owlfish: (Feast)

riverstation

posted by [personal profile] owlfish at 03:57pm on 07/07/2009 under , ,
Location: The Grove, in the docks area, Bristol.

riverstation is spacious and light, industrial and civilized. What is now a bar and restaurant was formerly the dockside police station, a comfortable restaurant well-patronized by suited businessmen, standing up, shaking hands, smiling at each other. I met [livejournal.com profile] intertext at the train station on Friday and we walked over - 10-15 minutes - with our luggage. Happily, they could keep the luggage in a closet for us while we went to claim our river-views table, booked with a well-designed online interface.

Impressively, the set meal prices have come down since last year's guidebook prices were printed. Two courses for £9.50, three courses for £12.00! My gazpacho was refreshing, and full of vegetable goodness. The mackerel was tender, with more potatoes than we needed, and greens. (I've already forgotten if it came with any sauce or compôte.) The passionfruit crême brûlée was a delight, ethereal in its lightness. Once I'd asked if there was anything interesting to drink other than wine, we received the other drinks menu - entertaining cocktails, and a decent selection of juices and interesting other non-alcoholic drinks. I went with a strawberry bellini.

The price was right, the food generally enjoyable (though forgettable around the edges), the drinks good, and the light-filled space beautiful, but the toilets might as well have been candlelit, they were so dark. Still, I had a lovely, relaxing lunch there in good company with generally good, if busy, service. I'd be willing to go back, but I'm much more interested in exploring more of Bristol's many other scattered restaurants instead.
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owlfish: (Feast)

Bristol, Bath, and Beyond

posted by [personal profile] owlfish at 11:56pm on 09/12/2006 under , , ,
  • Bar Chocolat's name caught my eye from across the street, and a warm dose of chocolate sounded like exactly what I needed to warm myself from an afternoon's meander through Bath's Christmas market. So close to closing time, they were only serving things to go. My chocolate shot, rich, dark, thick, underlaid with bitter complexity, warmed my hands as we made our way onward into the evening.

  • The next day, we stopped by House of Minerva, the city's chocolate store advocated by a feature in Homes and Antiques. The air was redolent with chocolate. Various people sat sipping drinks at small tables, looking out at the buzz of city center streets beyond the windows. Their chocolates are varied, competent, friendly. Flavors are confident and strong; there's no subtlety to them.

  • As dusk fell on Bristol last weekend, so too did the rain. It drizzled and chilled, and so we took shelter in Bordeaux Quay, an airy café/bar/brasserie/restaurant. The venue is invested in local ingredient sourcing and eco-friendly products. We warmed with coffees and chocolates and exotic infusion blends. Petit fours were rich: the rosemary dark chocolate truffles were flavored with a heavy hand; the fluffy, crisp meringue flecked with finely-chopped pieces of candied ginger were, however, superb.

  • On the motorway, westbound from London, a roadsign advocated that we "Exit at Junction 11 for The Oracle". Also westbound, I became gradually convinced that the M4 is where Britain stores its traffic cones. It's such a sensible solution: they're not likely to be stolen when everyone's travelling at speed. On the way back, we were promised 50 miles of deer; not one was to be seen.

  • It was wonderful to see [livejournal.com profile] lazyknight and [livejournal.com profile] stormwindz and M. again! It had been entirely too long.
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