Now in its sixth year, the annual British Restaurant Awards has just announced those in the running for ‘Best Restaurant’, and 13 Bristol establishments are among the nominees. Sponsored by Eira Water, the awards ceremony is scheduled to take place on August 28 at the Crown London Hotel.
Voting is open until two days prior, and people can vote for their favourite restaurant via the official British Restaurant Awards (BRA) website. In Bristol, those among the nominees include the city’s only Michelin-starred restaurant, as well as many known and loved among chefs and the rest of the foodie scene here.
This is in addition to a couple of lesser known/mentioned but equally loved spots – across two categories (Best Takeaway Restaurant and Best Restaurant in Bristol). We’ve compiled a handy guide to all 10 and what makes them so special…
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Best Takeaway Restaurant nominee
Dhamaka, located on Clare Street in the Old City, is a late-night eatery serving ‘Indian comfort eats, beer and cocktails in colourful quarters’. It’s competing against takeaway restaurants in London, Belfast, Portsmouth, Sheffield and Bournemouth, for the crown this year.
Earlier in 2024, it was crowned the Best Independent Restaurant in South England and Wales at the Deliveroo Restaurant Awards, and was the ‘first in Bristol’ to create a completely nut-free menu. It’s been serving up ‘delicious’ Indian cuisine since 2019 and has boasted chefs who had previously worked in notable restaurants in India and five-star hotels in Dubai.
Owner Vinay Reddy moved to Bristol to open Zaza Bazaar before Dhamaka – and both eateries are still standing strong today.
Best Restaurant in Bristol nominees
Bulrush
Bristol’s only Michelin-starred restaurant, this year Bulrush on Cotham Road retained its star for a fifth year, receiving its brand new 2024 plaque back in March. It was first awarded the accolade in 2019 and, despite others in the city losing their stars, has retained its high standards to be the last one standing, so to speak.
Run by head chef George Livesey, Bulrush tries to go against the grain when it comes to the ‘white tablecloth’ feel of stereotypical Michelin-starred restaurants. His aim is to create a more ‘easy going’ vibe, focused on the high standard of food which, he says, is what the Michelin Star is all about.
He claims that Bulrush is “one of the cheapest Michelin restaurants in the UK” but one that still uses the same quality ingredients others elsewhere in the country are using and charging higher prices for. He wants to make fine-dining more accessible to the people in Bristol and, with five Michelin plaques on the wall, it seems to be working.
Wilsons
Wilsons, which is located on Chandos Road in Redland, is no stranger to being named among the best in the business. It’s featured in lists naming the Top 100 restaurants in a national diners’ poll, and in the country in general, has been rated as one of the best in the UK for roast dinners, and is regularly named among Bristol chefs as being one of their own favourite places to eat.
Co-founded by Jan Ostle and Mary Wilson in 2016, the restaurant has gone from strength to strength. In 2019 Wilsons began cultivating its own two acre market garden, where the vast majority of the vegetables, herbs and flowers on the menu are grown.
Then, in 2021 an old bakery became available just a few doors down from the restaurant, and so Jan and Mary took on the bakery, naming it ‘The Bread Shop‘ and serving up sourdough bread, cakes, house cured bacon milk buns and farm surplus.
Sonny Stores
Sonny Stores, in Southville, is another in the city that is regularly named among top restaurant lists and mentioned by fellow Bristol chefs as being one of their favourite spots for food. It’s so loved by locals, foodies and visitors alike, that it recently took over the old Klosterhaus building in Quakers Friars and turned it into a Sonny Stores pop-up in the busy shopping district when the Southville site was closed for refurbishment.
Sonny Stores is a family-run restaurant with a strong Italian influence, which offers up everything from a quick plate of pasta, to a leisurely three-course meal and a bottle of organic wine. It was started by husband and wife team Mary Glynn and Pegs Quinn in September 2020, when it started life as a lockdown delivery-only pizza business.
Bravas
Located on Cotham Hill, Bravas offers classic Spanish small plates served in an intimate tapas bar setting. Describing itself as being “unlike anything else in Bristol” Bravas boasts “warm ambient lighting and an open kitchen where people can see, hear and smell their food being cooked”.
The team says: “We visit Spain frequently and are always amazed by the fresh, unpretentious, inexpensive food in local tapas bars. This is where the idea for Bravas came from; where customers will feel the welcoming atmosphere of a local pub but the quality of food you would expect in a great restaurant.”
The Lido
Possibly not a venue you may have expected to find on this list, but definitely earning its place, Bristol’s Lido restaurant in Clifton is award-winning and overlooks the pool on the original viewing gallery.
It boasts ever-changing sample menus and small plates, which in July includes the likes of charcoal grilled salt marsh lamb rump, wood roast aubergine caponata with fried polenta, Greek style fisherman’s stew and charcoal grilled Cornish hake, among other dishes. It also boasts a Sunday lunch menu.
Cotto
Cotto on St Stephen’s Street, is a restaurant from much-loved Bristol restaurateurs, The Bianchis Group. Cotto simply means ‘cooked’, ‘baked’ or ‘done’ in Italian and the team’s small daily changing menu is comprised of a list of dishes that are led by what’s in season, inspired by classic Italian cooking and created in a kitchen that’s dedicated to its ethos that good food and wine doesn’t have to be complicated.
Cotto’s cosy little cantina is next door to sibling restaurant Pasta Ripiena, in Bristol city centre. Serving up classic old school cooking, Cotto is ‘a place for everyone to enjoy, be that catching up with a friend whilst enjoying a full-bodied red from Piedmont in the bar or celebrating your birthday with a generous plate of wild boar gnocchi al forno in the restaurant area’, the team have something for every occasion.
Flow
Flow, which according to Google and the official Instagram page is now permanently closed, is among the nominees in Bristol for this year’s awards. Based at Haymarket Walk just off the Bearpit roundabout by Premier Inn, this plant-focused eatery showcased ‘the best in locally produced and foraged ingredients’ since its inception in 2016.
The team write on the restaurant’s website: “Our small team strives to provide interesting and diverse vegetarian and vegan sharing dishes in an informal, joyous space. We also have our own allotment where chef and owner Jen Williams grows delicious vegetables, fruits and herbs just a short bike ride away from the restaurant.
“We use UK grown pulses and grains, locally milled flour for our homemade bread, free-range eggs and the finest cheeses and dairy products in the South West. Our ‘small plates’ style of dining helps retain a friendly, casual atmosphere and our unique location, tucked away amongst the street art at the bottom of Stokes Croft, makes us a perfect place to catch up with friends, enjoy a couple of cocktails or celebrate your special occasions.”
Cor
Another restaurant regularly mentioned by fellow chefs and foodies, Cor was featured on the Michelin Guide and awarded a Bib Gourmand in 2023. The Michelin guide described it as “somewhere between a Mediterranean restaurant and a tapas bar, with some counter dining and shelves bursting with cookery books and wine.”
The listing praised dishes like “hake with mussels or tropea onion with hazelnut beurre noisette” and its charcuterie and cheeses. Situated on North Street in Bedminster, the restaurant’s name originates from the Latin word for ‘heart’, which is what the team behind Cor aim to put into the dining experience here.
The food and drink at Cor is influenced by the team’s love of the Mediterranean and plays to co-owner Mark Chapman’s fine dining training. Mark runs the business alongside his wife Karen and the pair met working in hospitality in Sydney, before moving to Bristol and setting up a life and business together.
The Saigon Kitchen
Situated on Zetland Road in Redland, The Saigon Kitchen describes itself as being ‘the taste of Vietnam’, serving up homecooked Vietnamese food by chef and owner, Trung. Trung started cooking at around the ages of five or six and was born after the Vietnamese war in a very small town by the sea in North of Vietnam, called Bai Tu Long Bay.
Trung says: “My roots in Vietnamese food run deep. I did touch the food at a very early age always guided by mum. She taught me other skills too like how to use a knife, work an open fire, along with ways to identify and pick out the best ingredients and how to combine them to make well-balanced dishes.
“In every Vietnamese meal there has to be a harmonious balance between the tastes and textures. We apply the principles of the five elements and also of yin and yang. Every meal must have spicy, sour, bitter, salty and sweet flavours. They also must have crunchy, crisp, chewy, soft and silky textures. They do not need to be equal but they do need to be balanced.
“In Vietnam when we invite someone to come into our home that means we invite them into our kitchen. I’ve purposefully picked some of my favourite dishes from friends and family kitchens around Vietnam. I hope you like them too!”
Snobby’s
Another cosy neighbourhood venue on the list, Snobby’s on Chandos Road in Redland is an Italian-inspired restaurant and wine bar offering pizza, small plates and a ‘robust wine list’. Snobby’s opened in 2019, shortly before the first Covid-19 lockdown came into place.
Owner Nick Bethell followed in his father’s footsteps in the drinks and hospitality industry and strived to open a wine bar from a young age – after ten years this became a reality and, with the help of his wife Alice they transformed the former No Man’s Grace venue into a ‘comfortable, casual, atmospheric restaurant and wine bar’.
Nick is also an artist and painted every painting exhibited in the restaurant. The all Italian (and Sicilian) kitchen team is led by Gianpiero Mugnano who has a wealth of knowledge and expertise, he has been given almost free rein of the menu which has a huge emphasis on seasonal, fresh, produce with influences stretching across Italy and a doff of the cap towards both Japan and Spain.
Namak
St Werburghs’ first Indian restaurant, Namak opened in 2022 and, just a matter of months later, was crowned the Best Restaurant in Bristol at the British Restaurant Awards that year. Owner Harris Massey said that the restaurant aimed to bring a ‘fresh new take’ on Indian dining and was inspired by the country’s many regions.
Two years on and it’s back in the hopes of taking the crown once more. Harris, who is also the chef at Namak, has been working in the industry for the past 20 years and has worked with some of the best brands in India, Dubai and London – including the likes of Radisson, Hyatt, The Great Kebab Factory, Dishoom, and more – and had the idea to “give the best Indian dining option to the people of St Werburgh’s, which they have been missing for years”