The Volunteer Tavern - Bristol Food review
Posted on: 2016-09-23
Our rating:
The Volunteer Tavern is a tucked-away, truly outstanding little pub. Excellently sourced, first-class food - you'll want to keep returning again and again
When it comes to writing restaurant - and particularly pub - reviews, it could easily be argued that a cliche is one of the most oft-used and well-worn journalistic devices available in the writer's linguistic palette. But when you're covering a fantastic, tucked away, brilliantly one-off and idiosyncratic little boozer like The Volunteer Tavern in Bristol, 'a gem of a pub' is the only cliched cluster of words that seem utterly, inescapably, superlatively appropriate.
A stone's throw from Cabot Circus on New Street, The Volunteer Tavern is an independent bar and kitchen that swept the board to win CAMRA's Bristol and District branch Pub of the Year 2016 - and it's easy to see why.
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The building might date back to the 17th century but it now carries a thoroughly modern, quirky aesthetic and chilled out, friendly, buzzy vibe that readily appeals to, as my dad and I witnessed on a busy Thursday evening, an eclectically broad range of clientele, from bar-fly regulars to post-work-pint quaffers to branding manager executive types. One chap, pint confidently in hand, was even gliding through the pub at regular intervals on his roller-skates.
Run by Peter Gibbs - who also oversees the Hope and Anchor on Jacob's Wells Road - he's surrounded himself with ebulliently friendly, on-the-ball staff, which has clearly been part of the success in making it one of the most appealing and welcoming pubs in Bristol. That and, of course, Treacle, the pub's friendly, tail-wagging canine incumbent - well-known and much-loved by many of the regulars that were there when I visited - who's always on the look-out for some tasty left-overs. (The last mouthful of my delicious burger ended up in Treacle's waiting, salivating maw, so helpless was I to resist those cute, anticipatory eyes.)
The pub itself is a comforting fusion of old feel and new style, traditional and rustic but upbeat and modern, replete with chunky farmhouse wooden tables, spindle back chairs, and a plethora of photos, art work, and beer clips adorning the walls.
Menu-wise, it's pretty comprehensive and covers all the classic pub grub staples including starters such as soup of the day and pan-fried goats cheese, mains such as sausage and mash and rump steak, a sharing mezze platter, homemade burgers and sandwiches. There's an impressive selection of real ales (regularly rotating from local micro breweries) and ciders too, making it the perfect pit-stop for a quality pint and some excellent, well-prepared and cooked grub.
Which brings me to the starter both my dad and I went for - the soup of the day (£4.50), which happened to be leek and potato. Just the kind of soup I love, made of a perfectly rich, thickish consistency and packed with sublime flavour and a nicely peppery punch, accompanied by two hefty doorstop chunks of white bread and a pot of easily-spreadable butter.
My 6oz original beef burger (£9.50) was a burger highlight of the year; homemade, hand-pressed and cooked sufficiently to make it melt-in-the-mouth tender whilst delivering a meaty flavoursome powerhouse sucker-punch, slipped between a toasted white bun and topped with a gherkin along with some truly worth-writing-home-for skin-on chips that elevated the meal to whole new level of burger-liciousness.
Dad went for the guest ale beer battered fish with chips, garden peas and freshly made tartare sauce (£10.95); the golden, crispy outer coating of beer batter cracking open with a tap of the fork to unleash the pearly white, exquisitely creamy chunky flakes of sensational fish, accompanied by those incredible skin-on, hand-cut chips and a blissfully creamy, chunky tartare sauce.
The pub also runs themed nights throughout the week including a curry and a pint for a fiver on Mondays and Tandem Tuesdays 2-4-1 homemade burgers.
Their Sunday roasts - served between 12 noon and 8pm - have got the city's foodies masticating and reputation fervently building to the point they've become the stuff of local legend, covering gluten free, vegan, and free range meat options, while the Holy Trinity (slow-cooked belly pork in cider, lemon thyme chicken and rare-roasted corner-cut beef topside) has entered the pantheon of Herculean, unmissably amazing roasts in the city. You can wash it all down with a few pints and hang around for the live music that strikes up later, too.
The Volunteer Tavern is a tucked-away, truly outstanding little pub - an oasis in the desert and a much-needed, thirst-quenching detour for those exasperated with excessive Cabot Circus-based consumerism - and one that, once you find it and immerse yourself in its gloriously well-kept libations and delicious, excellently sourced, first-class food, you'll want to keep returning again and again. I know for a fact I certainly will.
5/5
Reviewed by 365Bristol.com - The leading events and entertainment website in the city.
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