £32-£36

Admittedly it was helped by the fact that it was the most stunning spring day but in every other respect the meal was faultless in ways that explain just why this iconic restaurant still pulls in the crowds.


* First it's a beautiful, beautiful space with a whole wall of glass that pours in the light. The wood-fired oven is clearly visible at one end, the gleaming stainless steel counter, topped with ingredients runs the whole length of the room on the other side. It's a big restaurant that feels like a small one. And one that looks as cutting edge in 2012 as it did when it opened in 1987.

* The service is great. Friendly, attentive, informed. The waiters have to do stints in the kitchen prepping ingredients so they really understand the food

* The ingredients are top notch. You won't get better anywhere in London. And always reflect the seasons

* The cooking makes no attempt to disguise them. No cheffy egos here. No teetering towers of ingredients, no drizzles, no foams.

* The all-Italian wine list is amazing with treats at every price level. Not super-cheap, obviously but you can buy a bottle for £24-26

So what did we eat and drink? Well, apart from the superb piece of grilled bread and olive oil that arrived just after we sat down my daugher and I had:

Mozzarella di bufala with smashed chickpeas, wood-roasted artichokes and erbette (lightly cooked greens) (daughter)


Spaghetti with red mullet, tomato, olives, capers, parsley and lemon zest - a light summery dish that suited the unseasonally warm weather perfectly (me)



Capesante e vongole - a heavenly dish of clams and scallops with soft polenta, chilli lemon and parsley (me, thank goodness. I'd have been thoroughly fed up if it had been hers)


Controfilleto di manzo - chargrilled beef sirloin with borlotti beens and fresh horseradish (which my daughter found a little fiery) Not a great pic of this so I'll skip it.

A prettily presented plate of San Andrea cheese and flatbreads (me)


A decadently rich 'pressed' chocolate cake and ice cream (for the chocoholic daughter who was even defeated by it)


My daughter doesn't drink but I had a glass of Frascati out of curiosity - a deliciously fruity Castel de Paolis 2010 (£7.50) and a glass of bright, vibrant Luigi Maffini Refosco from Friuli (£8.50). 175ml glasses, not a fortune.

So what can you do if you have a River Cafe habit without a budget to match? Have an antipasto and a pasta or risotto. Granted, that will set you back around £35 and that's still not cheap but it's affordable. And you know, when I think about it, the top Michelin-starred restaurants think nothing of charging a hundred quid for a meal. Why shouldn't the River Café when their food is as good and probably more expensively sourced? Go.

Oh, and just in case you wondered after such an unrestrained eulogy, we paid our own bill. Which came to £92.56

London restaurant miscellany

I keep on stumbling across odd developments on the London restaurant scene I mean to blog about and never get round to so I'm going to jam them all into one post.

All-day brunch at Angelus
A brilliant move from a long-standing favourite in Lancaster Gate, run by ex-sommelier Thierry Thomasin. You can eat breakfast all day on a Sunday. I discovered this recently when I was staying nearby because of an early Monday morning meeting. We went to eat at 8.30pm and found we could have a full English. There's also an omelette menu and the best steak tartare (above) I think I've eaten, hand-chopped, beautifully seasoned and, dare I say, even better than Racine's. Served with a generous portion of excellent chips so you don't really need to order extra ones with the omelette. Amazing winelist too. An overlooked gem.


Ribs at Pitt Cue Co
The entire blogosphere has raved about this southern-style barbecue joint so there's not a great deal to add except to say that the ribs live up to the hype. I think I like the St Louis pork ribs marginally better than the beef ones - there are also superb chicken wings, home-made pickles and a side of mash with burnt ends - which is basically mash with gravy and leftover bits of roast meat. Mmmmm. For a more measured, coherent but equally enthusiastic assessment read Jay Rayner's review here.


Meaty mash seems to be a bit of a trend because you also find mash with roasting juices and truffles (above) at Dabbous, which I've already described as London's hottest opening this year. Admittedly we're only 9 weeks or so in but it's apparently already booked up till May. You can, I imagine, walk into the bar though which is worth doing as the cocktails are really good too. And - who knows - if you're lucky you may pick up a table from a no-show. This is Ollie, the chef, a star in the making if I ever saw one.


And finally it's the annual winter set lunch promotion at the River Café which enables you to eat for £25 for two courses and £31 for three instead of the £15-18 and £33-37 you have to pay for a starter and main course respectively at dinner. I did it the year before last and it's a terrific deal. On till the end of March.

Is Meat Liquor as good as it’s cracked up to be?

Maybe I expected too much. I’d been gagging to go to Meat Liquor or Meatwagon as it then was since last summer when a chef friend seemingly went down there every night to get his burger fix. And now there was a restaurant. Just off Oxford Street. With amazing cocktails. In jam jars! And deep fried pickles. Heaven!

The menu certainly reads well. I’m up for any burger called Dead Hippie (2 patties, sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions) apparently their take on the Big Mac. I loved the fact they put a whole roll of kitchen towel on the table. Yes, it’s THAT messy.



But the burger was a real disappointment. Overcooked, it tasted more like mince then chopped meat. The chips were pallid, bland and frankly McDonalds-ish. The homage had gone too far. My daughter’s chicken burger looked - and tasted - a bit like KFC. What on earth had gone wrong?

Maybe lunch is the wrong time to go (I suspect it is). Maybe you need a couple of serves of House Grog “a dangerous blend of light and dark rums with a splash of overproof rum” before you get stuck in. Maybe you should ask the ‘burgerette’ for some Pure Death Sauce. There must be some reason why everyone is raving about it except me.

Frankly if you’d come across this restaurant in say, Luton or Leicester and they’d served a burger like that you’d have thought ‘that’s not a bad burger’ but from a joint touted as serving some best trash food in London it felt like a massive let down.

Two other quibbles - the wine list while fun isn’t exactly cheap. £9.50 for a glass of Washington State riesling, even if it’s called Kung Fu Girl is going it a bit. And while the service was fine the message “‘Cheers mate’ is not an acceptable tip” on your bill is just plain cheeky. (For the record we tipped. In cash. But I didn't need to be instructed to.)

If you want a great burger, Honest Burger in Brixton Village which I checked out the other day is streets better. But what about you? Is Meat Liquor as good as the original? Meatwagon fans tell me I had an off day . . .

A three course lunch at Brixton Village (all at different restaurants)

The problem with living out of London is that you feel totally out of the loop when it comes to new openings. The whole world, it seems - certainly the whole blogging world - has been to the conglomeration of cool cafés and restaurants in Brixton Village, a place where you might once have hesitated to set foot unless you were in search of callaloo and tripe. But that's not the case, of course, and if you haven't been, as I hadn't until yesterday I strongly recommend you go.

I went with my good mate Fiona Sims (the other Fiona) which was a mistake. The original intention was to have a quick burger at Honest Burgers and return to the very interesting biodynamic wine tasting we'd been at up to then. But as there was a queue at HB we had to explore other options. Fiona favoured Elephant (Pakistani street food), I wanted to try the okonomiyaki at Okan.



We settled on Elephant (above) where we shared a spinach pakora and a veggie Thali. Being an aficionado of Bristol's Thali Cafe I don't think it quite lived up to theirs - but it was hot (in both senses of the word) freshly prepared and cheap - by London standards. (About £11.50 for the two of us). Great value.


While we were there we spotted the owner bringing in a plate of something tasty for his own lunch - which turned out to be the okonomiyaki so we had to move on to Okan to try one. We bickered amiably about that too - Fi wanted tofu, I opted for pork and kimchi (wouldn't you?) and won this time. Again, good but I've had better - a bit too much gloopy sauce on top and the bottom was slightly burnt but it looked amazing and the eggy/cabbagey bit was great. £7.95.


By this time were were totally stuffed but the queues at Honest Burgers had disappeared and we couldn't miss that burger. Which was awesome - fabulously beefy with a gorgeous light bun and hopelessly moreish triple cooked chips with rosemary salt. They very sweetly divided it into two for us to share. That was £9.


So we never got back to the tasting (I went clothes shopping instead, always a bad idea when you're feeling feckless) but I think we did Brixton Village proud. You should try at least two places if you go - there are many more tempting ones as you can see above and in this review Jay Rayner wrote for the Observer and this one by Marina O'Loughlin in Metro. And some fantastic food shopping to be had around the various food and home stalls. I can't wait to go back.


NB We went on a Thursday afternoon - I suspect it gets a lot more hectic at weekends.

An Epic Breakfast at Hawksmoor Guildhall

I debated (for about 30 seconds) whether I should blog about the new Hawksmoor Guildhall breakfast. I am, after all, intimately related to the joint owner Will Beckett ('Will’s mum' being the moniker by which I’m most commonly known these days). But I’m so fired up about the place and the food which is actually masterminded not by Will but his business partner Huw Gott and chef Richard Turner, that I couldn’t resist.

Full English takes on another meaning at Hawksmoor. Those of you who have already experienced the brunch at their first Spitalfields restaurant will be familiar with the outsize bacon chops, steaks, and HkMuffin (Hawksmoor’s cheeky take on the Egg McMuffin) which make it unnecessary to eat for the rest of the day.


All make an appearance at the new Guildhall restaurant along with British stalwarts such as kippers, omelette Arnold Bennett and - what I decided to eat before I even sat down - the Edwardian favourite devilled veal kidneys on toast (above).

Just to demonstrate I haven’t entirely abandoned my critical faculties I would say the devilling was a touch fierce for 9am in the morning, even penetrating my current cold but the kidneys were perfect, the saucing just right and the toast firm enough not to disintegrate under the onslaught. Partnered with a side of Hawksmoor hash browns (the best I’ve eaten, a must if you go there) it made a bracing start to the day.


I also sneaked a bit of the Marmalade French toast which hadn’t penetrated my radar which is served improbably but successfully with hot chocolate given the Flat White treatment. Drenched in custard spiked with Pedro Ximenez sherry it probably runs perilously close to breaching most City firms’ anti-alcohol policies.


There had been reports - and somewhat unflattering pictures - of the doughnuts which do have the unfortunate appearance of spewing something unspeakable but believe me They Are Good, oozing with creamy vanilla custard (they like custard at Hawksmoor) and fresh-tasting plum jam. I also managed a bite (just a bite - honest) of a melty chocolate Danish-cum-pain-au-chocolat, an outrageously rich toffee-pecan thingy and an almond pastry stuffed with an indecent amount of almond paste.


On the credit side I managed to resist anything boozy (French toast aside) including the new Cornflake Hardshake (cornflake milkshake with added bourbon), my favourite marmalade cocktail, which you can also order at Seven Dials, and the Bloody Mary ‘buffet’ (pic at top of post) where you can go up and mix one to your own taste, opting instead for an invigoratingly healthy orange juice blend (carrot, orange, yellow pepper and ginger) of a livid colour that might come as a bit of a shock if you have a hangover. You may want to wear your shades.


Trying very hard to be objective, I would love Hawksmoor even if I wasn’t related to it. Theres an Alice in Wonderland ‘eat me’ edge of mania about the food which owes a great deal to the inventiveness and greed of Huw and Rich. And the staff are always so incredibly friendly - though you would, I suppose, be nice to the boss’s mum wouldn’t you . . .

PS Nearly forgot to say. They also have a couple of dinner dishes they don’t do at Seven Dials and Spitalfields including veal chops and oysters, a ginormous mixed grill (to pre-order) and a seven course beef menu to share for parties of 8-10 including the outrageously good beef shin macaroni which you can find - ta-daaa - in the new Hawksmoor at Home book in which I'm proud to have played a small supporting role.


PPS Hawksmoor Guildhall is only open from Mondays to Fridays

Disclaimer: I ate at Hawksmoor - and generally do - as a guest of my son. So take maternal fondness into account.

The 10 best things we ate in Paris

The week we've just spent in Paris was not a great gastronomic pilgrimage. We actually went to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary and to check out the flourishing natural wine scene in which we're both interested. We deliberately didn't make advance reservations or hit any two or three star restaurants, preferring the casual informality of bistros and wine bars. But we still ate well and here are - in no particular order - the 10 best dishes we had.

Steak frites at Café des Musées
Every trip to Paris should include a classic steak and chips and this was a cracker. Admittedly there was more fat than the average steak you'd get in a British restaurant but the taste was superb and the accompanying sauce béarnaise and very crisp hand-cut chips just perfect. The only thing that spoilt it were the loud Americans on a neighbouring table.


Radis beurre at Aux Deux Amis
Another French classic given a contemporary twist by including heirloom varieties at Aux Deux Amis, a tiny bistro on the Oberkampf (11e). Beautifully presented - I also love the whipped butter and the smoked sea salt. An ideal light start to a meal


Brandade and salad at Aux Deux Amis
OK, this doesn't look much but you have to trust me. Brandade which is made from salt cod normally comes as a sloppy purée you have with toast but this had been turned into a deconstructed fish pie. The old fashioned lettuce salad with it was the perfect accompaniment. I'm going to try this at home


Hake with crushed jerusalem artichokes, mint and olives at Rino
My husband who is more of a carnivore than I am probably wouldn't agree but this was the best dish at the best meal we had all week - at a tiny modern bistro in the 11th which serves a very short set-price lunch on Fridays and Saturdays for 20€ for two courses. A wonderfully subtle, imaginative combination of flavours. We ate it very slowly to make it last longer.


Red mullet with grains at Rino (top of post)
This was the first course at the same meal - red mullet with what they described as a 'soupe' of grains and lentils and some chard. Again, very clean and pure with a slightly Asian twist I couldn't quite put my finger on.

Joue de veau at Le Baratin
Le Baratin is probably Paris's most famous natural wine bistro - with a reputation for famously rude service as you can read here. But we found them politeness itself and the food was great. There were two main courses involving cheeks - ox cheek and veal cheek - both stellar. The ox cheek was better with the wine we ordered but the veal cheek was the lighter and more elegant dish.


Saucisse en cocotte at Vivant
Vivant, in the rue des Petites Ecuries in the 10th, is the new up and coming rival to Le Baratin. You can read my review here but I particularly liked this dish of robust Toulouse sausage served with all kinds of amazing root veg - beets, radish and turnips - steamed in their own juices en cocotte. Much lighter than the classic sausage and mash.


Oxtail croque at l’Avant Comptoir
We were pretty pleased with ourselves at squeezing into a small corner of the bar at Yves Camdeborde's ultra fashionable L'Avant Comptoir but it took a while for us to work out how to order. You think at first there's just the regulation charcuterie but there are lots of imaginative small dishes or tapas listed on cards that hang from the ceiling. This was my favourite - an oxtail 'croque' (fried sandwich) with horseradish chantilly (whipped cream). Totally delicious.


Poached pear at Philou
As you may have gathered we're not great ones for desserts - and were eating so much it was probably just as well - but this was a really lovely poached pear with salted caramel with some kind of baba-ish thingy we ate at a newish bistro Philou, just off the Canal St Martin.


Pistachio eclairs at Gosselin
And finally we did succumb to the pastry shops just once when we'd had a lighter than usual lunch, picking a pistachio eclair (at the back) from the multi-coloured selection at Gosselin in the rue St Honoré. So much more stylish than a cupcake. Just as well we didn't make patisserie the main focus of the trip . . .

Paris without a reservation

We took a different approach to our latest trip to Paris which was not to make any reservations. Partly because we'd had to cancel two trips here already and didn't want to tempt fate by booking yet another swathe of tables we might have to cancel and partly because the plan was to visit as many small bistros and wine bars as possible. Actually I tell a lie. We booked a table for our first night but we've booked nothing else more than a day ahead. For hard to get reservations like Le Baratin we rang up earlier the same day and still got a table.

So far it's worked like a dream. There's been nowhere we haven't managed to get into including Inaki Aizpitarte's new wine bar Le Dauphin, Yves Camdeborde's L'Avant Comptoir, Vivant and Rino, a restaurant we'd spent hours trying to get a booking for our last trip without success. A lot of these don't take bookings anyway or are so small that they won't take reservations on the phone especially from tourists

It's made me think that we go about visiting cities quite the wrong way these days, frantically trying to get a reservation at the most sought after restaurants and bars. Committing ourselves to a particular time slot which might not suit us because we're doing something else more interesting at the time. Squeezing in two meals a day when we might only fancy eating one. Stressing because we'll not be able to write up the hottest restaurants on our blog or for a future feature.

What we've done is wander in and have a glass of wine and a plate of charcuterie or couple of small plates then find somewhere else to have a main course or skip that and find a gorgeous cake from some enticing patisserie. We have had some fixed price meals - mainly at lunchtime - but have then eaten lightly in the evening.

Of course it's helped that there are only two of us and that we've been here for the week which removes the sense of urgency from the exercise but even if I was staying 3 to 4 nights another time I think - hope - I'd deploy the same tactics. It's also hugely reduced the cost of eating out.

What you do need so far as Paris is concerned is to come at the right time of the week. And that, unfortunately, is not at the weekend when many restaurants are shut or insanely busy but midweek from Tuesday to Friday (Mondays are also a popular closing day). Even then Parisien restaurants have erratic opening hours so do your homework, find out when the places you might fancy going are open and have a back up plan of a restaurant you could go to nearby if you don't manage to walk in. I admit I'm lucky to have a husband who likes nothing better than devising such strategies.

You also need to be prepared to eat at lunchtime rather than in the evening and earlier than might seem comfortable - the French start lunch at 12 so 12-12.30 is a good time to get a table. The added bonus is that the lunch menu is often cheaper than the dinner one.

There's always the delightful possibility you might walk past somewhere that's not on anyone's radar, where the locals themselves eat and which is a genuine find. One of the main problems these days - and I'm guilty of this myself - is that everyone goes to the same restaurants so your fellow diners are likely to be food critics and bloggers. Is that would you really want when you're exploring a city?

So how do you handle weekends - or midweek trips - to major destinations like Paris or New York? Plan ahead, leave things to chance or a bit of both?

Lahloo Pantry: a thoroughly modern tearoom

I'd better get the disclaimer out of the way first. Kate and Neil of Lahloo Tea live practically opposite me so I'm hardly likely to diss their new venture, Lahloo Pantry which opened in Bristol yesterday. But having been there at lunchtime today I can honestly say that it's brilliant - an all day café where you can drink really good tea and eat (and this is what worries me) wickedly delicious cake.

It's in a former Asian deli on Kings Road just off Boyces Avenue in Clifton village. Upstairs there's a communal table which would be fabulous for someone coming in on their own to sit and read. Downstairs, a cosy cafe with tables outside when it's fine.


You can have breakfast, lunch or tea so at 12.30 my daughter and I had lunch and breakfast respectively. A perfectly wobbly smoked haddock tart with a range of salads in her case; soft boiled eggs and soldiers in mine. Or soft boiled in theory. The kitchen was struggling with an induction hob which was turning out one egg uncooked and one hard (ironic when they'd produced cakes as perfect as these chai brulée tarts). They may have given up and be serving scrambled eggs by the time you read this.


They will apparently be doing takeaway (takeaway cake!) once the containers arrive (another glitch) and you can, of course, buy one of the very beautiful tins of tea you can see lining the walls.


If you're familiar with smart London cafés like Peyton and Byrne or Konditor and Cook you'll feel quite at home. This is a great addition to the Bristol eating out scene.

Zucca: an affordable smart London Italian

Zucca’s been around for a good few months now so it’s hardly a find but because it’s off the beaten track for many London visitors - down the far end of Bermondsey Street, about a 10 minute walk from London Bridge - it might have escaped your notice.

It’s worth the detour, as Michelin says. It’s a cool contemporary restaurant serving immaculately cooked modern Italian food at more than fair prices. It's also just been listed in the top 3 Italian restaurants in Europe by the World's 50 Best - a somewhat hyperbolic accolade but one which underlines that it is something special.

We kicked off while we were waiting for the rest of our party with what must be a signature dish of ‘Zucca’ fritti (above) - perfectly cooked squash fritters intermingled with sage leaves which added a nice bitter note to what can be an oversweet and slightly bland veg.


We then grazed through a few more antipasti - carpaccio of sea bass (above - stellar), bruschetta of smoked eel, mozzarella, yellow courgettes and sorrel (yum) and san daniele, ventricina and lardo (the least interesting of the four) - all of which were under a fiver.


I wished for a moment I’d had my son’s pappardelle with hare ragu (above) which looked - and tasted - fabulous (pasta is one of the highspots at Zucca) but was more than happy with my cacciucco, a Tuscan-style fish stew with couscous. And my husband, who always orders rabbit if it’s on the menu rated his slow cooked sweet and sour rabbit as good as his own - high praise indeed ;-).


We shared a delicious crumbly walnut cake (below), an Italian spin on bakewell tart and some icecreams which were all top drawer and not too sweet.


With a bottle of Falanghina and a couple of glasses of red the bill came to £136 for 4 of us and a baby (my grandson!) who tucked heartily into his own plate of pasta. That included service for which, they make a point of stressing, they don't charge. You could easily spend that much in Jamie’s Italian and eat half as well.

This week they have a pig week which I’m sorry to be missing. Follow their tweets @SamZucca to find out what else they have on.

* Oh, and a footnote. Bermondsey Street, which is an up and coming London food destination (it's not far from Maltby street market) also houses the excellent José tapas bar so you could call in there for a sherry first. José's own restaurant, Pizarro, opens down the road next month.