Best restaurants in Bristol

Looking for Bristol restaurants? Check out the best places to eat in Bristol, including cafés, bars and restaurants. Here you'll find local beers and interesting wines, lively bars and buzzy cafés. Check out our local food and drink guide to Bristol...

For more exciting restaurants and weekend ideas for food lovers, check out our best UK city breaks and the UK's best artisan bakeries. Also read our city guides to the best restaurants in Bath, best restaurants in Cardiff, best restaurants in York and best restaurants in Oxford.

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Best places to eat and drink in Bristol

Marmo

For modern European food and wine

Marmo is one of Bristol’s most special dining experiences. It sits on bustling Baldwin Street – inside are high ceilings, an open kitchen and a buzzy, inviting atmosphere. It has an extremely pleasing menu taking influence from Italy, and an exceptional organic/biodynamic wine list. Marmo is headed by couple Cosmo and Lily Sterck. Cosmo is ex St John and Brawn, and Lily worked front of house at Luca in their London days.

The menu reads really well to a point that it’s hard to know what to order for fear of missing out. Simple Italian ingredients are given the best treatment. There’s plates of lightly fried gnocco fritto and salame rosa, perfectly pickled, crunchy vegetables and bobby beans tossed with white peaches and a pine nut cream. A fresh pasta dish is always available and the famous steak tartar always graces the menu. The staff are well versed in both wine and food so you feel in good hands. If you order any dessert make sure you get at least one chocolate mousse for the table – it’s perfectly set with a blanket of lightly whipped cream strewn over it. It’ll be the ideal end to what’s likely to be a flawless meal. marmo.restaurant

Farro, Bristol

For pastries and sourdough Farro is certainly Bristol’s best bakery. In fact, it’s renowned as one of the best in the country. Because of this you may be faced with a queue on weekends but don't let this deter you. The queues move fast and the cabinets are well stocked. Sitting comfortably in central Bristol, it’s a slick, small establishment but with limited seating so be ready with an empty tote bag for pastries and sourdough, and a free hand for takeaway coffee.

There are classic French pastries from golden pain au chocolat to a classic croissant. The perfectly sweet and heavily vanilla-scented canelé de Bordeaux is the best we’ve tried outside of France. There's savoury scones packed with cheese and rosemary, seasonal fruit galettes (like strawberry and elderflower in the summer) and if you go on the right day you’ll find trays of custardy pastel de nata. Don't leave without a loaf of sourdough, and the dense and nutty rye bread is also excellent. The menu is seasonal so changes regularly but whatever’s on offer is never far off pastry perfection. farro.co.uk

Root

For veg-led dining

Long standing favourite Root (opened in 2017) is known for its modern, small plate, vegetable-led dishes. It sings of seasonality, with just a few meat and fish dishes of the highest quality gracing the menu. Unsurprising that this place had earned such accolades when it’s owned by renowned chef Josh Eggleton (The Pony Chew Valley).

Start with a seasonal cocktail like a gooseberry and elderflower martini or an apricot whisky highball. Root has a real skill at making humble veg the star of the show with a menu that boasts mouth-watering dishes such as a hispi cabbage caesar salad, crispy Cornish potatoes with curried butter, pizzettas with caramelised onions and Cotswold brie, and smoked Cornish monkfish with tahini, yogurt and pickled red cabbage. What’s great about Root is its extensive use of British ingredients, championing some of the country’s best producers. This is a fantastic shout for vegetarians, or those who just prefer a vegetable-led meal. rootbristol.co.uk

Noah's

For seafood or fish and chips

Noah’s is a fish and seafood restaurant situated under a bridge on Spike Island overlooking the Cumberland Basin. It’s not hard to tell where its name came from – the restaurant itself, with modern wooden cladding and a subtle nautical theme, hints to fishing boats. Its simple approach to seafood is supported by the freshest produce, boasting a menu of fish caught from the south coast to the clear lochs of Scotland.

To start there’s soft crumpets piled with lemony crab mayonnaise, hand-dived fat Orkney scallops drenched in garlic butter, and piles of Fowey mussels in a perfect white wine sauce. For a main you can choose your fish grilled or fried, like Cornish sole with brown butter and capers, or battered hake. There’s a rather clever Lock Keeper’s menu that runs for lunch daily 12-3pm as well as 12-6:30pm Mondays and Thursdays – this includes mussels, a fishcake or prime battered cod fillet with a pile of chips, mushy peas, homemade tartare sauce and a mug of builder’s tea. It comes in at £14.50, an absolute steal for some of the freshest fish you’ll get in the west of England. noahsbristol.co.uk

Wilson's and Wilson's Bread Shop

For fine dining

Headed up by husband and wife team, Jan and Mary, Wilson’s opened its doors back in 2017 on Chandos Road in Redland. This one-Michelin-star restaurant happily brings together fine dining with farm-to-table eating in a relaxed neighbourhood setting. The small whitewashed restaurant features bare wooden tables and black painted boards with the leafy streets of Redland on the doorstep.

The menu, though fine dining, is simple. You’ll find ingredients treated with the upmost thought and consideration such as raw seabass with smoked crème fraîche, gooseberries and thai basil, or blackcurrants from their farm turned into a smooth, delicate sorbet with basil leaves and oil, also made from their own crops. For a six-course menu available at both lunch and dinner you’ll pay £78, and the wine flight is an extra £50, which is very good value for such a fantastic dining experience.

Just a few doors down from the restaurant is the bread shop, which absolutely should not be missed. Here you can pick up some of the exceptional sourdough served in the restaurant, as well as loaves such as Icelandic rye. There’s Wookey Hole cheddar toasties with house-made seasonal pickles, thick wobbly custard tarts and seasonal fruit-filled choux buns (with the fruit sourced from the farm). At weekends it serves up a real treat: the most excellent bacon rolls using Hokkaido milk buns, Koji-cured bacon and homemade red or brown sauce – just the perfect bite. wilsonsbristol.co.uk

Bokman

For modern Korean cooking

Bristol favourite Bokman is a small Korean restaurant run by husband and wife duo Kyu Jeong Jeon and Duncan Robertson. It’s a small establishment in Stokes Croft, known for its independent businesses and thriving pub and live music scene. Bokman dominates the area as the best eatery around, serving up authentic, relaxed Korean food. A blackboard of up to 10 dishes serves as the menu, with regular changing Korean favourites.

We started with pork and beef stuffed chillies, deep-fried in a crisp shell of batter and served with a dipping sauce with just the right balance of sweet and acidic, with notes of clementine. Sip on Korean beer before ordering a high-piled crunchy chinese leaf salad, tossed with seaweed, pine nuts and a creamy dressing, or try banchan, a plate of pickled Korean vegetables. There’s delicious locally caught fish on the menu along with rich, spicy braised tofu and a spectacular whole chicken stuffed with raw rice that’s slow cooked until the meat is tender and the rice has soaked up the fat and turned soft and sticky.

A soft serve ice cream is always on rotation with seasonal toppings and usually one other dessert – if you’re lucky you may be there on a week where the matcha and chestnut tiramisu makes an appearance. The food feels like you’ve been invited to someone’s home as a guest for dinner. The staff make you feel comfortable, almost like a local. And no doubt you’ll wish you were once you’ve eaten at Bokman. bokman.co.uk

Gambas

For simple Spanish food at its best

Gambas has a cool setting and slick menu – it’s one of those restaurants that does what it does extremely well. You feel in good hands eating there, under chefs that know what they’re doing and staff who competently chat you through the specials. Consistently excellent, it’s located in Wapping Wharf, overlooking the harbour, so on a sunny afternoon you’re in for a treat.

The high-quality ingredients here never feel short of excellent. You’ll find fresh, juicy prawns pil pil, drenched in garlic butter, a fat tortilla with a wobbly centre and a smear of garlic aïoli, and plates of hand-carved jamón ibérico and golden, freshly fried croquettes. It all comes out at a good pace, never rushed, with enough time to enjoy the views and the wine. There’s a good wine list too and a jug of seasonal sangria never disappoints, such as cherry in the summer or clementine and rhubarb in the cooler months. gambasbristol.co.uk

Dongnae

For sophisticated sharing dishes

Dongnae is the newer, sister restaurant to the popular Bokman. It sits on Chandos Road in Redland and has a much smarter setting than its more relaxed sister. The way of eating is different here too. You’re encouraged to share dishes from a charcoal grill, such a whole Brixham john dory, grilled pork belly and wagyu feather blade. These are all served with a wooden tray of ssam and condiments – essentially crispy whole lettuce and bitter leaves which act as a wrap for the smoky meat, fish, vegetables, pickles and sauces.

There are also small plates, like beef dumplings in a delicate broth and the crispiest fried chicken wings in salty, almost caramel-like, lip-smacking sauce. You can order extra banchan too, including the homemade kimchi, which is the best we’ve ever tried. This is a really special dining experience. Book a table for an early evening and eat some of the most delicious Korean food in a calm, sophisticated setting. dongnae.co.uk

Sonny Stores

For Italian-led modern dining

Pegs Quinn’s unassuming eatery sits happily on a corner in the backstreets of Southville. Unassuming it may be but here you’ll find some of the best food being served in Bristol. Pegs spent five years at The River Café before packing his bags and heading back to his home in the West Country to work in several restaurants before opening Sonny Stores five years ago.

The menu reads head to toe of things you’ll be desperate to eat. There are fat, salted anchovies swimming in olive oil, large hunks of bubbly focaccia and the most sublime, crispy vegetable fritti to start with crispy curls of fried sage. There’s always pizza on the menu, smaller, chubbier and blistered or larger and thinner to share, the dough is light and fluffy, and toppings carefully thought out – like a pizza bianco with a creamy sauce, salami and little sharp pickled chillies. You could just eat the pizza because it’s so good but then you’ll want to save room for more. There’s hand-rolled pasta circulating the menu and meat braised slowly, served with the softest polenta. There’s a fat wedge of fluffy tiramisu, a simple, well-executed end. This small but perfectly formed restaurant is not to be missed. sonnystores.com

Gigi's Pizza

For New York slices

This relatively new pizza joint is one of the hottest tickets in town. Located in the Old Market area of Bristol, it sings more of the backstreet pizza joints of Brooklyn. The premise is simple: American ovenbaked pizza with a crisp bottom and fantastic toppings. You can order Gigi’s by the slice or in whole 12-inch or 18-inch pies. The best way to dine here is to bring some friends and share some big pizzas. The margarita has a rich, glossy tomato sauce and a generous layer of oozy cheese. There’s pepperoni with just enough hot honey to cut through the spicy meat, and a really special cacio e pepe number. Order some slices, a pot of buffalo ranch and a couple of cold beers. Once you start it’s hard to stop ordering slice after slice. gigispizzashop.com

The Kensington Arms

For a very good Sunday roast

Tucked away in the picturesque, leafy streets of Redland is local favourite The Kenny. It’s a cosy corner pub that serves evening meals, lunches and Sunday roasts that are as good as they come. There’s a sense of neighbourhood in this boozer, locals sit at the bar drinking Somerset cider and sleepy dogs wind themselves around their owners’ legs under the table. But what really makes this pub stand out is the exceptional cooking that comes out of the kitchen.

Head for a Sunday roast and enjoy ruby red ex-dairy beef with fat yorkshire puddings, creamed celeriac and crispy roasties, or perfectly crackled iron aged pork belly. Start with a blackboard special that might involve some freshly caught Brixham scallops, lightly whipped cod’s roe on toast or pan-fried gnocchi with goat’s curd. Finish up with a wedge of sticky toffee pudding and a big satisfied smile on your face. Be sure to book as seating is limited in this cosy establishment and the Sunday roasts in particular are popular. thekensingtonarms.co.uk

Fed

For brunch

Breakfast and brunch is always a 10/10 at one of the four Fed cafés that are dotted across Bristol (find them in Cotham, Gloucester Road, Fishponds and Westbury). With knock-out coffee, a really strong breakfast menu and some of the most delicious cakes in Bristol, order something sweet like apple overnight oats with earl grey soaked prunes, or a savoury number such as poached Cacklebean eggs on thick sourdough toast with garlicky greens, or a hot brioche bun with crispy bacon, eggs and chilli chutney. The huge selection of cakes is hard to pass by, strategically located by the exit, so don't leave without a big wedge of banana bread or a slice of the famous towering fudgy chocolate cake. fedcafe.co.uk

Bristol Lido

For building up an appetite

Bristol’s Clifton Lido and its historic setting is one of the highlights of the city. Take a dip, sauna and hot tub before setting yourself down for a fantastic lunch in the bar or restaurant. The poolside bar offers a small plate menu inspired by the Mediterranean. There’s taramasalata with pickles, sumac and fluffy flatbreads, watermelon and barrel-aged feta salad, chargrilled lamb pintxo with harissa and seasoned yogurt, and Cornish sardines with tahini, coriander and lime.

The restaurant above has a more extensive menu with larger plates such as slow-cooked tomato cavatelli or pan-fried skate wing. There are some fantastic packages on offer: for £55 you can bag yourself a swim and lunch package where you can use the facilities then enjoy two courses in the restaurant, or on Sundays have a swim and three small plates in the bar for the same price. Booking ahead is highly recommended as this is one of the most popular spots in Bristol. lidobristol.com

More restaurants in Bristol loved by the olive team

1 York Place

Chef Freddy Bird of Little French fame has opened his second Bristol restaurant, this time a split-level dining room on the outskirts of Clifton. Freddy’s food is flavour-driven and strongly European with opening snacks like jamón and smoked eel croquetas, and the lightest potato beignet with anchovy mayonnaise and pecorino. Seasonality comes into play in a starter of asparagus and a brown butter hollandaise with homemade sourdough. There is plenty of seafood on the menu – wild prawns, scallops, surf clams, hake, skate and gurnard – plus sharing options including roast rump cap with crisp cubed dripping potatoes and horseradish. 1yorkplace.co.uk

Bank

It’s a pleasure to spend time in this airy, welcoming space in Totterdown where all the important things matter: decent cocktails, imaginative wines, cooking over fire with seasonal ingredients, small plates and feasting menus, excellent coffee.

Founder Dan O’Regan and his co-owner chef Jack Briggs work with local suppliers and seasonal ingredients, some grown at the restaurant’s allotment, to offer hearty plates for two or three to share like Hereford Cross sirloin with beef shin rendang, bone marrow and charred pineapple. Smaller, regularly switched-up dishes such as smoked pork belly, picked watermelon and mission crab butter; Scottish girolles, burnt sweetcorn custard, crispy poached egg and jalapeno show sharply-honed kitchen skills and influences from across the world. bankbristol.com

The Pony

Brother and sister Josh and Holly Eggleton are well-known on the Bristol dining scene. Their smallholding, a short drive from the city, combines restaurant with cookery school and polytunnels, gardens and orchards. Take lunch, dinner, afternoon tea – or a sustainable wine course. The Pony’s set menu is a great-value intro: cold roast beef with garden pesto, chalkstream trout with Pony herbs and vanilla set cream. theponychewvalley.co.uk

Cotto

Across several much-loved Bristol restaurants, including their eponymous flagship, the Bianchi family is an energetic proponent of modern Italian food. Cotto is steeped in tradition: old family recipes, cooking research in Padova, sourcing trips to storied Tuscan butchers. But it is colourfully innovative, too – for example, in its artichoke fritti with mint and hot honey or its Loco carbonara. Originally a cult hit at a previous Bianchi restaurant, Pasta Loco, a recently revived carbonara – which takes several days to make – arrives as a plate of saucy spaghetti and fennel sausage, topped with a slab of slow-cooked, crispy pork belly and a pancetta-wrapped poached egg. cottowinebarandkitchen.co.uk

littlefrench

Freddy Bird’s family-run restaurant in Westbury Park serves up hearty, regional French dishes which deliver on every level. With a menu of snacks, starters, mains, sharers and sides, you get the feeling Freddy’s trying to feed you up. Let him. A ‘snack’ of chargrilled baby monkfish is the juiciest we’ve ever tried, served with sauce vierge, fresh basil and a decent thwack of woodsmoke. We down massive oysters with shallot vinegar for a saline hit, seriously good olives sweet with garlic and rosemary, and creamy fizz from the Loire. littlefrench.co.uk

Bianchis

A painted Bell’s Diner & Bar Rooms sign still exists above the door at this famed Montpelier restaurant site, taken on by Dominic Borel and Ben Harvey to turn into a traditional Italian trattoria.

Interiors include bottle-green banquettes and wood panelling, crisp white tablecloths, and a modern geometric print in the bar – and there’s a mix of bookable tables and those reserved for walk-ins. There’s a suitably grown-up nod to the restaurant’s Italian roots right from the off, with a bitter aperitivo list (negronis, Aperol and Campari spritzes, vermouth and tonics), and plenty of Italian wines, but there are also a few curveballs to look out for – including an Essex pinot blanc, an Austrian orange wine and a trendy Greek red.

When it comes to the food, the team goes further than the pasta-centric offerings at its other sites. The menu – divided into cured, raw, antipasti, primi (showcasing their pasta-making skills) and secondi sections – makes the most of local West Country producers: think braised quail with pancetta, coco blanc, turnip and girolle agrodolce; and roast hake with Dorset clams and baby fennel. The kitchen is headed up by Pegs Quinn, who boasts the River Café on his CV. bianchisrestaurant.co.uk

Bertha’s

Once an engineer for the McLaren Formula 1 team, Graham Faragher and his wife, Kate, started Bertha’s as a street-food business, serving pizzas from a converted canary-yellow Land Rover Defender before opening a bricks-and-mortar pizzeria in Bristol’s burgeoning harbourside food quarter. For Graham, it’s all about a long fermentation for the sourdough – at Bertha’s, it’s between three and five days – and seasonal South West ingredients for the toppings. berthas.co.uk

Poco

Café by day, tapas joint by night, ethically focused Poco is a long-time member of the thriving indie community of Bristol, with food and drink menus featuring seasonal, British and often organic produce. The varied but cohesive collection of small plates (which is chalked up on the back wall alongside the producers whose ingredients it stars) is illustrative of Ian’s imagination and skill.

Sweetcorn fritters are far more exciting than the image they conjure, and come loaded with jalapeño and rich crumbs of chocolate to offset that sweetness. Each is sat on an aioli-topped kohlrabi slice, for wrapping it in, taco-style. Cornish hake, dusted with kelp powder, is cooked with real care; the soft flesh falls away in thick, moist flakes at the mere suggestion of a fork, and slips into the silky oyster mayonnaise it’s partnered with. pocotapasbar.com

Bulrush

This modern British restaurant in the Cotham area of the city quickly made an impression on locals thanks to the clever cooking, interesting techniques (they’re big fans of fermentation) and bold flavour pairings from 30-year-old chef George Livesey. Originally from the Peak District, George has worked at St. John, for Dan Cox (executive chef of Fera at Claridge’s), and White Rabbit in Dalston before deciding to head West.

His menus champion the produce of the region, including all the foraged ingredients he can get his hands on (from fiddlehead ferns and pine, to juniper and sea kale). With personable and passionate service, a cracking cocktail menu that complements the food, and sterling cooking coming out of the tiny kitchen. bulrushrestaurant.co.uk

Pasta Ripiena

Pasta Ripiena is the sister restaurant to the popular Pasta Loco. To keep things seasonal, the restaurant gets two weekly deliveries from the Milan fruit and vegetable market. This produce ends up in a range of dishes, particularly stuffed pasta, which is made on site every day. Typical main courses include tortellini of salt marsh lamb, artichoke barigoule, pancetta and ricotta salata, and ravioli of beef shin ragu, crispy coppa, chard and pedro ximénez.

Dominic says: “You’ll find Joe rolling five different styles of stuffed pasta between the end of lunch service and dinner – the PX sherry jus on the beef ragu is sticky, sweet, rich and just plain naughty!” pastaripiena.co.uk

River Station

Bag a table by the window (or on the terrace) in the glass-fronted River Station (The Grove) to catch the action in the harbour. Go all out in the smart upstairs restaurant with mains such as roast hake with parmesan crust and cannellini beans, the two-course set lunch in the relaxed downstairs café-bar is a bargain. riverstation.co.uk

Koocha Mezze Bar

Koocha Mezze Bar is a Persian, all-vegan cocktail and mezze bar with a contagiously sparky, easy-going spirit, in Bristol’s independent quarter. Run by long-time vegetarian turned vegan, Noda Marvani, Koocha’s bold, all-black exterior hints at the snug, stylish space within. There are also bright blue picnic tables on the patio outside for warmer days but Koocha’s brought the outdoors in, too; festoon lighting against a dark ceiling makes for an atmospheric, dining-under-the-stars feel.

The menu is short and sweet, with one page for mezze, mains, sides and desserts then another for drinks — including plenty of vegan cocktails and signature G&Ts. Menu highlights include the koopa – earthy rice balls, deep-fried and loaded with cinnamon and turmeric – and spiced, slow-roasted cauliflower teamed with saffron yogurt and pomegranate seeds. Almost everything here is made from scratch (including the seitan used in the kebabs) and what Koocha don’t make themselves they look to the Bristol community to supply. Desserts are brought in from Elspeth’s Kitchen — a vegan, gluten-free bakery down the road from the restaurant — and bread’s sourced from Bristol-based Abunoor Pitta Factory. koochamezzebar.com

Nutmeg

Located in smart Clifton, Nutmeg serves up seriously delicious Indian cuisine. With its buzzy, welcoming atmosphere, this restaurant doesn’t mind if you’re dressed up or down, but the dishes are certainly special enough for a celebration.

In its dishes, decor and demeanour, Nutmeg is wonderfully colourful. Street-art-style murals on the walls are pure Bristol, while wooden floors and red banquettes add polish. Owner Raja Munuswamy and head chef Arvind Pawar source ingredients from local indie suppliers, including Ruby and White butchers and Bristol Sweet Mart. While the tasting menu focuses on one region at a time (on our visit the northern region of Kashmir), cycling quarterly to keep things fresh, the à la carte features flavours inspired by all 29 of India’s states.

After a tray of well-balanced homemade chutneys, the amuse bouche of golgappa puri – a traditional street snack of deep-fried tried filled with tamarind water, chilli, chaat masala and chickpea – proved to be one of the standouts of the night. We also found ourselves particularly enamoured with the main course’s yakhni gosht – rich, slow-cooked lamb that was moreishly tender, warm with ginger and cumin and cooled with a hung yoghurt sauce. Paired with a fruity pinot noir rosé, the pudding rounded the evening off beautifully; a deliciously syrupy jalebi acted as the perfect foil to a fragrant ball of homemade rose kulfi ice cream. nutmeg.co.uk

Bravas

For a pre-dinner bite, cross Whiteladies Road to small, buzzy Bravas which, with its exposed brick walls and hessian coffee sacks, could be a backstreet tapas bar in Spain. Make sure you try the lamb à la plancha with hazelnut and parsley salsa or the tortilla with homemade aïoli. bravas.co.uk

Bocabar

For a sit-down Sunday lunch with friends and family, Bocabar is a Bristol institution (though it’s just as good on other days of the week too). There’s a local, sustainable ethos running through the menu; fish and meat dishes often list the farm or fishmonger those scallops, roast pork or lamb come from. It's a great option for kids: the relaxed vibe means there are plenty of child-friendly sharing platters stocked with West Country cheeses and meats.

Wood-fired pizzas and Sunday roasts are other classic menu items here (though it’s also the kind of place you could just drop into for coffee and order some toast for the kids). And the large space and laid-back vibe makes it a breezy, chilled out place to be with children, where you don’t feel you’re impinging on other diners. bristol.bocabar.co.uk

Green Man

Tucked away in tranquil Kingsdown, the cosy Green Man could almost be in a Somerset village. Savour a pre-dinner pint of Bristol Best, made with British malt and hops by Westcountry brewers Dawkins (who own the pub). If you’re not booked elsewhere for dinner, the home-cooked food is good too. facebook.com/thegreenmanbristol

Best cafés and coffee shops in Bristol

Ahh Toots

Tables are much sought after at this cool and cosy bakery-café, where, behind that historic Tudor façade, owners, Tam Galliford and Amy Symonds, create ace celebration cakes and lush afternoon teas. Sandwiches and unusually interesting scones (sour cherry and toasted pumpkin seed, for example) are followed by a variety of modish bakes, such as thyme and sea salt chocolate cookies or lemon mascarpone choux buns. Tam and Amy like to use products from fellow Bristol indies, such as Circumstance Distillery’s whiskey in their white chocolate truffles. Their house coffee blend was created with Radical Roasters. ahhtoots.com

Hart’s Bakery

The queues snaking out the door tell you all you need to know about Hart’s Bakery. Set under the arches at Bristol Temple Meads railway station, swing by for epic sausage rolls and Saturday Bread. hartsbakery.co.uk

Two Day Coffee Roasters

As unpretentious as coffee shops get, Two Day Coffee Roasters sells an impressive selection of beans by weight, as well as cups of coffee to go (there are no seats). The Bristol coffee scene may have grown over the past few years, but these guys were right there at the start. twodaycoffee.co.uk

Primrose Café

Ease yourself into the day with brunch at one of Bristol’s longest-standing food institutions, the Primrose Café (Clifton Arcade, 1 Boyce’s Avenue). Go for the All-In-Two cooked breakfast, haddock fish cakes, or a slab of its legendary chocolate and salted caramel cake. primrosecafe.co.uk

Papadeli

Transport yourself to the Med at Papadeli, a deli-cum-café-cum cookery school whose ‘papa’ is affable ex-chef Simon MacDonnell. If you’re staying beyond the weekend, book onto a weekday evening cooking class. Otherwise, devour a chocolate brownie in the café or snap up a Sorelle Nurzia Italian Easter Colomba cake in the deli. papadeli.co.uk

Spicer & Cole

Amble into classy Clifton for tea at Spicer & Cole, the antidote to faceless coffee shop chains. Ingredients are locally sourced and the sandwiches and cakes are handmade on site. The carrot cake is addictive. spicerandcole.co.uk

Mark's Bread

You can spot the queues long before you reach Mark Newman’s artisan bakery on the popular North Street. Bag a loaf of his sourdough, still warm from the ovens behind the counter, or settle down with a paper and croque Monsieur in the café next door. marksbread.co.uk

Best food and drink shops in Bristol

The Bristol Cheesemonger

Shopping in a shipping container is cool, right? Literally in the case of The Bristol Cheesemonger, since the space is also refrigerated; proprietor Rosie Morgan sells excellent More Wine bag-in-box wine and the most marvellous array of British cheeses, including an awesome trio of cheddars (when in the West Country…). bristol-cheese.co.uk

Bristol Sweet Mart

Head to Easton (east of Bristol city centre) to find Bristol Sweet Mart, a glorious South Asian emporium where you can buy anything from tiffin boxes to bunches of herbs, chutneys, fresh pickles, pulses and grains (make sure to nose through the gargantuan selection of spices). sweetmart.co.uk

Wai Yee Hong

Apart from having one of the funniest Twitter profiles out there, Wai Yee Hong is a behemoth of a Chinese supermarket, requiring a whole day to fully explore its shelves. Charge round with a shopping trolley stocking up on all things Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Thai. waiyeehong.com

St Nicholas' Market

Soak up the atmosphere at St Nicholas’ Market which offers everything from wheatgrass juice to handmade Pieminister pies (try the Heidi with Somerset goat’s cheese), and pulled pork sandwiches from Grillstock Smokeshack. At the gorgeous Source food hall & café, grab a Gloucester Old Spot sausage roll or stock up on local goodies. bristol.gov.uk/st-nicholas-markets

Reg the Veg

Take your pick from the veg-laden cart outside another Bristol stalwart, Reg the Veg greengrocers. Reg has moved on and it’s now run by John Hagon and son Tom. Vegetables come from nearby Failand or in the case of asparagus, the Wye Valley. There’s Bradley’s apple juice and Ooh! Chocolata bars made in Nailsea too. regtheveg.co.uk

Foodie neighbourhood to explore: Wapping Wharf

Situated on Bristol’s historic floating harbour, Wapping Wharf is one of the city’s coolest and best loved neighbourhoods. And for good reason. It boasts a collection of shipping containers housing some of the best independent restaurants, bakeries and bars in Bristol. Here you’ll find more casual dining, lunches to grab after a visit to Bristol's famous M Shed museum as well as harbourside evening dining.

There’s well known Bristol institution Root, for vegetable, seasonal-led eating, and Gambas for authentic waterside tapas (not to be missed, the garlic butter sizzling pil pil prawns). For a quick bite grab a New York style bagel from Bagelry Box, served from an old horse box – this small menu doesn't skimp on quality with freshly baked hand-rolled bagels filled with 10-hour smoked pastrami and all the trimmings – an ideal lunch alongside a coffee from Mokoko sat by the water.

For finer dining head to Lapin, a small French eatery with modern twists: try golden comté gougères, Brixham scallops with garlic butter, and roast aubergine ratatouille with pistou. The best way to satisfy your after-dinner sweet tooth might be a trip to Swoon Gelato for its rich, creamy Italian artisan gelato, the pistachio and Bacio (hazelnut and chocolate) being nothing short of perfect. If you fancy grabbing anything for the road, independent supermarket Better Food stocks an array of great local Somerset produce, from cheeses, milk from Bruton Dairy and seasonal organic veg to delicious breads from Batches Bakery and local chocolate

Where to stay in Bristol

The Bristol

First time visitors entering by Prince Street will be surprised and delighted to discover that that across the lobby of The Bristol lies the harbour, making it a great base for exploring much of the city’s most vibrant food scene. The hotel’s classic afternoon tea in the River Grille provides the opportunity to see the iconic yellow ferries putter along over cucumber sandwiches, Victoria sponge and hyper-local Bird and Blend tea. Next door is contemporary Rick’s Bar, for sharing boards and brunch on the terrace and signature cocktails at the bar. Book a cosy Harbourside Room for views of the Bristol Eye ferris wheel.

Rooms from £98, B&B from £125. Check availability at booking.com

The Artist Residence

Looking for a place to stay in Bristol? The unstoppable Artist Residence team has restored a Georgian townhouse, previously an old boot factory, right by Bristol’s eclectic city centre. Loft rooms have standalone bathtubs, whilst the luxurious Lookout room on the top floor is spread over two levels with a private terrace for views over the city.

Doubles from £154, check availability at booking.com or mrandmrssmith.com

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Words by Esther Clark, Laura Rowe, Claire Thomson (Bristol-based chef and the author of three cookbooks), Mark Taylor, Rosie Sharratt, Tory Parks, Kate Authers, Christine Hayes and Helen Salter

Photography by Sam Gibson, Mike Lusmore, Getty, Kirstie Young