After a couple of months off, the monthly guides are back! So now you can go back to planning where you’ll quaff and scoff over the coming weeks, with lots of new places to check out too!

If you like these monthly guides, you can set up a subscription or get me a coffee to say cheers if you like! Let me know what you’re planning on doing over on Instagram.

News

Congratulations to the Bristol restaurants named in SquareMeal’s Top 100 UK Restaurants 2026 – the number one spot went to the amazing Wilsons in Redland (if you haven’t been, please rectify that asap, you can get the lunch set menu for under £40), with Dongnae, OTHER and Lapin also making the top 100.

Four Bristol cafes have also made it onto a list of the best in the country by Timeout – Dareshack in the city centre, Greytone in St Paul’s, Sweven in Bedminster, and Wogan in St Jude’s.

Thinking ahead to festival season, presale tickets are now on sale for Feast On in July, early bird tickets are on sale for Bristol Craft Beer Festival in June, and Valley Fest has just dropped their music lineup, which you can enjoyed alongside the usual cookery demo and feasts in Chew Valley.

Valentine’s Day

If you’re looking for something to do on 14th Feb, here are a few ideas…

• Valentine’s Dinner at the Drive In at Flourish (Thu 12th, £44 for dinner and a film)
• 3-course Valentine’s Dinner with live jazz at Clifton Observatory (Sat 14th, £65pp)
• 5-course Valentine’s menu with Champagne at Second Floor Restaurant (Sat 14th, £60)
• Chocolate heart moulding at Zara’s Chocolates (Sat 14th, £55)
• Chocolate & wine tasting at Le Vignoble (Sat 14th, £35)
• Valentine’s set menu at Bomba Tapas (Sat 14th, £35)
• Valentine’s set menu at Renato’s (Sat 14th, £60)
• Tapas cookery class for couples at Cooking It! (Sat 14th)
• Valentine’s 4-course menu at The Baffled King (Sat 14th, £40)
• Valentines Dinner in the Dark Special (Sun 15th, £44.95)

Dinners

Treat yourself to a special meal this month…

• Mon 23rd – Dinnema Club presents The Godfather at Bruhaha, £40
• Thu 26th – Nyetimber Wine Dinner at The Clifton Sausage, £85
• Thu 26th – Chinese New Year banquet at Wongs, £53
• Sat 28th – The Fondue Night at Second Floor Restaurant, £50

Tours, tastings & workshops

Try something new or learn some new facts to impress your pals..

• Thu 5th – Whisky lovers masterclass at Circumstance, £30
• Fri 6th – Whisky & Beer at Spirited, £20
• Fri 6th – Gin lovers masterclass at Psychopomp, £30
• Sat 7th – Old City food & drink tour, £63.50
• Mon 9th – Persian Cuisine Cookery Class at Cooking It!, £85
• Tue 10th – Charcuterie, cheese and wine at The Scrandit, £45
• Wed 11th – Stout & Stout Casks: Beer and whisky at Spirited, £30
• Thu 12th – Why are all pub winelists the same? at KASK2, £35
• Wed 11th – Wine pairing & chocolate truffle rolling at Carouse, £45
• Sat 14th – Wapping Wharf street food tour, £35
• Tue 17th – Make your own sauce at Wiper & True taproom, £25
• Wed 18th – Whisky tasting with Michter’s, £25
• Thu 19th – Cheese & wine tasting at Averys, £37.50
• Tue 24th – Thai cookery class at Cooking It!, £85
• Wed 25th – Bubbles and dogs at Le Vignoble, £35
• Wed 25th – Founding a distillery: Whisky tasting with Retribution, £25
• Thu 26th – Wine and cheese tasting at KASK2, £35
• Sat 28th – Introduction to wine with lunch at The Kensington Arms, £125
• Sat 28th – Introduction to Japanese whisky at Spirited, £35

New openings

As you can imagine, there are a lot of newbies since November!

On Stokes Croft, recently opened are a new bottle shop as part of the Carmen Street wine bar, a new Pinkmans cafe, Plantuguese – the UK’s first 100% vegan Portuguese restaurant, and Last Chance Saloon. Coming soon to this corner of Bristol are the brilliant Brother Thai, going into the Carriageworks building, and nearby on Cheltenham Road, La Totti will be opening an Italian cafe.

Over on Chandos Road there are two new places to try – MEY.ZE Turkish meze restaurant, and Barroux wine bar. On St Michaels Hill, Psychopomp are soon reopening their gin bar, and Je Jean’s will be a new Thai takeaway and restaurant.

Other recent additions to the city include Colombian Coffee Co on North St, Unwins Brewery taproom in the Dings, and Same Again cocktail bar in Finzels Reach.

A couple of venues have also seen a bit of change, with Aqua on Welshback getting a refurb, and Bristol Beer Factory taking over The Pump House in the harbour.

A few more coming soon:

• Molto Buono – a second restaurant for the popular Italian restaurant in Clifton Village
• Pizza Pilgrims – opening in the former Stanfords shop on Corn Street
• Yakiniku – Japanese BBQ on Park Street from the same team as Izakaya
• Two Ways Cafe – a second branch for the Italian-Turkish cafe on Bond Street
• Full Court Press – a new roastery cafe
• Sake Bristol – a Japanese restaurant in a TBC location

That’s it for this month, you can see what I’m eating on Instagram, or see the latest local food news by following A Life Less Organised on Facebook.

If you found this or any of the other guides useful, you can set up a subscription or shout me a coffee to say cheers if you like.

If you like this, you’ll also like:

• The Bristol foodie gift guide
• The best brunches in Bristol
• Food & drink offers (set menus, bottomless brunch and more)
• Country pubs near Bristol