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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Paris Restaurant Review: Lucky Luciano

Lucky Luciano - 1 Cour des Petites Ecuries, 75010, Paris

Whilst I was in Paris last weekend for Paris Fashion Week, I could not resist going to one of my favourite pizzerias in the city – Lucky Luciano. I spent a lovely evening amongst friends eating and drinking to our heart’s desire.

Tucked away in Cour des Petites Ecuries, a little haven off the busy and gritty rue du Faubourg Saint Dennis, Lucky Luciano offers delicious pizzas in a warm and hip ambiance. It is certainly considered as one of the best places to have pizza in Paris – whenever you tell locals that you have been or are going to Lucky Luciano, they will make a ‘mmmm’ sound and say something like “c’est super bon là-bas”.

As always, I chose the ever popular Bufala pizza which is topped with melted mozzarella, raw buffalo mozzarella, rocket and cherry tomatoes. It is one of my favourite pizzas because it feels fresh and healthy (as healthy as a pizza can be) thanks to the raw ingredients. Of course, for those of you that don’t fancy a healthy feeling pizza, all the usual suspects are available from four cheese to vegetarian and meat, plus they also do special ‘sweet’ pizzas with toppings like goats cheese and honey.

I would definitely recommend checking out Lucky Luciano when you are next in Paris and are just looking for a crowd pleasing pizza. The prices are decent, the atmosphere is down to earth and who knows, you may even get a glimpse of the restaurant’s resident cat! Unfortunately for me, this time we did not.

Pendant que j’étais à Paris le weekend dernier pour Fashion Week, je ne pouvais pas résister aller à un de mes pizzerias préférés dans la ville – Lucky Luciano. J’ai passé une super soirée avec des amis geniaux autour de la bonne bouffe et du bon vin.

Lucky Luciano se situe au Cour des Petites Ecuries, un passage calme à côté de la rue du Faubourg Saint Dennis, et il nous offre des pizzas délicieux dans une ambiance chaude et hip. C’est sûr qu’on regarde Lucky Luciano comme un des meilleurs endroits pour manger du pizza. Dès que vous dites aux parisiens que vous venez d’y manger ou vous allez manger à Lucky Luciano, ils feront un son comme ‘miammmm’ et diront quelque chose genre ‘c’est trop bon là-bas’.

Comme d’habitude, j’ai choisi le pizza Bufala qui est recouvrit de la mozzarella fondue et crue, de la roquette et des tomates cerises. Il est un de mes pizzas favoris parce qu’il se sent frais et sain (si un pizza peut être sain) grâce aux ingrédients crus. Je vous assure que pour ceux qui ne veulent pas un pizza ‘sain’, il y a tous les pizzas typiques comme quatre fromages, vegetarien et de la viande. En plus, ils font les pizzas sucrés avec des garnitures comme du fromage de chèvre et du miel.  

Je vous conseille fortement d’aller chez Lucky Luciano la prochaine fois que vous etes sur Paris et vous cherchez un restaurant qui plaira à tout le monde. Les prix sont bien, l’ambiance est tranquille et peut-être vous aurez de la chance et vous verrez le petit chat qui habite au restaurant ! Malheureusement, nous ne l’avons pas vu.

Izzie x

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Flax & Kale Restaurant Review

Flax & Kale - Carrer Tallers 74B, Plaça Castella, Barcelona

When walking into super cool restaurant FLAX & KALE in Barcelona's edgy Raval area, you are greeted by an entire wall filled with colourful juices and a fridge containing lots of veggies, you know that you are going to eat well and healthily here. And that we did. For Barcelona, Flax & Kale is quite pricey but you are getting good and well prepared food and, if i couldn't treat myself on my birthday, when the hell could I?!

Flax & Kale is a healthy flexitarian restaurant developed by chef TERESA CARLES in addition to the vegetarian restaurant named after her (where we have also been) and TERESA'S JUICERY. 'What does flexitarian mean?' I hear you ask. Well it is flexible vegetarianism - following a vegetarian diet most of the time but occasionally eating some ethically sourced meat or fish. In fact, Flax & Kale does not serve meat but the menu does let you know with a handy icon which dishes contain oily fish and which are plant based, raw and gluten free. 

We started with a nibble on some of their kale chips - we thought it would be rude not to seeing as the restaurant is partly named after this vegetable, which claims to be perhaps the healthiest thing you can eat. They were completely not what I expected when we ordered them, they were so much better. The leaves of kale seemed to have been covered in garlic and some kind of cheese and then baked or fried. They were delicious, crispy and not like anything I have had before - in a good way of course!

For my main course, I chose Salmon Fishing In Algerri because living with a strict veggie, I rarely eat fish. The salmon was perfectly cooked with rosemary and was served on a bed of quinoa salad, which was quite sweet. Normally, I do not like mixing sweet with savoury but this quinoa dish went amazingly with the salmon. 

Lewis chose Green Power Ravioli, which is like a fancy take on the classic spinach and ricotta ravioli but this also contained tofu and cashews and came with amazing chunks of baked aubergine and a lovely green sauce. Of course I tried some and it was delicious. I was almost tempted by their other ravioli dish (Orange Is The New Healthy Cuore) which is spelt and tumeric ravioli stuffed with sweet potato, carrots and other yummy goodness. Next time eh?

We ummed and arred about having dessert and, well, unfortunately it was a bit disappointing. I think we just made the wrong choice with the Two Textures Choco Cake whose description on the menu was slightly confusing. It says the cake comes with Teresa's juicery miss avena avellana merengada cream, which we thought meant a thick cream with the taste of a Teresa juice but in fact the cake was swimming in a creamy juice. That aside, the brownie and mousse combo was lovely and the strawberry sorbet was exquisite.

I would highly recommend Flax & Kale to everyone - whether you are vegetarian or a full blown meat eater, I am sure you will love it. Next time I want to take myself out of my comfort zone and try one of the raw dishes, such as the Raw Vegan Lasagna, because they sound really interesting! Also, whilst writing this post and browsing their other menus, I got myself all excited about going for brunch there soon - their brunch menu looks insane!

Izzie x

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Restaurant Review: Chilango

Chilango - 82 rue de la Folie-Mericourt, 75011 Paris

Last night, Lewis and I went to Chilango for a lovely mexican meal with some friends. It was a very relaxed atmosphere with a 'order when you like and share with your friends' attitude, which is one of my favourite ways to dine. We started off with some homemade tortilla chips and guacamole, which was delicious. Love a good guac. And I had a (couple of) Jamaicón cocktail, which had a great original taste being made from hibiscus flower, ginger, lime and tequiiiiillaaaaa! 

Then came the tacos, which were really yummy. Again we shared and tried different ones, well as much as three vegetarians and three meat eaters can try and share food. I tasted three different kinds - grilled cheese and mushrooms; refried beans and soft cheese; and tuna and lime. I can't say which was my favourite as they were all delicious! I'm looking forward to going back to Chilango to try their quesadillas…and probably more tacos!

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Hier soir, Lewis et moi sommes allés dîner avec des potes chez Chilango, un restaurant mexicain. Il y avait une ambiance très détendue avec une attitude de 'commander quand vous voulez et partager des des amis', ce que j'aime bien. On a commencé en partageant des chips et du guacamole, qui étaient délicieux. Et j'ai bu un (ou deux!) du cocktail Jamaicón qui a un goût très original vue qu'il est fait du fleur d'hibiscus, du citron vert, du gingembre et du tequiiiilllaaa!

Puis, on a mangé des tacos - miam! Bien sûr, on a partagé et on a essayé des tacos différents, bah autant que trois végétariens et trois non-vegetariens peuvent partager et essayer de la bouffe. J'ai goûté trois tacos différents - du fromage grillé et des champignons; des haricots frits et du fromage; et du thon au citron vert. Je ne peux pas choisir mon préféré parce qu'ils étaient tous délicieux! J'ai hâte d'y aller encore pour essayer leurs quesadillas…et probablement encore de tacos!

Izzie x

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