The Star and Dove, Bristol

For the very first post I put up here I wrote about the Star and Dove (that link may not work right now, I think they're re-doing their website), a local pub which does phenomenal food. Seriously, these guys are going to get popular once word gets out so book up while you can. I was treated to a meal there for my birthday a couple of months ago, but wanted to leave it a respectable amount of time before I posted a review.

The deal with the Star and Dove (the Dining Room, at least, the bar food is slightly different) is they take recipes from the 12th to 18th century and recreate them with modern techniques. It's quite an odd sense of disassociation when you order something spelt lyke thys, and end up with a very contemporary looking plate.

I'm going to put my cards on the table here. I love stuff that is made to look like other stuff. Love it. I know it's gimmicky, but God help me, they brought a candle to the table and lit it and told us it was the butter for our rolls. For reals. It even had little dribbles of wax down it. How am I supposed to deal with that? Because if it isn't 'clap your hands and giggle like a child' then I may have chosen the wrong option.

We got aperitifs too. I love it when there's aperitifs. It's a little extra free gift to make you feel like you're getting your money's worth. Ours was a take on the flavours of a Waldorf salad. A rich celery veloute, with a fresh pickled walnut, crumbled apple jelly (they clearly like their gelling agents here - this was a jelly that looked and felt like sand, but would melt in your mouth), and a crisp of filo pastry.

My starter was a soft, tangy fresh buffalo cheese that matched perfectly with chicory and truffle honeycomb, while Pete had... I don't even know what to call it. It was like a ball of fish stock wrapped in smoked haddock and bacon cream so when you cut into it it would ooze more fish. In his words, it was the fishiest fish that ever fish. Fish. I'm not a fan of fish myself, but he assures me that if you did like fish you would probably like this fish. Fish.

My main was Welsh salt duck breast, with a liver mousse in a crispy pancake. I was conflicted about ordering this, because I love duck but really don't get on with liver. I needn't have worried. Although powerful tasting, the mousse avoided that graininess of texture that I dislike, and really tasted more like a fierce blue cheese than anything. Pete had a Carpet bagger steak, which was fillet steak stuffed with goose liver and pate. As you can tell, they are really offally versatile (do you see what I did there? I'm very amusing).

Puddings were amazeballs. Pete doesn't even like puddings all that much, but I've still managed to convince him to go back a number of times just so we can have a cake or dessert in the bar downstairs. I had 'Beetroot Salad', which involved beetroot candied, jellied and crisped and served with chocolate ganache, while Pete had a clotted cream and brandy ice cream, shaped and dipped in an orange gel to make it look like an orange, and served with orange curd. Stuff that looks like stuff. Love it.

So well played, The Star and Dove. Well played. I shall return anon.