Peckish
Issue One ---- Getting Started
Bagel Boy ---- Stokes Croft Warehouse ---- Herbert Green ---- Full Court Press Playground Coffee House ---- Small St. Espresso ---- Didn’t You Do Well? Dain Korea ---- @theWell ---- Southmead Fruit Garden ---- Incredible Edible No.12 Easton ---- Urban Standard ---- The Runcible Spoon 01
Thanks to you instagrammers getting involved with peckish keep #feelingpeckish and tagging your beautiful food snaps!
@colse @hugoldnx @jenniferlouiserobbins @bethanadey @blindpoodle @sarahbach2
Hi! Hello! Welcome!
Welcome to the very first issue of Peckish, a new guide to the diverse and multi-cultural food scene in Bristol. In this issue we’re focusing on all things getting started: inside you’ll find articles on exciting new projects just in their beginnings, new food trends, beautiful illustrations by our featured artist Rachael Cocker, all alongside outstanding independent local businesses right here in Bristol. Our mission at Peckish is to root out quality, local, independent and sustainable places to eat, drink and be merry in Bristol and to bring you the stories and people behind them. We have two sides: the zine and the website. The zine side of things, as we hope you’ll see, is interested in the slow, fuller and more in-depth picture of food in Bristol. We hope you enjoy the stories we’ve uncovered in this beautiful, foodobsessed city. Alongside this, we have a glorious website, complete with foodie map, to make it even easier for you to find the places and stories we love in Bristol.
Team Peckish www.peckishfood.tumblr.com @peckish_food
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Bagel Boy
Boy Oh Boy ---- Bagel Boy
Words - Jim Howells Photography - Isabelle Rose Neill Illustration - Anna Povey
Bagel Boys 39-41, St Nicholas Street Bristol BS1 1TP 01179220417 Church Thompson ltd TA Bagel Boy 43, Stokes Croft Bristol BS1 3PY info@bagelboy.co.uk
Up until about six months ago, my only conception of bagels were that they were some kind of boiled bread and, of course, Sandy Cohen’s fancy bagel slicer in the OC. I was aware that people ATE bagels and that there was a kind of ‘culture’ surrounding them, I just didn’t really understand them, I certainly didn’t think they could be...cool? I had always thought of ‘Bagelites’ as lunch-timers that has surpassed the plebeian sensibility of the sandwich and realized that higher states of consciousness could be reached through a chewy, savory doughnut. Often at times I tried to ‘get in’ to bagels but I lost it trying to tear pieces of meat and cut cheeses at an angle so they would fall out the sides or go through the hole, I always thought thats why people only had cream cheese in them, it’s a very shape-able food stuff. But when a friend of mine took me to Bagel Boy and I ordered the ‘New York Boy’ (salt beef, sauerkraut, gherkins and mustard) that all changed, there was meat and sauerkraut bridging the gap in the hole, my hole (groan) perception of bagels changed. I had been doing it wrong, everyone had and it took the child like imagination of a boy, a Bagel Boy to show us what we were missing. Bagel Boy is far from its infantile stages of being known in Bristol and a handful of Festivals around the country, what started as a
Peckish
Bagel Boy
“ it took the child-like imagination of a boy, a bagel boy, to show us what we were missing ”
stall, then to the basement of a barbershop and now it’s very own store, Bagel Boy offers you the finest,bagels, baristas and...beats. The name of every bagel has a loving ‘-boy’ suffixed at the end and their specials board will make any Bob’s Burger enthusiast smile contently before they tuck in, everything Bagel Boy are doing is done right, from their merchandise to the catering of indie-film screenings, they have made their mark and making sure they are here to stay.
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Stokes Croft
Warehouse Project ---- Stokes Croft Warehouse Words - Jo Hateley Photography - Alastair Crees Illustration - Samuel Povey
An exciting new project is getting started in the heart of Stokes Croft‌. Hidden behind the slightly imposing façade of City Road Baptist Church, just off the intersection between City Road and Stokes Croft, is an incredible space. Only known to a few people at the moment but all of whom hope that it will one day be part of the beating heart of Stokes Croft. Down a quiet side street opposite its often rowdier neighbour, Lakota, is an enormous warehouse previously used as a factory space, complete with a fishbowl-like windowed office for the overseer at one end. A brand new project is taking root, which hopes to enliven this dormant space. This is a project with enormous potential, not least because of the size of this space, but also because those leading the project, along with the members 8
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of the City Road Baptist Church, are determined that it will be wholeheartedly community led and community orientated. Work only started a matter of weeks ago and they will be meeting with the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft, among other groups to find out exactly what the local community might like the space to be used for. ‘The space is wonderful and could be used for so many different things’, says Katie Brooker, part of the team that’s heading up the transformation, ‘but we want the community to direct where this project goes. It’s important to us that the space is used, supported and imputed by our local community. We don’t want it to be us telling them what it should be used for’. Even at this early stage suggestions
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It’s important to us that the space is used, supported and imputed by our local community. We don’t want it to be us telling them what it should be used for ”
ranging from youth clubs to a space for weddings and wakes to an urban ballroom to an art gallery and even a fold-up skatepark have been raised. But what interested us here at Peckish the most was the idea that it could be used to hold a food market, where local traders could buy and sell locally grown produce to local people. We set our imaginations running and have come up with an illustration of how we imagine the space could look if it were eventually put to this use! But the project is a long way from completion. They need to raise £16,000 to cover getting the roof fixed, so the space can start to be used safely. After that, it’s up to the community which way the project goes. The building is owned by the Baptist church, who at one point nearly sold off the space to become a car park. One part of the space is already up and running as a café, open 11-3 on Tuesdays, complete with mismatched cosy sofas and tables. If you’re interested in getting involved, having your say about where the project goes or simply finding out how this exciting space is used, get in touch with the Peckish team or pop into the café on Tuesdays.
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Green fingers
---- Rachael Anna Cocker /Herbert Green Words - Isabelle Rose Neill Illustration - Herbert Green
Rachael Cocker is also known as Herbert Green, a wonderfully talented up and coming designer whose recent works centre around food, people and utensils. We are big fans here at Peckish so we caught up with Miss Green to find out more about her latest delightfully colourful creations, her inspirations & her love for food! Hello Herbert Green! Tell us about yourself! Hi! I’m Rachael, a 22 year-old designer-makerillustrator from Norfolk. I’m currently studying a degree in Illustration and making work under the alias Herbert Green. What inspired you to do illustration? For me, illustration is about creating a visual language and communicating through your own way of seeing. Drawing is the process which underpins everything I make. Whether I’m using clay, fabric or paper, each piece starts with a drawing. I think this is what gives the things I make a certain character and aesthetic. Studying illustration has also taught me to be playful and curious in my work. Food features throughout your work, what is
Rachael Anna Cocker
the relationship between your art and food? I suppose the main reason I like using food throughout my work is because I am passionate about cooking! It is a way for me to tie together the things I like to do best! But you can also find amazing colours and shapes in food. Fruit and vegetables are such humble and ubiquitous objects but are also so beautiful and perfectly formed; each one is unique. They are consistently a source of inspiration for me. What and who are your inspirations? There are so many exciting artists and designers that inspire me, I feel like I’m seeing and absorbing new things every day. I’ve always loved both Matisse’s cut-outs and Eric Carle’s work for the ingenious way they use paper and a pair of scissors! I also love the simple, colourful designs by the Finnish design company Marimekko. Mostly, I like work which is uplifting and I try to capture this quality in the things that I make. Can you tell us about your new collection of work? The project I’m working on at the moment came from images I’d come across of an Italian museum called Museo Ettore Guatelli. The museum displays everyday household objects and tools all over the
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But you can also find amazing colours and shapes in food. Fruit and vegetables are such humble and ubiquitous objects but are also so beautiful and perfectly formed; each one is unique. They are consistently a source of inspiration for me �
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Rachael Anna Cocker
“ There are so many exciting artists and designers that inspire me, I feel like I’m seeing and absorbing new things every day ” wall, transforming them from practical, to works
making work that people can use and take
of art. This inspired me to create a collection of objects based around the kitchen. I wanted them to be beautiful designed objects as well as functional. I’ve been using different processes which has been really exciting; making aprons and tea towels from my own printed fabrics and ceramic cups and spoons as well as illustrated recipes. Each of the objects celebrates colour, pattern and simplicity and has a naïve, hand-made quality. I think this is what gives them their charm!
pleasure in. What is your favourite food? That’s a hard question for me because I love all food! I find cooking is one of the greatest pleasures in life and I have always been brought up to enjoy and appreciate good food. At the moment I’m really enjoying cooking curries; I live near some great local veg shops where I can buy all the fresh ingredients which is a wonderful part of the process.
What are your hopes for the future of your creations?
You can see more of my work on my blog www.herbertgreen.tumblr.com
Hopefully I’ll become an incredibly successful designer and I’ll never have to have a part-time café job again! Until then I’m just happy to keep
Rachael will be opening an online shop in summer 2014. Keep your eyes peeled! 19
Jalmukes ( I eat wel
---- Why bimbibaps and kimchii ar Words - Jim Howells
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sumneda ll )
re saving us from Americana Unlike a lot of foreign food in this country, the Koreans seem the most unwilling to compromise for the Western palette, which could be the reason it’s taking us so long to get into it. It’s a fairly well-known rule that westernization is a politer way of saying ‘bastardization’ and Anglo-Asian food tends to be ‘the’ prime example of the bastardization of Eastern cuisine tradition. It isn’t always a bad thing though. Singapore Noodles aren’t from Singapore, and Chicken Tikka Massala was apparently invented in Scotland, – and both are hugely popular, tasty and cheap. Sometimes you crave authenticity,other times, normally drunker, lesser times, there is nothing better than deep-fried mystery meat in syrupy sweet and sour sauce (leave the pineapple in please). Something is lost when cuisine that speaks for centuries of tradition becomes saturated
with copy-cats making cheaper, quicker and poorer quality versions of something and then trying to sell it for three times the price with the same name. No-one intends to make bad quality food but sometimes when you’re hopping on the food trend train, you forget to bring a few things with you. There’s a fine line between accessibility and quality and an even finer one between parody and homage. In the past year we’ve witnessed a NouveauAmericana revolution. In line with the emerging, hands-on trend.Boutique burgers are a common occurrence, corn bread is a ‘thing’, everyone loves pulled pork, and noones shy of telling us how slowly they cook their meats. Is London pulled-pork more authentic than Scottish tikka masala? Does it matter?We should be meeting authenticity half-way because the less adventurous we are, the more the cuisine will compromise.
The Battle of the Baristas Words - Alastair Crees Photography - Isabelle Rose Neill
Before experiencing the delights of Bristol’s coffee shop, I knew very little about coffee. In fact, my knowledge was embarrassingly bad: misspelt names on polystyrene cups, nattering yummy mummies and tax evasion. This all changed when I started frequenting a quartet of coffee shops in the city centre of Bristol. Each shop is unique and different in their own special way. Full Court Press (59 Broad Street) is minimal on appearance but delivers a complex cup of Joe made with scientific apparatus to ensure a perfect cup every time-The Blumenthal of coffee. The newly opened Playground Coffee House (45 St Nicholas Street) challenges preconceptions of what coffee shops have to offer. With games on every table and adult proof swings attached to the celling, it extracts the inner child within you. It’s the perfect place to take a date as the conversation will never saturate, there are so many things to talk about it could even lead to a competitive game of backgammon. Small St Espresso
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(23 Small Street) instantly transports you to a Brooklyn suburb in the city that never sleeps. Its red brick interior radiates an amicable atmosphere that shames Central Perk, sorry Joey. Didn’t you do well (20 Park Row) is run by a young couple who successfully work together on a daily basis running the shop, something that would test most! The name comes from the owners grandfather who insists that you have to work for yourself and not rely on hand outs, he approves with the shop, hence the title! These coffee shops are all within a mile radius of each other so one would suggest that the competition is cutthroat and aggressive. The thing that all these establishments share in common is honest, approachable and friendly staff. They are passionate about their profession and want to spread the word. All of the owners help each other out when they may need it, it’s a huge credit to Bristol’s community spirit which I hope can be re-created in other businesses. Cheers to Bristol’s Baristas and the humble coffee bean.
Small St Espresso instantly transports you to a Brooklyn suburb in the city that never sleeps.
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Small St Espresso
Small St Espresso
( Full Court Press ) delivers a complex cup of Joe made with scientific apparatus to ensure a perfect cup.
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Full Court Press
Full Court Press
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With games on every table and adult proof swings attached to the celling, it extracts the inner child within you.
Playground Coffee
Playground Coffee
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The name comes from the owners grandfather who insists that you have to work for yourself and not rely on hand outs, he approves with the shop, hence the title!
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Didn’t You Do Well?
Didn’t You Do Well?
Peckish
Southmead Garden
Southmead Fruit Garden Words - Kandace Tiala Photography - Kandace Tiala
Hidden away in the heart of Southmead, a council estate on the edge of Bristol, a transformation is taking place: brambles and bindweed are giving way to strawberries and raspberries in the Southmead Community Fruit Garden. When I arrived with a team of volunteers to clear the bramble-covered space in May 2012, I couldn’t have imagined what it would become! Together with a fantastic team of local volunteers, we have spent the past 18 months planting fruit trees, clearing ground and gathering a community of people to enjoy the space.
Our aims are threefold: 1. To create a space that is beautiful. 2. To involve local people in growing their own food. 3. To inspire people to use their own green spaces better. We hope to grow lots of tasty food this year, but most importantly, we want to grow our team of people. Volunteers enjoy the friendship and community that comes from working in the garden together, not to mention the fresh fruit to take home. Our regular open day is from 10 - 3 on the first Saturday of each month. You can find us behind the Whitehall on Glencoyne Square, BS10 6DE. We’re a friendly bunch! 42
I fillet Words - Rose Berry Illustration - Ellen Hardiman
Looking at the beady eyes of the beautifully shimmering, fresh, silver sea bass on my chopping board was a fish slap in the face; a reminder that the food I love to eat was once part of a living creature. The day had come when I would learn how the fillet on my plate fits like a puzzle piece into the fish in the sea. I was excited – not because I take pleasure in handling dead animals – but because I could finally understand a bit more about where my food comes from. The experience was a completely unfamiliar one. I started by removing the tough fins with scissors, before descaling the fish; a messy but oddly enjoyable task. Holding the tail in my left hand and a knife in the right, I scraped downwards in short, quick motions, using its blunt edge. Once the scales came off and landed like flakes of snow in my hair, the fish was ready to be gutted. The squelch of removing the innards from the incision I’d made into the belly, and releasing the gush of blood in the spine, was gruesome yet strangely exhilarating. I felt a moment of pride when I washed it clean and realised that the hard part was over. Finally I sliced along the fish to remove the pieces of flesh, tweezed out any remaining bones (the most satisfying job of all) and was left with two lovely looking fillets. 44
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Dain-ing in style ---- Dain Korea
Words - Alastair Crees Photography - Isabelle Rose Neill
Mr Kim and his team serve high quality, honest and traditional Korean food located on the everchanging Gloucester Road. But “Dain Korea” is here to stay, having only been open 6 months it has already established itself as an impressive and diverse eatery. Without fail every evening Mr Kim’s tables are filled with hungry customers who are eager to explore the realms of Korean cuisine.
Dain Korea 27 Gloucester Rd Bristol BS7 0117 942 5714 46
“ I am honoured that people enjoy Korean food ” ---- Mr Kim
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@theWell
Live! at the Laundrette ---- @theWell
Words - Robin Mitchell Illustration - Anna Povey Live music, fine beverages, and... laundry! Not a typical Friday night, you might think, but our monthly event has become a home for many open-minded individuals seeking something a little bit different with which to kickstart the weekend. From Emily Phelps’ (Pig Dog/In The Milkwood) bewitching performance at our first event in February 2013, each Live at the Laundrette has been distinctly unique. The setting of At The Well cafe/laundrette lends itself perfectly to an intimate live performance, and whether the audience are being lulled by the enchanting Dirk Landish, ushered into a boogie by Lu Willott and band, or finding themselves at the wrong end of Laura (She Makes War) Kidd’s megaphone, the response is always the same: delight, enthusiasm, and no small amount of surprise that such enjoyment could be gleaned from an evening sat in front of the washing machines. The range of musical styles we’ve enjoyed over
the past year has been a treat for an aficionado such as myself, and our faithful crowd has always got stuck in (most recently, Lounge Cat Ideals had the whole room up and swing dancing). Whether it’s to be an evening of fun and laughter or of captivation and awe, the sense is that ‘we’re in it together’ - a feeling shared by many performers who tell me time and again that the experience of playing in this tiny, cosy corner of Bristol ranks among the very best of gigs.
@ the Well 145 Cheltenham Road BS6 5RR Bristol 0117 244 3627 info@at-the-well.co.uk
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@theWell
“ the setting of At The Well cafe/laundrette lends itself perfectly to an intimate live performance � 51
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Sarah Vern
Incredible Edible ---- Sarah Venn interview Words - Jo Hately & Alastair Crees
Incredible Edible is a radical global horticultural project that aims to create ‘edible’ cities through growing beautiful, edible plants in disused or neglected spaces within the city. Bristol is the latest to join the edible ranks, with an Incredible Edible strategy group getting started only in February; a project still very much in germination. Johanna Hateley and Alastair Crees met with Sara Venn, part of the seven person team that has established the Incredible Edible contingent in Bristol, to talk horticulture, culture and plans for the future. What is Incredible Edible and what are its ideas and aims? Incredible Edible started in 2007 in Todmorden in West Yorkshire and its aim up there was basically to stop people planting horrible prickly plants outside everywhere and plant something that was useful: fruit trees, vegetables, or other edibles, and they’ve had magnificent success! Right now there are around 300 Incredible Edible towns and cities all over the world. 52
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And how did it get started here in Bristol? I’d been aware of it pretty much since it started because I’ve been in the gardening and horticultural world for quite a while. But it actually started when I was very bored one Sunday morning and I said on Twitter ‘Why’s there no Incredible Edible Bristol?... Would anybody be interested?’ and I got about a million answers! I then got sign-posted towards Anna Grear, who is an academic, and we just went ‘shall we do this?’ …‘Well, why not!’ and so here we are 8-10 weeks later and we have the backing of people like the council, which is just great. You’re a horticulturalist yourself, with some obviously relevant skills for this project! Yes, I’ve always been a food grower: I’ve had an allotment for as long as I can remember, I grew food as a child and I did a fine art degree where I grew my final show! …Why nobody said to me at that point ‘Sara you might be going into the wrong career’, I don’t know! I’ve always grown things and part of my interest has always been in growing food. I understand that you’re keen to work alongside and support existing community gardening projects –how to you foresee that working and so far has it been a smooth process? We’ve only been going since February and are already working with over 15 existing groups! We’re working with Bristol Food Network, who have identified over 70 projects that are up and running in Bristol but there are a lot more out there. We hope to create maps of all the projects that exist now, of all the Incredible Edible projects and, in the future, a map of all the potential spaces where you could hold a
Sarah Venn
project. We’ve already gone round and checked sites and we’re just waiting for somebody to say ‘oh actually, I could do something there’. What if someone has never gardened before? What would you say you get out of it? Because there is nothing better than taking something from a little tiny seed and growing it and harvesting it and taking it home and eating it. It’s absolutely simple. Even if you grow your own pig! It’s about taking something through the whole process and it’s quite addictive. The project seems very pertinent in terms of how current legislation is pushing communities towards being more responsible for their own spaces and the increase in food banks… Are these things important to Incredible Edible Bristol? I do think it’s very important that people know where their food comes from. I think it’s really important that people understand their food doesn’t just come from Tesco and I think it is really scary the number of children who have no idea about this. The other thing that we
“ ..there is nothing
better than taking something from a little tiny seed and growing it and harvesting it and taking it home and eating it. It’s absolutely simple. ”
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Sarah Venn
“ if there’s
have in Bristol and in cities is that a lot of people don’t have any access to outside space. I’ve been working with a pre-school aged group at Windmill City Farm called Tiny Trowels and most of them don’t have a garden so they have no idea how food is grown. So it’s about empowering people in lots of ways, and if you empower people through gardening, you empower communities because it makes people talk to their neighbours and food’s the one thing that we all need. So if there’s one thing that could bring communities together, it’s food.
one thing that could bring communities together, it’s food. ”
Bristol seems an ideal place to start too. People in Bristol are proudly local, proudly independent, which we’ve seen from the restaurants we’ve been working with. There seems to be a growing trend where people source their food, their beer, locally and people don’t mind paying a touch more for it if they know the stories behind where it comes from and if there’s a connection between farms and restaurants…
food plants: herbs and stuff that kids can smell and it’ll all be planted with children. We’ve also got a vegetable bed in Castle Park, which is going to be planted up mid-May. We’ve got a big project coming up in Bedminster and Southville, with new planters going in all down East Street. There are new community projects turning up in Brunswick Square and outside Kwik Fit on Gloucester Road too, which is really cool.
Absolutely! Steve’s [Steve Glover, part of the strategy group] project, The Severn Project, has only been going for 3/4 years and provides over 300kg of salad into Bristol every week, grown in Bristol and Keynsham; all working with local people with addiction problems. There’s no reason that a local economy can’t work like that, it just requires a change of thought. I think Bristol’s a place where it will start.
We have a Facebook page, a Twitter feed and we’re in the middle of making the most beautiful website, which will be live soon: www. incredibleediblebristol.org.uk https://www.facebook.com/groups/ incredibleediblebristol @EdibleBristol Talk to us to get connected with any projects local to you. JH & AC
How can people get involved?
So what are your plans for the future? In the next few weeks we’ll be putting in a legacy bed at the Food Connections Festival, which will be full of sensory
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Runcible Spoon
Sense & Runcibility
---- The Runcible Spoon, interview with head chef Greg Inglis Words - Alastair Crees & Jim Howells
How did the Runcible Spoon begin? We found this place last year, and its the place
The Runcible Spoon 3 Nine Tree Hill Bristol BS1 3SB 0117 329 7645 www.therunciblespoonbristol.com @runciblespoon1
we had really dreamed about. Starting up places, this is our first proper restaurant, we have a cafe in st nicks market and i opened an independent pub at the start of this year...it’s horrible (laughs) I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, the stress is... ridiculous. Fifteen years in the industry and there’s still no way to prepare yourself for the amount of stuff you have to think about. The first week has been amazing. How do you source your food? Locally? Most of our menu is dictated by whats around so we work only with local suppliers, trying to keep the distance traveled by found as down as possible and my suppliers hound with me with whats good at the moment. Literally hound me, I’ll have a day off on a Monday and I’ll wake
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Runcible Spoon
up to a phone call from a farmer talking to me about asparagus. So that dictates the menu, we only do four evening services a week, the menu gets set up on Tuesday, built on Wednesday and that’s it, some of those ingredients you’ll only see for that week. It’s an extreme level of seasonality. It keeps the cost down as well, so we aren’t playing around with expensive mushrooms which we have to get imported. We’re trying to keep it really reasonable. It’s fine dining but without the price tag. We use mullet rather than red mullet, it’s a completely under-valued fish, everybody’s heard of red mullet but grey mullet is it’s ugly cousin. The meat is a lot denser, and a lot more savory, so it really holds its own against strong flavors. We use Devon crabs as well, all our shellfish is from Devon. We got a a fishmonger who picks up off day boats in North Point so they go boat to boat, the freshness is ridiculous. Whats your experience been like in other areas of the country you’ve worked in? Jess’ (front of house) experience has been in Michelin star restaurants in London and I’ve been working 15 years in fine dining and five star hotels, so this experience into a community restaurant is something we are 64
“ Fifteen years in the industry
and there’s still no way to prepare yourself for the amount of stuff you have to think about. The first week has been amazing. ”
very proud of .We want to give something to Stokes Croft, an area we really love, but you don’t have to wait while someone finishes their conversation in order to get a table. Then wait half an hour to order then forty five minutes for your food to arrive. It’s great to have independent places but you need to have that level of professionalism to take it to that next step.
at. So if you open up the drawers you can see all the graffiti the kids have done, very interesting. People add to it, which adds to our community feel more. We Like it. The community feel is mental in Bristol, we couldn’t have done any of this without friends and neighbors helping us out, we had a friend come in to build the bar and he knew someone who knew someone, who knew someone etc. Everyone has just really helped each other out.
What is the mission statement of the Runclible Spoon? We wanted to go for a 1920’s vibe without being adversely art-deco and go for more of a farm house look. Our desks, which people eat at we got from our landlord. Who actually ran this building as a community restaurant 25 years ago but he was a maths teacher so the tables (desks) we use are from the school he used to work
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Inside No. 12
---- No.12 Easton Words - Alastair Crees Photography2 - Isabelle Rose Neill
No.12 Easton 12 High Street Bristol BS5 6DL 07824 664003
No 12 Deli is at the geographical heart of Easton. It delivers well-made comforting food in a creative homely environment. No 12 Deli has a plethora of exciting locally produced products available to purchase at modest prices. Its interior is comforting and spacious with classy attention to detail.
@No12Easton
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“ I always have had a long term obsession with food, but I wanted to have my own food place. One day I was sat on the tube on my daily London commute and thought, I’m not doing this anymore. Setting up No.12 Deli has been great, bloody hard work at first but that was to be expected ” ---- Chris Williams
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“ I’m pretty obsessed with food; I plan lunch, I plan dinner, I’m always thinking about it! I think it is important knowing where your food has come from. Provenience and quality go hand in hand ” ---- Chris Williams
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The Urban Standard
Setting the Standard ---- The Urban Standard Words - Jim Howells Photography - Isabelle Rose Neill Illustration - Anna Povey
The Urban Standard 35 Gloucester Rd BS7 8AD Bristol 01179424341 info@theurbanstandard.co.uk
Located on the ever changing and ever growing Gloucester Road is the Urban Standard. Built in what used to be an old amusements arcade and, prior to that, an old tile shop; what stands their now is a sign that independence can thrive if it’s done right. The walls have been stripped away and the insides replaced with tables, chairs, a kitchen and a team of chefs and bar staff who are incredibly and refreshingly passionate about food and drink. But is it a bar? Is it a restaurant? They call themselves a bar, where people meet for informal drinks and food. At this standard of food they could call themselves a restaurant, but they don’t. A restaurant attracts a certain type of punter and a bar with great food seduces an entirely different clientele. Doing this they have landed themselves on a very pin-point place on an extremely hard to find line. While the food is elegantly prepared and served with care and respect of West Country ingredients there is a certain bearded barman who is quick with a joke and (and if laws still
Peckish
The Urban Standard
“ it’s a community establishment. It’s for friends, it’s for weary travelers, it’s for those new to Bristol ” permitted) to light up your smoke who has an unteachable trait that most bar staff lack, the love for getting loaded and great booze. Perhaps it seems unfair to call him a mere - ‘barman’ when he is in fact a mixologist. He is the professor, you are the subject, let him experiment on you. Anyone could rave about the Urban Standards eating and drinking for days, but that’s not the point. It is a community establishment. It’s for friends, it’s for weary travelers, it’s for those new to Bristol who foolishly or even courageously wandered to far up Stokes Croft looking for...somewhere. Whoever you are, where ever you are from there is one thing that ties everybody in the small-ish, narrow-ish beacon of hope together, and that is each other. It doesn’t have faceless staff, or demon chefs in their blazing inferno kitchens, it has people, people who are just like you and just like me.
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Cover illustration ---- Herbert Green