The Best Restaurants in Bristol

Chef Louise McCrimmon decided the time was right to leave the centre of Bristol and re-locate to the suburb of Henbury to take over the village local. Here, she and her team provide everything you could want from a pub: a homely atmosphere is enhanced by friendly staff; the bar is stocked with quality ales and well-chosen wines; and there’s a monthly quiz night. As for the food, traditional British dishes are skilfully cooked with a modern approach and the odd subtle twist – and a proper roast lunch on Sundays helps add to the comforting feel. Everything is run with true pride and they offer great value for money.

Riverside development Wapping Wharf has become a haven for Bristol's restaurant goers, as evidenced by this compact and cosy restaurant clad in chipboard and plywood. Nestled inside shipping containers on the wharf, it is the home to great value cooking from Chef-Owner Elliot Lidstone. He often works alone in his bijou kitchen, cooking from the heart to produce flavour-packed dishes. Elliot favours tried-and-tested combinations to produce assured, rustic food that has seen Box-E rewarded with a Bib Gourmand. If you see panna cotta on the menu, be sure to have it!

The neighbourhood of Cotham is home to one of Bristol’s finest restaurants, where Chef George Livesey displays all his natural talent in the kitchen, which has earned him a MICHELIN Star. Bringing subtle Japanese influences to organic and foraged seasonal ingredients has become his trademark style, and preserving and pickling play a key role, with each dish showing imagination, a superb understanding of balance and clean, pronounced flavours. Simple and sweet, there is a pleasingly relaxed and cosy feel to Bulrush: an intimate dining room is accompanied by a lively atmosphere and there's plenty to see in the open kitchen.

Cor is the Latin noun for 'heart', an appropriate name for this bright red corner restaurant in central Bedminster, with an air of contagious positivity that perfectly suits such a buzzy neighbourhood. The look of the place is somewhere between a tapas bar and a Mediterranean restaurant, with counter dining available and shelves stacked to bursting with cookery books and wine. The Mediterranean influence extends into the menu, albeit with largely British ingredients. Dishes that include plenty of vibrant colours and complementary flavours are the order of the day, enhancing COR’s status as a modern-day neighbourhood restaurant.

More Mediterranean-influenced cooking can be found over in the Redland neighbourhood at this terrific little pasta spot. The approach is simple – a few well-constructed, flavour-packed small plates and salads to start, before around half a dozen pasta dishes that are so satisfying you’ll wish you could come here every day. The pasta itself is made fresh each morning, before being cooked to perfection and paired with a range of delicious and generous accompaniments.

In the older part of the city, close to the Hippodrome Theatre, you’ll find another of Bristol’s deliciously good value Bib Gourmand restaurants. This one is a trendy osteria-cum-wine-bar run by hands-on owners. Cosmo Sterck is in the kitchen working wonders with just a few prime ingredients to produce his concise seasonal menu of flavour-packed Italian dishes, while his wife Lily looks after the wine side of things, recommending options from their organic and biodynamic selection. They have certainly chosen a good location within this bustling city, inside the former Guardian Assurance Building, where high ceiling and parquet floor help to make this such a charming spot.

Artist Residence Bristol is a One-MICHELIN-Key hotel and is within walking distance of the restaurant.

The bright-orange walls may be what first catch your eye at this fun little bistro, but it’s the inventive small plates that will soon have your undivided attention. Each one comes brimming with flavour, joyfully drawing on influences from all over the world with no small amount of skill. There’s a playfulness to the cooking that really adds to the appeal, as does the kitchen’s knack for flavours and balance. The caring, chatty service and wallet-friendly pricing complete the package.

As the name suggests, vegetables are the star of the show at this well-priced restaurant that is further proof that the area in and around Wapping Wharf is the place to be for Bristol's foodies. Sitting just a stone's thrown from Box-E and within a short walk of Paco Tapas, one of the many endearing features here is that the produce – from small local suppliers – is the focus, rather than the style of the cooking. Dishes shows off the brilliant natural flavours of the vegetables with the likes of grilled carrots and burnt leeks; the odd fish or meat option pops up on the menu too. Served as small plates and perfect for sharing, dishes have great depth of flavour and an inventive touch.

The restaurant formerly known as Tare has been reincarnated as this relaxed, simply furnished spot that is yet again located inside a shipping container on the terrific Wapping Wharf. There is a pleasingly straightforward approach to the cooking, with seemingly simple dishes executed with such skill and care that they soar to delicious heights. Flavours are precisely balanced across the dishes, while the ingredients are of noticeable quality. As with many of Bristol’s Bibs, the atmosphere is fun and relaxed.

The Clifton is the kind of quality dining pub that feels right at home in one of the trendiest and most affluent areas of the city. Rather appealingly, the menu of rustic, generous dishes can be delivered flexibly – as sharing plates for a group, or as a standard à la carte. A quick glance over to the open kitchen will reveal a wood-fired grill, which forms the basis for much of the cooking. Local ingredients and a complete lack of fuss are their trademark, as they are at their older sibling, Hare & Hounds in Aberthin, too.

Sustainability underpins everything they do at Wilsons, making them one of the UK's most eco-friendly MICHELIN Stars. From the kitchen to the service team, everyone buys into their ethos, and they work together to run this appealing neighbourhood restaurant in perfect harmony. Co-Owner Mary Wilson tends her two-acre garden at Barrow Gurney on the southwest edge of the city, then provides Chef and fellow Co-Owner Jan Ostle with the ingredients for his blackboard-written tasting menu. Dishes are highly seasonal and feature some brilliant flavours. The pair also own a successful neighbourhood bakery a few doors down – look out for the original Hovis sign above the door.

The nearby area of Clifton houses the One-MICHELIN-Key hotel Number 38 Clifton.