Restaurants / Reviews
Sky Kong Kong
Tucked between the Bearpit and the bus station is one of the most exciting new restaurant openings in Bristol this year.
It’s been quite a journey to her new professional home on Haymarket Walk for Korean chef Hwi Shim (Wizzy to her friends) who has moved to Bristol after working in Michelin-starred restaurants in London including Nobu and Hakkasan.
Having attracted national attention with her eponymous restaurant in the capital serving modern Korean food, Wizzy’s new venture Sky Kong Kong showcases the talents of a chef who is no longer willing to be pigeonholed with just one national cuisine.
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Lunch each day is a single option, with many of the vegetables grown in Wizzy’s own allotment.
When I visited on Friday lunchtime, it was a day for sushi, with the dinner menu a Korean-style barbecue of pork belly and chargrilled pork rib.
Earlier in the week there had been a Spanish theme with paella and tortilla. Who knows what this innovative chef will offer in the future?
Sky Kong Kong’s decor is as unassuming as its location.
It has a homely, farmhouse-style feel with a selection of hats on one wall (one of which was being sported by the waitress) and strawberry jam and sake fermenting in jars on top of a bookshelf packed with weighty cookery tomes.
The seating options are one of two communal thick wooden tables, with Wizzy cooking at the far end of this former pie shop behind a curtain made from bamboo.
Bento boxes were being prepared for takeaway customers, but I decided to sit in with all the food presented on a large leaf, splashes of colour decorating the plate.
Sashimi was a Korean take on the Peruvian classic, with slivers of raw fish marinated in fruit and served in a fiery dressing, with some of the sushi also packing quite a punch thanks to wasabi so strong that it made my eyes water.
The rest of the sushi was very good, with delicate flavours expertly cooked and the whole thing costing a ludicrously good value £3.
The location and decor of Sky Kong Kong may be unassuming but its food is most certainly not. There is nothing else anything like Sky Kong Kong anywhere in Bristol.
Whether this unique concept will work, only time will tell. But Wizzy at least deserves to be applauded for trying something so refreshingly new.
You might not know what you’re going to eat when you visit, but you’re sure to eat very well indeed.
Sky Kong Kong, Unit 2 Haymarket Walk, Bristol, BS1 3LN
07804 688913
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