Sticks & Broth - Food Review
Posted on: 2015-08-25
Our rating:
Sublime, magnificent and delicious are adjectives which don't even cover the half of it - this was a dish packed with complimenting, rich, almost hoi sin flavours, fusing the succulent moistness of the chicken with satisfying crunch.
Sticks & Broth on Baldwin Street in Bristol has done for ramen (a Japanese noodle soup dish) and yakitori (grilled, skewered chicken) what Grillstock has done for dude food.
It's a joint venture between the owners of the Thai Kitchen, which was previously part of the Old Fish Market, and pan-Asian sandwich shop BaoWow, just a stone's throw down the road. It's therefore in more than capable hands and immediately has the feel of the kind of lively, peppy street food joint you'd find in Soho.
The decor is vibrant, cool and funky with monochrome walls, a reclaimed wood bar, and corrugated iron panels that are actually a remnant from its previous Guerrilla Burger incarnation. There are also a few large-scale Japanese paintings, which nod to its food and cultural origins and further add to its laid-back, buzzy aesthetic.
For the throngs of office workers in the city centre, Sticks & Broth offer a great lunchtime meal deal, Tokyo Express, for £6.50 from 12pm to 4pm Monday to Friday. It's also open late on a Friday and Saurday night which makes it the perfect place tuck into some superb noodle and rice dishes to soak up an evening of hearty imbibing.
The menu is relatively succinct, offering a selection of small bites such as prawn tempura and Bang Bang Chicken which are ideal as a starter. My partner and I went for the pork dumplings with a dish of soy and black vinegar (£6), which possessed the perfect dumpling texture of soft and slightly sticky, while the pork was tender, tasty and excellently seasoned, and the accompanying sauce was pungent and deliciously piquant.
Our appetites truly whetted, I opted for the teriyaki chicken don (£12) - a huge bowl with a massive base of impeccably cooked Japanese steamed rice and topped with colossal slices of grilled chicken and mixed with mushrooms, beansprouts, spring onions and sesame seeds. Sublime, magnificent and delicious are adjectives which don't even cover the half of it - this was a dish packed with complimenting, rich, almost hoi sin flavours, fusing the succulent moistness of the chicken with the satisfying crunch of the beansprouts and spring onions.
My partner's House Ramen (£13) was an equally awesome fusion of hedonistically indulgent, melt-in-the-mouth beef brisket, mixed with rocket, grilled corn and sesame, all swimming in a wonderfully - but not excessively - salty pork bone broth. It was slightly messy, totally decadent eating that resulted in her (and for that matter, my) top being liberally decorated with splashes of broth.
Washed down with a bottle of Fentiman's delicious root beer, liquorice-invoking dandelion and burdock (remember that?) for me and fragant, perfumed rose lemonade for the other half, it was a triumphant liquid finish to extremely generous, belt-loosening portions of food.
Sticks & Broth is a chilled out, uber-cool restaurant where the food is served promptly and with a smile. Serving up taste-tastic, authentic, spot-on Japanese cuisine, it undoubtedly deserves to do well feeding the city's enthusiastic culinary adventurers.
4.5/5
Reviewed by Jamie Caddick for 365Bristol - the leading events and entertainment website for Bristol
Tags: Food, Restaurant, Asian, Japanese, Noodles, Ramen, City Centre, Baldwin Street, Good Food Awards. Reviewed on 25 August 2015.
Article by:
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.
