We become more and more aware of the things we’re really going to miss about Bristol. If we could take Bristol with us, along with our cozy little house, we would. It’s a big, big adventure, and I know others have done harder or bigger things, but for us this is a big, big adventure.
And yesterday we spent the evening celebrating our 7th anniversary in a style that is almost the archetype of our experience of Bristol. We headed out to Birch, which is a small independent restaurant doing fantastic things with locally grown produce. Bristol’s food culture is amazing, and we’ve had better food here than we’ve had anywhere else (with the exception of ottolenghi, in London, which is equal to places we’ve been here).
For those intrigued, yesterday’s meal was:
Braised black kale, spelt, mushrooms and Old Ford (cheese)
Celeriac, egg yolk and Wiltshire Truffle
Pigeon, squash, kale and fried onions
It was uniformly excellent.
Oh, and desert was pretty cool too, Kathryn had a Quince Custard with thin biscuits (which was kind of like a Crème brûlée), and I had an Apple and Spelt pudding with a yoghurt ice cream.
It was a fantastic meal, and a fitting last anniversary meal to celebrate in Bristol… We used to go to Flinty Red which occupied our favourite food location choice for a long time, but for reasons that are deeply unclear they’ve now closed…
…but Birch is an admirable replacement.
Food finished, we headed out for the second ultra-Bristolian segment of the evening. A folk gig on a boat. Specifically, a gig at Thekla, a 1959 rivetted construction boat, powered by a war-surplus U-boat engine. Apparently, she started her performing arts life in Bristol as the Old Profanity Showboat…
We’d never made it there until last night, but we went to see Keston Cobblers Club, who were a group we didn’t know about until a couple of days ago. They, it turns out, are brilliant. We both had a fantastic time, and headed home with a new CD in our grubby little mitts.
As an anniversary celebration, it was pretty much perfect.
As we say goodbye to Bristol, we’ve got a few places we need to hit up. Fish and chips shall be had with my mum, from Fishminster. Pie from Pieminster must be had, and a nice meal at the Workhouse…
