The Nook, Bristol - Food Review

Posted on: 2016-11-07

Our rating:

The Nook is a stunning change from its predecessor and easily worthy of the title of one of the best new pub-restaurant openings of the year. First class service and culinary wizardry that wouldn't be out of place in many of the best restaurants.


In the pub and restaurant industries there are impressive transformations and all-out, eye-popping metamorphoses - and The Nook on Commercial Road in Bristol unequivocally fits snugly into the latter category. 

 

Run by the same team behind The Doghouse on St Stephen's Street, the pub was, in its previous incarnation, known as The Velindra, that roguish den of alehouse inequity and lugubrious, shady haunt of some of the city's more, shall we say, intriguing and colourful characters. 

The Nook, Bristol - Food Review

The Nook opened in July this year and is well situated for a potentially roaring trade as it's just around the corner from the new General Hospital residential and retail development, and it's clear the new refurb and look is aiming to attract a more affluent kind of clientele.

 

The grey exterior might seem somewhat unassuming - although the the pub's name is impressively emblazoned on the wall in a graffiti-style font - but inside it's undergone the makeover to end all makeovers, laid with marvelous flagstone flooring, repainted with grey walls scattered with interesting photos of Bristol locales, and the furniture consisting of solid marble tables, high-backed wooden chairs, strip lights, enamel lamps and vintage ornaments. 

 

Contemporary, slick and stylish, its self-modeled steam punk theme is simultaneously slightly quirky, cool and casual. It's also planned to open a garden area and patio in the not-too-distant future.

The Nook, Bristol - Food Review - Goat's Cheese Tart

And though it's a pub, the fact as soon as you walk it's filled with tables adorned with neatly-placed cutlery, it's clear the emphasis now is on food. And what stunning food it is too. 

 

Breakfast is served from 8am throughout the week and roast dinners - already gaining considerable word of mouth and selling out weeks in advance - are plated up on Sundays. Bar snacks such as pork scratchings, house roasted nuts and Scotch eggs are also available. 

 

Drinks-wise, there's a good selection of white, red and rose wines, while cider fans can whet their whistles with Thatchers Gold and Thatchers Haze, and beer and lager fans can enjoy a pint of Peroni, Pilsner or Kozel. There's also an extensive range of cocktails. 

 

But to the actual gastronomy - which is truly worth writing home about.  The menu will change on a regular basis to take advantage of the quality, seasonal produce available at the time as well as adding some variation to what's being dished up to prevent it from becoming predictable and boring.

The Nook, Bristol - Food Review - Sirloin Steak

From the small plates contingent - effectively starters - my pork belly bites in a rich jus (£4.50) was an extremely generous dish of chunky, cubed, deliriously melt-in-the-mouth pieces of meat, full of flavour and macerated to perfection in a thickish, unctuously rich gravy-style jus. 

 

My mum's goat's cheese, caramelised onion tarte tatin (£5.50) was a pastry-encrusted disc of amuse-bouche perfection, all the flavour elements working in blissful synch with each other, the light pastry and pungent cheese counteracted by the sweet red onions. 

 

From the large plates section I immediately went for the sirloin steak with triple-cooked chips, sauteed mushroom, beef tomato and jug of peppercorn sauce (£18). It's often said you tell how competent a chef is in the kitchen by the way he cooks a steak - so judging from this The Nook has one of best chefs in the city. 

The Nook, Bristol - Food Review - Chicken Supreme

All served on a slate usually associated with Michelin star restaurants (admittedly somewhat tricky for the pouring of the peppercorn sauce), the steak arrived well done as requested yet was still effortless to cut and juicy and moist. The triple-cooked chips were faultlessly crunchy of outside and fluffy of in, the mushroom rich and flavoursome and the peppercorn sauce infused with a punchy, potent piquancy. 

 

My mum's chicken supreme with sage stuffing centre, sweet potato fondant and seasonal veg with a cream white wine chervil sauce (£15) was equally impressive of both visual aesthetics and outstanding taste.  Wrapped in thin, crispy parma ham, the chicken was succulent and moist, while the accompanying potato fondant and stunningly fresh vegetables created a dreamy marriage of flavours, particularly the silky richness of the creamed leeks. 

 

We both plumped for the sticky toffee pudding with toffee sauce and chantilly cream (£6), one of the best versions of the dessert we'd ever had; two chunks of slightly-warmed pudding - intense, rich, sweet but not cloyingly, excessively so - resting on a puddle of nicely contrasting sauce and cream flavour dynamics. The gastronomic masterpiece in three parts was gut-bustingly, epically complete. 

The Nook, Bristol - Food Review - Sticky Toffee Pudding

The Nook is a stunning change from its predecessor and easily worthy of the title of one of the best new pub-restaurant openings of the year. Manager Ricky Mahoney and chef Alex Cannon both clearly know their professions, respectively offering first-class, friendly service where nothing is too much trouble and skilled, culinary wizardry that wouldn't be out of place in many of the best restaurants in the country. 

 

This venue deserves to do well with a refurbishment that's warm, cool and effortlessly chic and, with any luck, the new retail units and flats popping up just around the corner will ensure the place is buzzing with thirsty, hungry patrons taking full advantage of the well-kept drinks and impeccable gastronomy now on offer. 

 

5/5

The Nook is located at Commercial Road, Bristol, BS1 6TG Tel: 0117 925 0750. Visit them on Facebook.



Article by:

Jamie Caddick

Jamie is a writer, blogger, journalist, critic, film fan, soundtrack nerd and all-round Bristolian good egg.  He loves the music of Philip Glass, the art of Salvador Dali, the writings of Charles Bukowksi and Hunter S Thompson, the irreverence of Harry Hill, and the timeless, straw-chomping exuberance of The Wurzels.  You can sometimes find him railing against a surging tide of passing cyclists, or gorging himself senseless on the Oriental delights of a Cosmos all-you-can-eat buffet.