January is a time full of New Year’s resolutions – getting fit, venturing out of your comfort zone, focusing on your wellness and eating healthier.
Fortunately, when it comes to that last resolution, Bristol is seeing a trend in healthy eatery openings. Think poke bowls, acai, buddha bowls, plant-based dishes and more.
We’ve taken a look at the menus for some of Bristol’s highly recommended health food places, to see just how exciting eating healthy can be. Do you have a health food restaurant, cafe, bar or kiosk you love that hasn’t made it onto this list?
Let us know by emailing [email protected] and we’ll be sure to investigate…
Pho
Address: 28 Clare Street, BS1 1YA
Pho is described as being “simple, modern” and serving “healthy, fresh authentic Vietnamese dishes and street food”. There’s even gluten-free phở.
Stephen and Juliette Wall opened Pho after they travelled to Vietnam and fell in love with the food. In 2005, they made the decision to start a restaurant serving phở, while sat on high stools, slurping pho bo, in Ho Chi Minh City.
Years later, Pho now boasts a group of restaurants dotted around the country, serving ‘great value, healthy Vietnamese food that’s cooked fresh in each kitchen daily’. The team describes Phở as being “SO much more than a bowl of soup. It’s an obsession – the soul of a nation.
“A delicious, healthy dish that is eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner, constantly tailored to suit the individual.”
On the menu in Bristol, you can find Vietnamese salads, starters and sides, curries, rice bowls, and more. The steak Phở (Phở tái) has just 287 calories and is priced at £12.95.
Koocha Mezze Bar
Address: 203B Cheltenham Road, BS6 5QX
This Persian-inspired mezze bar is completely vegan and plant-based. The food here is described as “colourful, creative and filling, brimming with flavour” and it’s been known to boast everything from brunches to Sunday roasts.
Items on the menu include the likes of the mint and feta beetroot salad – ‘a refreshing seasonal salad, made from fresh beetroot, feta, walnuts, apples, dill and mint’. There’s also the Habibi Bowl brunch option – ‘spiced cauliflower, kookoo, jewelled rice, mint and feta beetroot salad, avocado and hummus, garnished with pomegranates and walnuts’.
Of course, you can also delve into some of the more decadent items on the menu, like the Koocha doner and fries, burger and fries, loaded fries, mixed grill, and more. Koocha’s Mezze menu costs £7.50 per dish, or mix and match any three for £21.
Loki Poke
Address: Unit 3, Cargo 2, Museum Street, Wapping Wharf, BS1 6ZA
Offering healthy salads and poke bowls from Wapping Wharf’s iconic Cargo, Loki Poke offers takeaway and delivery, gluten free and vegan options, as well as meat and fish varieties.
Served out of a shipping container, its award-winning bowls are described as being “healthy, freshly-made rice bowls served with sushi rice, our made-in-house sauces, pickles, fresh veg and poké.” They even do office lunches, celebration meals and party food, too.
Items on the menu at time of writing include classic sashimi fish poke bowls – marinated sashimi served on a bed of sushi rice, brown rice or slaw, along with Loki Poke’s made-in-house sauces and pickled, fresh veg and crunch. These range in price at around £12. There’s also a range of specials and meal deals – like a Veganuary Special, meal deal for one and two, snacks (kimchi anyone?) and even a ‘build-your-own bowl’ section, so you can customise every aspect of your dish.
They also offer Mochi ice cream balls for dessert, as well as a range of healthy soft drinks, too.
Rainbowls Cafe
Address: 73 Queens Road, Clifton, BS8 1QP
Rainbowls describes itself as ‘the destination for top-quality acai, buddha, and poke bowls’, with a range of wellness drinks, juices, smoothies, and even premium coffee. Rainbowls goes on to say: “Our mission is simple: to offer nutritious delights suitable for all. Embracing the belief that health is wealth, we’re thrilled to share the goodness of acai and our array of products with you!”
There are Rainbowls Cafe sites in Cheltenham and Worcester, as well as the Clifton site. The menu includes a mix of sweet and savoury bowls – from the ‘Totally Tropical’ (acai berry, pineapple, strawberries, kiwis, bananas, pineapple juice, honey, granola, coconut flakes, chia seeds, blue and green spirulina, coconut yoghurt puree – priced at £9.90), to the ‘Rainbow Poke Bowl’ (salmon, tuna or tofu cubes marinated in soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sriracha, and sesame oil, with shredded carrots, sliced cucumber, edamame, avocado, sliced radishes, jasmine rice, sriracha mayo, spring onions, crispy onions, and black sesame seeds – priced at £14.50).
They also offer smashed avocado on toast (£9.50), a range of teas and coffees, hot drinks, and healthy concoctions like smoothies and protein shakes.
Oakberry Acai
Address: Cabot Circus, Level 1 kiosk, BS1 3BD
Oakberry Acai in Cabot Circus serves up organic acai bowls and smoothies with unlimited toppings in a range of sizes you can take away with you – classic 12oz, ‘works’ 16oz, and ‘The Oak’ 24 oz. These acai bowls and smoothies are described as being “rich in antioxidants, vegan, cholesterol free, free from trans fats, free from colourants, with no high-fructose syrup”.
Oakberry also offers healthy snacks and drinks, too – like the Oakombucha, and the Oak Bar.
Bowls have a mix of crunchy, creamy, fruit, nuts and seed toppings – there’s everything from granola and coconut, to peanut butter and honey, bananas and goji berries, almonds, chia seeds, and collagen. You can even have your Oakberry delivered if you like.
Spicer & Cole
Spicer & Cole boast four independent cafes in the heart of Bristol, offering ‘delicious’ food and ‘great’ coffee. The team says: “Practically everything we sell is made by us, here in our cafés. We use as much locally sourced, seasonal fruit and veg and free range, organic meat and dairy as we can.
“And we only work with suppliers who share our values, including Ruby & White Butchers, Bruton Dairy, Bertinet Bakery and Severn Project. Pop into any of our cafés, and the first thing you’ll notice is the food counter. Piled high with tarts, frittatas, salads, cakes and pastries, it’s inspired by continental market stalls overflowing with produce.
“Start your day with something from our breakfast menu – home made granola maybe or avocado on toast. Or come for a long, lazy weekend brunch or lunch. Of course any time of day is a good time for coffee and cake… If you’re dairy or gluten free, just let us know.”
With such fresh ingredients, many dishes on the menu rotate regularly, so it’s often much better to just pop by and see what takes your fancy. Find their cafes in Finzels Reach, Queen Square, Clifton Village, and at the RWA on Queens Road.
The Bowl Shed, Superfood Bar
Address: Unit 3, Clifton Down Shopping Centre, Clifton, BS8 2NN
If you’re looking for a healthy fix while shopping in Clifton, The Bowl Shed is a superfood bar in Clifton Down Shopping Centre that offers acai bowls, smoothie bowls, and cold pressed juices. You can even get a Bowl Shed Delivery via Deliveroo.
Each concoction is full of colour, and you can either select from the pre-built menu, or build your own bowl from scratch. There’s a huge array of toppings to choose from, and the Shed itself is open daily 9am-5pm. What’s more, you can sit and tuck in inside, too.
Names for some of the dishes on the menu include ‘The Hench One’, ‘The Peanut Butter Powerhouse’, the ‘Pink Dragon’, and the ‘Moodlifter’. Acai and smoothie bowls are priced at around £9.95 each, while pressed juices are around £5.95, wellness shots £2.95, and superfood smoothies between £7.50-£8.