Welcome to my first blog post of 2023, and my 11th year of writing this blog!
I always take January off as not much is going on, but February already has plenty of fun stuff to help you see out the last few weeks of winter.
** Note: I had to redo this blog post from scratch after it got wiped, so please take even more time reading + appreciating it so that my fits of rage and subsequent redoing of everything below is a bit more justified. Thankyoubye!
News
Congratulations to Bulrush, Casa, Cor and Wilson’s made it into the Top 100 Restaurants list from Squaremeal, very much deserved! Bristol also made it into the 150 Best Cities for Foodies Around the World, although at #115 and below a few other UK cities, so we have a bit of work to do!
This month sees the return of Bristol Light Festival (3 – 12 Feb) and many local bars and restaurants are doing special offers or events around it, as well as St Nick’s Market opening late on Saturday 4th and Saturday 11th so that you can get some tasty street food in between visiting the installations.
For the green-fingered among you, Bristol Seed Swap takes places at Trinity on Sunday 12th, and is free to attend.
Good news, cider lovers! Tickets are now on sale for the Cheese & Cider Festival at The Cider Box in St Phillips on Saturday 1st April.
Dining events
No sooner has Belly Laughs finished for the year, then Buskers Banquet comes along! These events are a great way to enjoy dinner + music in some of Bristol’s best food joints.
You can see the full winter line-up here, but some highlights (from my perspective) are the dinners at Magari at Glitch Studio (Sun 19th), Jafra at Kitchen by KASK (Wed 22nd) and Big Nath’s BBQ at Left Handed Giant’s tap room (Thu 23rd). All events are priced at £45pp and include a meal and an evening of live music.
Other dining events this month include:
- Charcuterie, cheese & wine evening (Wed 8th, £40)
- Vegan food and fine wine matching dinner (Fri 17th, £65)
- Grub Club at Cooking It (Sat 18th, £39)
- Yoga & Sunday Lunch (Sun 19th, £34)
Valentine’s Day
If you’re feeling schmaltzy, here are a few ways you can treat that special someone…
- 8-course tasting menu at The Square Club (£70pp)
- 3-course candelit dinner with live music at Clifton Observatory (£50pp)
- Cocktail tasting experience at The Wellhead (30pp)
- Rom Com + Pizza Night or 3-course dinner at Flourish
Socials + nights out
Here are a few suggestions for some other fun things to do this moth, I’d also suggest checking out Bristol Film Festival’s latest programme, as they’re doing some screenings in cool venues across Bristol, plus some wine-themed tastings at Averys Wine Cellars and The Mount Without.
- She Drinks Beer at The Good Measure (Tue 7th, free entry)
- Cider Bingo at the Cider Box Tap Room (Sat 11th, £5)
- BRIE-YONCÉ night at the Cider Box Tap Room (Fri 17th, £7)
- Whisky & Blues at The Milk Thistle (Thu 23rd, £30)
- Burning Sky tap takeover and meet the brewer at The Good Measure (Thu 23rd, free entry)
- Drag Brunch at Bambalan (Sat 25th, £30)
Classes, tastings + tours
Learn something new this month!
- Burgundy wine tasting at Cave (Tue 7th, £35)
- L’Amore: Sensory Chocolate Tasting at Psychopomp (Thu 9th, £35)
- Meet The Maker: John Grochau of GC Wines at KASK (Thu 9th, £35)
- Chocolate and wine with Averys & Zara’s Chocolates (Thu 9th, £35)
- Gin Lover’s Masterclass at Psychopomp (Fri 10th, £30)
- Syrian cookery class (Tue 14th, £35)
- Pescatarian Ghanian cookery class (Wed 15th, £35)
- Discover three vegan dishes cookery class (Wed 15th, £65)
- Cocktail tasting experience at The Wellhead (Tue 14th – Sun 19th, £30)
- BRIE-YONCÉ night at the Cider Box Tap Room (Fri 17th, £7)
- Gin Lover’s Masterclass at Psychopomp (Fri 17th, £30)
- Cider tasting tour (Sat 18th, £34)
- Campfire Sessions: Naked malt whisky tasting + live music at Harbour Hub (Mon 20th, £25)
- Burgundy wine tasting at Cave (Tue 21st, £35)
- Bordeaux, Rhone and South of France wine tasting (Wed 22nd, £30)
- Michelin star recipes cookery class (Fri 24th, £125)
- The Port Masterclass (Sat 25th, £40)
- Psychopomp Spring gin pre launch (Sat 25th, £12)
- Foraging walk for edible & medicinal plants (Sat 25th, £34)
- Cider tasting tour (Sat 25th, £34)
New places
We’ve already seen a few new openings in 2023, including The Bagel Place on the Triangle, Pastan vegan pasta joint on Prince Street, Nook cafe on North Street in Bedminster and Santiago’s cafe next to bus station.
Roam Wild Coffee have also upgraded their ickle coffee van to a cosy cafe on Whiteladies Road, in collaboration with the brilliant 404 Bakes.
Coming soon…
Keep a lookout on the street and on the socials, because you’ll soon see Flipside on Whiteladies Road reopening as ABOE, a restaurant from Sebastian Merry, who has been wowing folks with his food at Flipside and The Cloak and Dagger before that. One of the most exciting openings of the year I reckon!
It also looks like some other newbies are fairly imminent: Pizzucci and Vegan India on Gloucester Road, Toasted coffee shop on Queens Road, Izakaya on Apsley Road in Clifton, and Horus Lebanese grill in Bedminster.
A bit further down the line, you can expect New Bristol Brewery to open their newly-extended taproom later in Feb, MUSE Brasserie on Prince Street to finally open after a long refurb, and Japanese fusion restaurant Kaiseki is also opening soon in Cabot Circus.
You can also look forward to a series of food tours coming to the city and surrounding area, starting with Bristol Food Tour and a couple of other to follow…
That’s it for this month, you can see more food news by following A Life Less Organised on Facebook, see what I’m eating over on Instagram, or come say hi to me on Twitter.
See you in March!
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