Bella Vista, Italian Restaurant, Victoria Street, Bristol

01/05/2014 - Bella Vista - Restaurant Review

Being the son of Italian immigrants I can freely admit I am totally addicted to Italian food. Barely a week will go by without pizza and if I don't eat pasta at least twice a week I start to get agitated! But there are two good reason for this addiction, 1) Italian food boasts great flavours and versatility, and 2) the calibre of Italian restaurants in Bristol is startlingly high.

Bella Vista's lunchtime offer is worth the money

 Bella Vista is the newest restaurant spot to open on Victoria Street, which is incidentally the area where I work. Sat on a corner of Bristol Bridge, with a "bella vista" over the river and Castle Park, this restaurant was ideally located for a spot of lunch and I couldn't wait to try it.

A colleague of mine was having a leaving lunch so I made sure I was in charge of booking the venue, and surprise surprise come 1pm on Thursday six of us were sat around a table in the middle of the restaurant. The place was humming with the murmurs of the other diners and was refreshingly light and airy with windows stretching the length of the riverside wall.

The menu boasted lots of traditional Italian fare including pizzas, pastas and salads. The lunch time menu was a reasonable £7.95 and included a trip to the salad bar and a main as listed. The salad bar was surprisingly good, none of the cheap nasty "salads" one has come to expect from salad bars. I filled my plate with shredded creamy mozzarella, soft and warm bread sticks, freshly baked garlic pizza bread, deliciously tangy coleslaw, garlic mushrooms and a few slices of tomato and cucumber.

For main I opted for Lasagne, a top tip from me is don't order pasta in a restaurant you don't know well enough to trust, it is usually overcooked and soggy ( a HUGE gripe of mine) but as it was lunchtime I didn't feel I could conquer a pizza! I was pleasantly surprised when this turned up at my table:

The ragu sauce was vivid red and looked amazing against the melted cheese that was dripping teasingly from the sides of the pasta sheets. Thankfully I was proven wrong and the pasta wasn't over cooked or soggy, each forkful retained its form and you could really taste the texture of the pasta against the sauce and cheese. 

There were two points worth raising, firstly, it was slightly cool in the middle. I appreciate that you don't just zap a slice of lasagne in the microwave but have to heat it in an oven, perhaps it came out 5 minutes too soon. 

Secondly, the cheese. So much cheese that I struggled with it towards the end, next time it would be nice to see a slightly more balanced plate. Nevertheless I thoroughly I enjoyed it.

The Food Warren

06/02/2014 - The Food Warren

It has been almost a year since my previous/first post, which is atrocious I know but life has been hectic! My passion for food remains intact however so I decided to kick-start this blog again. First on the list for 2014 is The Food Warren, a quaint takeaway cart located on the end of Victoria Street which is conveniently a stones throw from my office.

From The Food Warren Facebook Page

The food here changes on a weekly cycle and I have a range of favourites:

Greek Beans - A warming stew-esque production. Beans, herbs and a feta cheese base served hot. Tangy and delicious. 

Sausage Hotpot - What it says on the tin but served with great quality sausages that pack a bunch of flavour and the hearty tomato sauce is always perfectly seasoned. 

Scotch Eggs - Wednesday is scotch egg day. Hard boiled eggs hand wrapped in homemade sausage meat and crisped up in a pan. Best to buy early on whilst they're nice and warm!

My review today however is about a dish which blew all of their other dishes out of the water - and that's no easy feat! Slow Cooked Beef and Coconut Curry with Rice:

Giant portion of the best curry in town

The curry was absolutely brilliant, it really blew me away, I literally spent 60 seconds just absorbing the smell - whilst receiving comments from about 15 people about how great it smelt. The coconut flavour was well balanced against the backdrop of spices and the beef was tender and flavoursome. I had a pleasant surprise in the form of chunks of potato which melted in the mouth yet retained enough bite not to distort the texture of the curry. The rice, as has come to be expected of the Food Warren, was well cooked and plentiful.

The scores on the doors:

Food: 10/10

Great from the moment I pulled it out of the bag, a heavenly smell followed by a satisfying, well put together and delicious curry.

Atmosphere: n/a

Not a restaurant per-se but the cart is nicely presented and clean.

Service: 10/10

Rob and Claire, a brother and sister team who run The Food Warren, are sure to make you feel welcome and offer some helpful hints if you're unsure on what to have on the day.

Value for Money: 9/10

At £4 for a meat dish this isn't the cheapest lunch-time offering on the high street but the quality of the food is without a doubt superior to other offerings of a similar nature.

So if you're in the area (and it's by Temple Meads train station so you should make the effort if you're nearby) and looking for a hearty and tasty lunch then try The Food Warren. You won't be disappointed.

Over and out
- the EnFoodiast