I Love Bristol | Bulrush Restaurant Review

Bristol is a city full of really really good places to eat and I am so excited to share with you some old favourites and new discoveries while I am back in my hometown for an extended stay. We are starting this culinary tour at BULRUSH, a relatively new restaurant located in Kingsdown, which serves deliciously exotic and experimental food.

We kicked off with some Kir Royals - always - followed by some complimentary white onion soup with stout vinegar reduction, chargrilled onion dusting served with some beautifully soft bread. Free food is always such a bonus and a real sign that a restaurant wants to treat their customers and show them a good time. I would not normally order onion soup from a menu but I would certainly order this again and pay for it! It was super silky and flavoursome whilst not being too "oniony".

When it came to ordering food, it was seriously hard to choose a starter as so many of them sounded right up my street. After much deliberation, I went for the scallop rose ceviche with watercress puree, black sesame and rock samphire. Sounds fancy doesn't it? Well it certainly was. For my first mouthful I was not so sure that I liked it because I could taste some vinegar which, as I do more and more of these food posts you'll get to know that I hate, but after a couple more tries, I was completely sold. The dish was fresh with lots of different textures and flavours and just look how beautifully it is presented! Anything with flower petals gets a thumbs up from me!

My main course was another taste explosive in the form of pan fried hake with sweetcorn, cavolo nero, mussels and pickled girolles (don't worry, I was assured that they were not too "vinegary"). The hake was beautifully cooked and being not too strong, was the perfect fish to sit on a bed of such contrasting flavours and textures. The sweetcorn and grains were crunchy, the mussels were soft, the girolles were rubbery (if that is the best way to describe mushrooms!) and the hake just melted in the mouth. 

Right so we all got the same dessert - chocolate delice with parsnip sponge, parsnip mousse, honeycomb pieces topped with yogurt sorbet. Hang on, did I say parsnip? Twice? That's right and although you could taste the parsnip, thanks to the vegetable's natural sweetness it was the perfect partner to a gooey chocolate dessert. The yogurt sorbet brought the tangy and less sweet element while the honeycomb pieces were a welcome crunch to this otherwise soft dessert.

We finished off the meal with coffees, mint tea for me and some complimentary homemade peanut fudge and blackcurrant fruit pastilles - another lovely touch!

I would highly recommend Bulrush restaurant for any special occasion, birthday or celebration you have coming up - any excuse eh? I would say that it is slightly pricey but it is always nice to treat yourself once in a while and the food is so worth it!

BULRUSH RESTAURANT | 21 Cotham Road, Bristol, BS6 5TZ

Izzie x
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