I’m known for liking a chicken wing or three in my time. As well as a good rare steak. Or even a good charcuterie board. So when The Bristol Food Tour, who I’m a tour guide for, was looking to add a meaty tour to the range of tours on offer, I was the one to put my meaty knowledge to good use. Creating a route covering a range of meaty treats, I took a pack of fellow carnivores around Bristol on a drizzly Saturday tour.
Our hunt started at Hobgoblin, the renowned home of the Dirty, Dirty Fries. Don’t you just love our welcome sign!
The Dirty, Dirty Fries, was first created as an emergency hangover cure for the owner who got persuaded by the younger staff to attend a Drum and Bass evening as was rather worse for wear! Grabbing handfuls of cheese and fries to take away the pain. Having a small kitchen at the pub, low and slow pulled pork is the perfect dish for them to create. Seasoned Fries, House Smoked Pulled Pork, BBQ Sauce, Melted Cheddar Cheese, Stilton and Coriander Mayonnaise make up this beautiful ‘get well stuck in’ messy basket of grub.
Next up, is one of my favourite spots in Bristol, Flour + Ash. Home to the firm favourite, Ox Cheek and Red Wine Ragu with Bechamel Pizza. A base dough that has been fermented for 72 hours to give a robust sourdough flavour that comes through the rich toppings. Rich sticky tender ox cheek, nestled on a bed of creamy bechamel sauce. All the dreamy elements of a world classy lasagna on a pizza without a hint of being trashy. A regular on must eat lists in Bristol, not a pizza or meal to miss. Also, check out their homemade ice creams with flavours like Golden Syrup and Nutmeg and Bay to sample.
Tucked in The Pipe and Slippers Pub is a kitchen creating some of the tastiest burgers in Bristol, Smoke and Glaze. Of course, it’s not ok just to order only one of their creations, so we went for four of them! The Karaage, a Japanese Fried Chicken Burger with soy, ginger and lime marinated chicken thigh, pickled chilli, sriracha mayo and pomegranate hoisin. The Tribute, 1/4lb beef patty, smoked streaky bacon, American cheese, secret sauce, Cajun ketchup and onion rings. Best Steak Dinner, 1/4lb beef patty, topped with a rump minute steak, cheddar, bourbon cream sauce, spiced onion rings and Cajun ketchup. Chimi-Chimi- Ya, 1/4lb beef patty, cheddar, fried chorizo, chimichurri dressing, paprika mayo and Cajun ketchup. Now isn’t that a list of all things good in the world?
Further down Gloucester Road, is a Melbourne style cafe, Ceres, serving up some fantastic brunch dishes. Home of egg yolk porn, with the most orange and oozy egg yolks. We had mini plates of the Streaky Bacon, Poached Eggs, Charred Sourdough with Burnt Butter Hollandaise. Little plates of perfections! Head down for some of the prettiest pancakes around too!
Our next stop was a tad unusual, we met James, from Somerset Charcuterie on the street next to The Christmas Steps. Dedicated to producing traditionally made charcuterie with flavours of the West Country. James talked the tour-goers through the importance of the welfare of the animals, the care and time to produce award and the highest quality charcuterie. We sampled a selection of cured and fermented products. Including, Lonza, where the pork loin is cured in juniper, salt & telicherry pepper, with a lightly peppery flavour but buttery soft.
James also gave the tour-goers some walking salami’s! A red wine and Draycott Blue salami and a Spicy cider chorizo poker with vintage Cheddar, look how happy they are with them!
A stone’s throw away from The Christmas Steps is Asado. Named after a Spanish wood fire grill, giving the meat a deep smokey flavour. Of course, we couldn’t have a meat tour without any chicken wings! So we had two types! Oak Grilled Spicy Colombian Wings with Pickled Chillies and Coriander Dressing, and Sticky Spicy Crunchy Extract Coffee Espresso BBQ Sauce Wings. With fingers and faces covered in firey sauces with big grins on our faces, we made our way to our last stop.
Our final stop also included a drink on the side which always helps after all that meaty goodness. At Peta Negra, we were greeted with ice chilled fino sherry and wafers of buttery nutty Jamón Ibérico de Bellota, a 36 month cured ham of acorn-fed Ibérico breed pigs, with the driness of the sherry cutting through the buttery fat.
We all had a great day, despite the rubbish weather, all well full of the meaty delights the city had to offer. If you fancy coming on this or another of The Bristol Food Tour food tours, check out the website here.
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Bristol most certainly offer some of the best dining experiences!