Dining out... at the Top 50 Gastropubs dinner in Bristol
The four chefs who cooked in Bristol on Wednesday night (6 May) are redefining the notion of the pub chef. Josh Eggleton (the Pony & Trap), Stephen Harris (the Sportsman), Stephen Terry (the Hardwick) and James Mackenzie (the Pipe & Glass) are culinary heavyweights – all own Michelin-starred, highly acclaimed sites which ranked in the Publican’s Morning Advertiser’s Top 50 Gastropubs awards earlier this year. So when they announced they were to collaborate for a one-off night of fine dining as part of the Eat Drink Bristol Fashion festival, I couldn’t resist tagging along.
The Space: The night is one of many hosted as part of the festival, which was co-founded and co-directed by Eggleton. Its fine dining events take place in a large, well-heated (thank god, because it’s absolutely freezing outside when I arrive) tent on Bristol’s Queens Square with an adjacent tapas stall, bar and live music stage. The atmosphere in the venue is relaxed – the fine dining room is decorated sensitively and unpretentiously, with fairy lights adding to the bohemian vibe. It's a reminder of why pub dining is so popular: you no longer need to sit in a stuffy, silent restaurant to enjoy Michelin quality food. Outside the fine dining area, guests are drinking, laughing and consuming what can only be described as a heroic amount of bar snacks and tapas. I'm tempted to get some patatas bravas to kick off the evening, but then I remember I'm about to eat eight courses and it's probably not a good idea.
The food: At £70 a ticket for eight courses, the evening is a bargain as tasting menus go. And as you would expect from chefs of this calibre, it’s superb. The courses come out like clockwork and portion sizes are carefully considered. There’s a danger with ill-thought out tasting menus of becoming bloated too quickly, but in this case I don’t feel completely full until after the whole dinner, which massively adds to the enjoyment of the event. Presentation is simple but elegant, no unnecessary touches are added to anything. Tonight, the food does all the talking.
Canapé one (Stephen Harris): oyster poached in Beurre Blanc
Starter one (Josh Eggleton): lovage and onion soup
Canapé two (Stephen Terry): belly pork and black pudding with apple mustard
Starter two (James Mackenzie): guinea fowl and ham hock ballotine with pease pudding and scampi fritter
Main one (Stephen Harris): grilled Dover sole in seaweed butter
Main two (Josh Eggleton): stuffed saddle of lamb, crisp potato and sea vegetables
Dessert one (James Mackenzie): liquorice panna cotta with Yorkshire rhubarb and parkin
Dessert two (Stephen terry): lemon crunch
The drinks: The wine list is very reasonably priced, with a range of champagnes also available (slightly pricier). Specially designed cocktails are also on offer, including Tipi Fix; with Tattinger, Somerset Eau de Vie and cherry, Pear & Ginger Fizz; with Grey Goose, elderflower and ginger ale, Espresso Martini; with Grey Goose, espresso, hazelnut and Kahlua and Gin Garden; with Hendricks, tonic, elderflower, berries and cucumber.
The verdict: It’s evident from this evening why these chefs are the cream of the gastro-crop. Each has a unique style and aesthetic to be found in the flavours and presentation they use, creating a strong sense of culinary identity. What’s most impressive though, is that no one chef steals the limelight. Instead, each dish compliments the one before it and leaves you eager for the next – their chemistry as cooks is warming to see - by the end of the night, they’re all grinning (and sweating profusely). All that’s left is to waddle back to my hotel room in a haze of food ecstasy (no joke). This is how fine dining should be done.
