Wilsons
Bristol
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Jan Ostle’s impressively ambitious restaurant offers the full 'farm to table' experience, with all vegetables grown on his (and partner Mary Wilson's) nearby smallholding and everything from bread and charcuterie to a delightfully refreshing raspberry ginger beer made in house. This is not so much a restaurant as a cottage industry, and you can feel the enthusiasm buzzing off the staff, who are eager to explain every element of the beautifully crafted dishes. The dark wood flooring, Ercol chairs and white walls (adorned with blackboards listing the food and wine) provide a neutral backdrop for a succession of dishes, some bursting with colour. Unless you choose the lunchtime menu du jour, dining here means a six-course tasting menu whose pithy blackboard descriptions belie the intricacy of the food. Following on from warm sourdough bread, baked using ancient grains and accompanied by home-churned butter, salami and pancetta, there might be a breathtakingly beautiful lobster salad, decorated with nasturtiums and calendula leaves, where each sliver of confit carrot, fennel or ultra-fresh broad bean works in perfect harmony with the sweet, silky crustacean. Or you may prefer a perfectly cooked hunk of cod, garnished with agretti and presented in a deep bowl of intense dashi made from scallop roe, XO sauce and homemade salami. Puddings certainly don’t play it safe. A deeply savoury herb sorbet is hidden beneath a fat coil of sweet Italian meringue that challenges and delights the palate in equall measure. If you don’t want to indulge in the wine flight (go on...), the concise list includes a dozen carefully chosen selections by the glass or carafe. Tables are allocated on a strict two-hour basis, which staff politely but strictly enforce – so you may need to go to the pub up the road for your digestif. A few doors away, Wilsons bread shop is back, peddling their 'infamous' koji-cured bacon Hokkaido rolls and more besides.
