by Louis Hessey-Antell. Find Louis on Instagram here.
**Please note: Hotel du Vin Bristol invited Breaks and Bites in, and paid for our food and drink (except the bottle of red wine). This in no way impacted our opinion. We were not obliged to write a positive review, and Hotel du Vin Bristol didn’t see this review before publication.**
We arrive at this little Gallic treasure bang on 7.30 pm, and were seated in the corner away from the general populace (purely by chance, I might add). The menu reads like a swift tour through the classics; Crevettes Tigre Grillees to Soup a L’Oignon, Joue de Boeuf Bourguignonne to Tourte de Poisson, and Baba au Rhum to Camembert de Normande, and much more. A perfectly measured menu, and one that tantalises the taste buds, we are confident that no one is going home hungry tonight.
Literally translated as ‘hotel of wine’, Hotel du Vin Bristol certainly lives up to its name. Boasting Old and New World varieties, as well as a Bistro de Vin signature range, my good friend Dr Steve Pain certainly knows which libations to opt for: Viognier Les Iles Blanches and Bordeaux Superior Chateau Penin 2020, respectively.
After a couple of grateful slurps (picking up on plenty of vanilla, lemon, peach, and chocolate notes, to name just a few; and allowing the red to breathe for a few moments longer than the white), our starters arrive. Scallops in a substantial pastry-wrapped shell, swimming in an acidic, creamy sauce with a few smoked lardons for good measure, this is truly a timeless, age-old bistro staple done almost perfectly. I have to throw in ‘almost’ there, because these pearly bivalves are probably ten/twenty seconds over-cooked, but this isn’t a culinary crime. Delicious, though.
Show-stoppers turn up early sometimes, and tonight was one of those nights. Steve’s starter was, to put it bluntly, sheer brilliance in fungi form. Perfectly cooked, umami-rich mushrooms on grilled sourdough, with a meaty Madeira sauce, and finished off with crisp-fried shoestring onions. I hope this gastronomic collision of delights remains on this menu for as long as mushrooms grow natively in Europe. We knew this wasn’t going to be beaten, but that only guaranteed our interest in the rest of the meal.
It made no sense to switch wines at this point (I was saving my share of the red for dessert), but I still got a few sips in before the mains arrived. The beef bourgignon was for my guest, while I opted for the sea bass. A generous chunk of beef cheek, slowly braised in a deep, ever-reducing, purple bath, the only utensil needed to break this thing apart was a spoon. Buttery mash comes as standard, but our server recommended ordering some green beans, too. A wise move indeed. Slightly more elaborate was my main; sea bass, fennel, orange, olives, and a silky sauce to tie the whole thing together (to echo a certain Big Lebowski). All this needed was a portion of golden fries, and I was satisfied. The fish skin was even crunchier than the chips, and the variety of garnishes more than completed things.
Two courses down, with the finish line in sight (it’s always nice when you don’t have to pick dessert too early on), we both plump for substance over style: I, the Pot de Chocolat a l’Avocat, Steve, a Crème Brulee. The latter, a good old-fashioned custard, baked in a bain marie and then flamed with sugar, was satisfactorily soothing. Timing came into play again a little here, as the centre of the sweet crust was leaning towards black rather than mahogany; a minor matter of three or four seconds too long under the blowtorch, I suppose. The former: a dense cocoa-rich mousse (well, like a mousse, only denser) in a deep little ceramic vessel with a loose sprinkle of various healthy goodies on top, it was a pleasure to dig my way through this. The Bordeaux turned out to be an inspired match for the darkest chocolate notes, while the pistachios, pomegranate seeds, and various other berries delivered vivacity and vitamins.
Overall, excellent service, fabulous wine, solidly prepared quality ingredients, cooked with skill, and totally lacking any Parisian pretentiousness, Hotel du Vin Bristol is almost a must for almost any culinary completist. They have another restaurant at the Avon Gorge Hotel by the endlessly iconic Suspension Bridge, and various others around England.
Highly recommended.
8/10