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 Michelin 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.

You'll find this intimate restaurant in the older part of Bristol, near the famous docks that were once the beating heart of the city. It's an endearing and passionately run place, complete with a small front terrace and views of the Avon and Clifton Suspension Bridge. There is a keen eye for detail in the cooking, which produces some intricate and aesthetically striking dishes, but care is also taken to ensure that they remain original and flavoursome, alongside their visual splendour. Both an à la carte and a tasting menu are available, but it’s worth going along with a hearty appetite to sample the full delights of the tasting option.

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.

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.

Did you know Michelin also recommends hotels? Both Hotel du Vin Bristol and Artist Residence Bristol are within walking distance of this restaurant.

Another of Bristol’s gems is this flagship of the Sanchez-Iglesias family stable; a buzzing tapas bar occupying the former Bristol General Hospital, it's brought a taste of Spain to the city. The waterside terrace overlooking Bathurst Basin is the best place to get the party started, with some chilled sherry straight from the cask being the ideal drink for the occasion. Passion is poured into every dish coming out of the kitchen and it comes across in the fabulously flavour-packed cooking. Spanish classics like tortillas and jamón croquetas are some of the finest you’ll find in the city.

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 Casa and 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 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 a worthy holder of a Michelin Green Star. 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 2 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 Michelin-recommended hotel Number 38 Clifton. Click here to book a stay.