Reviews

Yurt Lush - Sunday Roast Review in Bristol

Posted on: 2015-07-16

Initially conceived as a pop-up, Yurt Lush has proven so successful it has now firmly taken root as a permanent residence at Creative Common. And with the quality of the culinary masterworks being served up here, it's easy to see why.

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Normally if you're going to head out for a traditional Sunday roast then you'd consider doing it in the usual, traditional way - head to your nearest or favourite pub serving up a plate of mouthwatering meat and veg. Trust Bristol to think outside the box, however, with the quirky and rather wonderful Yurt Lush at Creative Common behind Temple Meads railway station, which is serving up one of the most estimable roast dinners I've eaten in a long time.

 

 

It's certainly an unconventional and idiosyncratic venue for a British dish that was voted the nation's favourite in a recent Hairy Bikers' poll, made up as it does of three linked together Mongolian yurts. The restaurant can seat around 60 people, has a bar and is furnished with bench seating, wooden floors and a couple of huge skylights which give it a comfortably light, airy feel. There's also a neat decked alfresco dining area outside which is always popular with diners and drinkers when the sun decides to shine. 

The menus take in brunch, lunch and Sunday lunch and were created by Josh Eggleton, the Michelin-starred chef of the magnificent rural pub and eatery The Pony and Trap in Chew Magna, alongside Head Chef Aidan Dunford. The menus have been devised using only the highest quality, sustainably sourced and seasonal ingredients as well as organically reared meat and veg from their farms in Chew Valley.

Initially conceived as a pop-up, Yurt Lush has proven so successful it has now firmly taken root as a permanent residence at Creative Common. And with the quality of the culinary masterworks being served up here, it's easy to see why. 

 

 

We'd popped in to sample their Sunday roast but, thanks to some food left over from a wedding held there the night before, we were also treated to an unexpected starter platter consisting of rustic baba ganoush with toasted pine nuts and sesame, smoked mackerel and dill pate on sour dough, and scallops wrapped in pancetta. It was a divine mix of flavours and textures, the highlight being the consummately cooked, moist scallop enshrouded in the salty, flavoursome pancetta. 

From the roast dinner menu you can choose from beef and belly of pork served with roast potatoes, seasonal veg and a Yorkshire pudding the size of, well, Yorkshire (£12.50). My partner and I both opted for the belly of pork which transpired to be perhaps the most sensational and exquisite I've ever eaten - thick, deep slabs of melt-in-the-mouth pork topped with an incredible lid of salty, crunchy, golden crackling. The roasters were crispy of the outside, fluffy inside, the veg faultless and the Yorkshire, though a little denser than I normally like, still a batter-based winner. An accompanying dish of cauli-cheese was creamy, subtly pungent and tasty, while there was a nicely generous ladling of thick, dark and rich gravy.

 

 

Apple and mixed berry crumble with a runny, vanilla-flecked custard (shared between the two of us) was almost too much to manage after the satisfyingly gargantuan main course, and I had to resort to an essential loosen-your-belt-or-physically-explode self-adjustment as I lumbered bloatedly outside. 

Yurt Lush is a fantastic, idiosyncratic venue in the heart of the city, brimming with quirky charm and effusing a laid-back, unpretentious vibe where the staff are convivial and efficient and the Sunday roast is a full-on, no-holds barred towering representation of precisely what the nation's favourite dish should be. Truly sublime. 

5/5

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

Visit the Yurt Lush website, Facebook or Twitter for more info.

Yurt Lush is located at: Creative Common, Isambard Walk, Temple Quay, Bristol BS1 6DG.

 

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