Restaurants / Reviews
Shop 3 Bistro – restaurant review
That Stephen Gilchrist and Kathryn Curtis chose Bristol as the city to open their first UK restaurant after relocating from New Zealand is a clear indication that our city’s food scene continues to flourish and now has international acclaim.
Shop 3 Bistro opened quietly before Christmas, but was so good it sneaked into our roundup of Bristol’s best new restaurant openings of 2016.
A tagline of “local, rustic and foraged” informs what appears on the short, daily-changing menu.
is needed now More than ever
It might not be prime time for foraging yet, but a cocktail selection including a hedgerow sour and nasturtium daisy, a homemade elderflower cordial, and foraged sloe gin, gives an indication of what to look forward to later this year.
The pair’s Trading Rooms restaurant back in New Zealand had a prime waterfront location in Akaora, a small town on the south island, which is nestled in the heart of an ancient volcano and, it is claimed, has more restaurants per capita than any other place in New Zealand.
Clifton may not be volcanic but it is certainly not short of restaurants, with Shop 3 Bistro opening in a former curry house on Regent Street opposite Pizza Express.
It has an unusual layout, with a few tables along a narrow room between the entrance and the bar, a cosy dining room up a small flight of stairs, and a larger as-yet unused room downstairs past the kitchen.
Devon-born Kathryn effortlessly works the front of house while Kiwi Stephen – who has spent time working in Michelin-starred restaurants in London – is ensconced in the kitchen producing fiercely seasonally-inspired food.
It’s a set-up most similar locally to Bulrush in Cotham, with Shrop 3 Bistro immediately joining the premier league of Bristol restaurants.
Forgoing the pickled and grilled Cornish mackerel, rock oysters and goat’s cheese among the starters, I chose the duck breast, at £16 the second most expensive item among the mains after a 28-day aged ribeye of beef.
The juicy duck had been delicately cooked and came served with a rainbow-like assortment on the plate: fondant, cherry and liquorice, plums, baby carrots lightly coated in a sweet vanilla glaze, and an intriguing addition of gingerbread crumble that might not have worked but here most certainly did.
Over the other side of the table, my two young daughters both helped to demolish a chorizo, mushroom and bacon carbonara, made slightly less al dente than usual for them, with English pecorino cheese.
While a hungry two-year-old and five-year-old tucked in to scoops of vanilla ice cream, I enjoyed a deconstructed Drambuie cheesecake (£6), with the plate artfully scattered with bits of crunchy honeycomb, quince, Jerusalem artichoke and coriander.
New Zealand’s loss is Bristol’s glorious gain. Shop 3 Bistro is the latest glittering string in Bristol’s internationally recognised culinary bow.
Shop 3 Bistro, 3A Regent Street, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 4HW
0117 382 2235