BREAKING BREAD: LOCO X RIPIENA

BREAKING BREAD: LOCO x RIPIENA It’s coming out of a tent, and it’s tasting just fine. . . Words by Deri Robins

“Even during pre-Covid days, it never took much to lure Bristol chefs out of their rosette-garlanded kitchens and into some rudimentary set-up under canvas”

I’m not sure whether it’s just a Bristol thing, but every chef tinged with excitement and greedy expectation. Tables are well spaced I know has the soul of a festival-goer. Even back in those out, staff wear visors, and there was nothing to spark post-lockdown halcyon, pre-Covid days, it never took much to lure them alarm apart from two small boys pulling on the guy ropes, causing mild out of their rosette-garlanded kitchens and into some anxiety to everyone other than, apparently, their parents. rudimentary set-up under canvas. Their idea of off-duty The Pony and Lo-Ri occupy neighbouring tipis, so you can peep fun was a mass cookout with fellow chefs in a yard; they through the potted plants and cast covetous, eye-narrowing glances always gave the impresssion of being just as happy chucking at whatever’s coming out of the other kitchen. Although everything steaks over an improvised firepit as a top-of-the-range we spotted on the Pony dishes made us want to book up pronto, it was Molteni rotissoire. Possibly happier. definitely more of an ‘as well as” rather than an “instead of ” scenario,

We weren’t too surprised, then, when in late July two of the most because Loco x Ripiena has a world-beating crowd-pleaser of a menu, renowned groups in the city announced a box-fresh new initiative: featuring many of the dishes that made Ben and Joe’s name. instead of reopening all their bricks-and-mortar restaurants, they’d take After a plate of impeccable cured meats, irreproachable olives and the whole cooking match up to Breaking Bread – a specially created the fluffiest of focaccias, we dug into our starters. A pair of red prawns, tipi village made up of two bars, the Pipe & Slippers and the Love Inn, such monstrous beasts that the dish struggled to contain them, came alongside the tastiest double-dining offering shell-on, doused with garlic and lemon – no imaginable: Josh Eggleton’s Michelin-starred Pony & Trap, and a collaboration between BREAKING BREAD: THE DETAILS frills, no fuss, simply cooked on the plancha, as very good prawns demand to be. Pasta Loco and its sister restaurant Pasta What? A socially distanced pop-up village housing a I hadn’t realised how much I’d missed Ripiena. number of the city’s most highly regarded restaurants, cafés Ripiena’s arancini until I stabbed a crisp For anyone who’s just arrived on the planet (in which case, bad luck), Loco is headed up and bars including The Pony & Trap, Pasta Loco x Pasta Ripiena, The Love Inn and The Pipe & Slippers golden ball and watched the silky melted formaggio ooze into a pool of San Marzano; by chef bros Joe and Ben Harvey, along with Where? The tipi village, Durdham Downs again, no need for fanciness, just really good first cousin Dom Borel, the absolute il don How much? Both Loco x Ripiena and The Pony and Trap olive oil and a sprinkling of fried sage leaves. of the front-of-house scene. They’re Bristol born and bred, but with family ties to Lake charge £47.50 for a set meal with three choices of starters, mains and puds; drinks extra. Payable in advance A mains of gnocchetti verde was almost soup-like, the little gnocchetti – not tiny Como, and have built a stellar reputation Booking: www.breakingbreadbristol.co.uk gnocchi, but a shell-like pasta – swimming for taking the best traditions of Italian in a densely seafood bisque, made with hospitality and adding their own innovative spin. We’ve dined at Loco, Cornish crab and topped with pangrattano. Your Man chose the we’ve dined at Ripiena, but a Loco x Ripiena collab was a first. Note linguini carbonara; a Loco legend, and rightly so: a slab of pork belly, that little x, by the way; we like using those, in Bristol. It makes us feel crisp, sticky and tender in all the right places, teamed with poached egg like street artists. If were in Manhattan we’d probably call it Lo-Ri; but wrapped in pancetta and (needless to say) freshly-made pasta. we’re not in New York, Toto. We’re up on the Downs. Encountering these familiar dishes felt like greeting an old friend, and

Bookings opened at the end of July, at a fixed price of £47.50, I was particularly pleased to be reunited with Ripiena’s pistachio panna payable in advance. August promptly sold out. With visions of Ben cotta. I love the delicacy and not-too-sweetness of this wobbly wonder, Harvey’s carbonara dancing in their heads, fans stormed the Breaking with its unctuous slosh of extra virgin olive oil. Bread website with the febrile determination normally reserved for Breaking Bread is currently booking until the end of September, but acquiring Glastonbury tickets. there are hopes to extend it into late autumn and winter,. And why not?

We managed to bag a slot at Lo-Ri on a Sunday at 3.15. Admittedly, As anyone who’s ever visited Yurt Lush knows, with the tent flaps down this is normally the point at which most chefs and diners are starting and the wood burners on, there’s no cosier setting than a tipi. to wind down and go home, but then what’s normal, these days? And Is Breaking Bread a clever temporary measure, or a reinvention of ayway, haven’t we all seen enough of our bloody homes? the hospitality wheel? Time will tell; this is the year for ripping up the

As we arrived, our names were ticked off a list at the gate. If it hadn’t rulebooks, after all. been for the temperature scan, we could have been checking in to an All we know is that sharing great food and drink with family and Eat Drink Bristol Fashion festival. We half-expected to be issued with friends, IR, actual L, as opposed to via the dispiriting littlr squares of a wrist band. The festival vibe is strong on the other side of the fence, Zoom, is one of life’s great pleasures; as long as you keep those tents up, too; the perimeter strung with fairy lights, the air filled with music lads, we are here for them. n