On our way back from our week in Cornwall, we stopped off in Bristol to stay with my friend Dan for the weekend. Thanks to blady Covid, I hadn’t seen him for over 18 months so it was a well overdue reunion. Despite living just down the road from Bristol for 3 years and popping in to see friends in the time since, I still didn’t feel like I’d properly seen the city but luckily staying with Dan always means you have a truly excellent tour guide and tasty food stops along the way.
What we did
Despite the fact that it rained unbelievably hard pretty much constantly on our one full day (at one point, we actually had to wade through a flash river that suddenly started running down the street and I had to use a hairdryer on my drenched shoes), we managed to take in most of the key sites including all the cute side streets, city hall, the harbour and the big mirror ball that sits outside the science museum. Our main highlights were the Colston statue which you’ll know – unless you’ve been living under an actual bridge – was pulled down and thrown in the river last year during the Black Lives Matter protests. We started with the empty plinth and then went to see the statue itself which is on display at the Bristol museums. Then the street art - I said I wanted to see some of the street art that Bristol is famous for and it turns out it’s bloody everywhere? Bold and colourful, it’s hard to pick a favourite but the seagull comes close (see above). And finally, the Clifton Suspension Bridge which we hiked up to and then walked across, before hiking up to see it from above. It was very atmospheric in the pouring rain!
Where we ate
As Dan was responsible for booking the restaurants during our stay, I knew wherever we ate would be good and he did not disappoint. On Friday night, we headed to Bosco Pizzeria and I can confirm that these pizzas were dreamy. I had the Ventricina – salami, tomato, mozzarella, chilli oil and honey and I would recommend. The real highlight though was the incredible food at Pasta Loco. Guys, I was not prepared for this meal. When Dan said we were going for pasta I was a happy chappy because pasta is my favourite food. However, I was taken aback when he said this restaurant sometimes had a six-month waiting list. A pasta restaurant? In hindsight, that was clearly a sign we were going to eat somewhere good. The three of us settled down at our outside table under the heater which was cosy aside from the occasional wind tunnel effect. The menu changes on a regular basis but we obviously knew to expect pasta. I started with the merlot and parmesan arancini then moved on to the butacini with courgette, mint, chilli and a ricotta courgette flower (because of course) and finished off with the almond & peach frangipani. It’s hard to explain just why it was so good but each course tasted incredible and by the time we got to the end of the meal, Gary put down his cutlery and boldly declared it was one of the best restaurants we have ever been to. I highly recommend.
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