Adelina Yard
Bristol
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Tucked away along a cobbled street in Bristol's historic harbour district, Adelina Yard is every inch the modern city restaurant. An on-view kitchen, filament lighting and rough-topped tables set the tone, and the food arrives on defiantly chunky crockery. Autumn reporters who relaxed into the eight-course seasonal taster found nothing they didn't like, from the astonishing food to the wine flight to the knowledgeable, friendly staff. Olivia Barry and Jamie Randall cooked all over London, including various Galvin brothers' venues, before opening here, and their experience shows in the innovative, always fascinating dishes. Aged beef fillet with smoked ox heart, burrata, buckwheat and ponzu as a preliminary course is a fantastic composition in both senses. Fish dishes are inspiring in their robustness (perhaps hake with mussels in lovage-scented vin jaune), while meats are left to speak up for themselves in the sheer quality of Cornish lamb, supported by turnip and a dressing of wild garlic, anchovy and capers. When two desserts are the drill, expect something light and fragrant first – apple, cucumber, sorrel – and then the full stonk of chocolate, praline and malt. Four-course lunches are worth expanding the midday break for, and the vegetarian versions are full of imaginative energy too – get set for beetroot, burnt apple and pickled kelp. Classic cocktails and a compact wine list add to the merriment.
