Pubs and Bars / Reviews
The Boardroom – bar review
If any road in Bristol has seen a renewed lease of life in the last year or so, it’s St Nicholas Street in the Old City. Joining a new bakery, off license and florist is a pop-up cheese shop open until Christmas Eve.
The latest new opening here is The Boardroom, a bar and restaurant in what used to be The Elephant pub.
A plaque near the front door proudly announces this was opened by Lord Mayor Clare Campion-Smith, who on launch night was bizarrely joined by two special guests bused in from Liverpool, Mark Byron and Amanda Harrington.
Me @MissAHarrington and the Lord Mayor of Bristol at the wonderful launch of @theboardroom1 Beautiful Bristol! pic.twitter.com/vP0sC26heV
— Mark Byron (@MrMarkByron) December 10, 2015
Heard of them? No? Join the club. We don’t really ‘do’ celebrity in Bristol.
But anyhow, what of the food? The Boardroom hopes to specialise in what they call “the art of grazing”.
What this means are sharing boards featuring as much local produce as possible. Meat is carved by a slicer on one side of the wraparound walnut bar, and can be accompanied by wines kept in a bespoke temperature controlled wine wall, with all on the list available by the glass, carafe or bottle.
My £15 tasting board came on a slab of wood so big it could have been a chock for a plane at Lulsgate. The guest cheese was the mousse-like Dorstone goats cheese from Herefordshire.
A delicious apple and walnut chutney was served in a small Kilner jar, the salad had plump juicy raisins and crunchy walnuts, with fresh bread served on another wooden board the size of a small briefcase.
This was the cheapest board on offer, with two others for £20 or £25. You’ve also got the choice of creating your own board priced by items including seven different types of salami and chorizo, and six different cured meats. The guest cheeses change from week to week, in one Bristol road that is also ever-changing.
The Boardroom Bristol, 20 St Nicholas Street, Bristol, BS1 1UB
0117 925 4617