Restaurants / Reviews
The Bristologist
Sunday lunch at The Bristologist seems like an elaborate con.
‘Flipping Sundays’ means that your meal is free if you call correctly on the toss of a coin – a game that both I and my partner won after she called heads and I then called tails.
So it was one nut roast and one roast strip loin of beef worth a combined £25 coming our way for free. The table next to us then proceeded to win three coin tosses in a row.
is needed now More than ever
It’s well known that in gambling the house never loses, but in this case The Bristologist was well down.
The Bristologist is found on Corn Street within a former bank that was most recently the Vault Room. Although seemingly independent, this new bar and restaurant may very well still be part of the huge Mitchells & Butlers group. All part of the con, you see.
The roasts were both actually very good, with general manager Christian Abbott coming down the hill from Brace & Browns on Whiteladies Road where he was head chef and built up quite a reputation; the kitchen here headed up by Darren Farquharson who has previously worked with Abbott when he was behind the stoves.
The nut roast was sweet and unusually came in a putty, while the roast beef was well-cooked and generously carved. Both came with a Yorkshire pudding, the best kind of roast potatoes, golden and crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, roasted vegetables, and cheesy leeks.
And then the con continued as we ordered apple crumble and what arrived on two slates were two apples the size of large grapes, a sprinkling of crumbs and a smear of elderflower purée.
This was the real sleight of hand. The culmination of the con.
It looked like this and cost £6. Six pounds! For this price I was expecting a large bowl made up of the cooked contents of half an apple orchard not an entire pudding that could all fit onto one spoon.
Perhaps we would have got a proper dessert if we’d lost the coin toss. Was this our pay-back? Or was it a game to see if anyone was gullible enough to pay this price?
Cocktails can also be won on the flip of a coin. As long as you order one first.
But all these elaborate gimmicks just seem so unnecessary. The food alone here should be enough to ensure moderate success for The Bristologist.
The cons should be left to frequent the Crown Court just down the road.
The Bristologist, 47 Corn Street, Bristol, BS1 1HT
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