CAU RESTAURANT IN BRISTOL - REVIEW

Posted on: 2015-03-03

Our rating:

CAU offers excellent food all round and its growing reputation for offering some of the best steaks in the city is well deserved. The staff were evidently passionate and enthusiastic about the food too and it's served in a lively, vibrant setting.



Operating a steak restaurant in a city that is almost already saturated with food fare dedicated to the most hardened carnivores is a risky business unless you have something really special to offer. As it happens, CAU on Queens Road emphatically does have its own unique twist in that the steak it serves up is grass-fed beef specially imported from the famous Pampas Plains in Argentina. 

The chain itself has been growing exponentially across the UK and the Bristol restaurant represents its sixth and the first one to serve food all day.  

When you first walk in it's a surreal mix of the spaced out and space age, a distinctively industrial space combining huge white banquettes, corrugated metal panelling, cotton wool cloud-style lampshades and images of blue skies and verdant lushness, while the huge central open-plan kitchen lets you see the chefs busying themselves with the influx of covers.  

It also bucks the trend of some of the more upmarket steakhouses in the city in that it is clearly aiming for a more family-oriented market, and when we dined there were several families enthusiastically chomping on the abundant plates of meaty deliciousness. 

I kicked off with the double whammy of Spanish chorizo and cream cheese and spinach, ricotta and date empanadas (£7) which were almost like mini Cornish pasties, the fillings hot, rich and flavoursome and oozing from the thin, light pastry with every bite. My partner's belly of pork tempura (£7.95) were melt-in-the-mouth chunks of meat, the tampura batter crisp, airy and peppery and the accompanying CAUchup spicy and intense. 

My partner and I head no hesitation opting for the 320g Rib-Eye (£18.95), cooked well done in the charcoal grill as we'd requested, and retaining its succulence, juiciness and flavour, while the triple-cooked chips were fabulously crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, the side orders of on-the-vine tomatoes (£3.25) deliciously sweet and squishy, the roasted portobello mushrooms in garlic (£2.95) richly sublime, the CAUslaw (£2.95) given the unexpected but effective twist of being  mixed with evaporated milk, and the peppercorn sauce (£1.95) infused with a real fieriness and kick.  

Pancakes with ice cream and thick caramel sauce (£5.50) for my other half and cornflake ice cream sundae (£5.95) for me actually proved to be a step too far, the desserts themselves sufficiently sweet enough to bring on a fit of diabetes, but the cumulative effect of the exceptionally generous portions meant we both had to surrender to ultimate and inevitable defeat. 

CAU offers excellent food all round and its growing reputation for offering some of the best steaks in the city is well deserved. The staff - who wear shirts with CAUboy and CAUgirl amusingly written on the back - were evidently passionate and enthusiastic about the food too, and the service was impeccably friendly, informative and attentive.

With its lively, vibrant setting in a well-placed Clifton location, CAU is the place to go if you're looking for a first-class steak. 

4.5/5

Reviewed by Jamie Caddick for 365Bristol - the leading events and entertainment website for Bristol



Article by:

James Anderson

Born and raised in the suburbs of Swansea, Jimmy moved to Bristol back in 2004 to attend university. Passionate about live music, sport, science and nature, he can usually be found walking his cocker spaniel Baxter at any number of green spots around the city. Call James on 078 9999 3534 or email Editor@365Bristol.com.