Places To Eat In Bristol: Little French

One of the things I love the most about being freelance is the flexibility of my working schedule. So, when the opportunity arose to spend a couple of hours in Bristol the other week I jumped at the chance to explore a new city (do check my Instagram highlight to see what I got up to!) and try somewhere excellent for lunch. I know food is my job, but finding and enjoying new, excellent places to eat will never get old for me.

After doing a shout-out on Twitter and Instagram for peoples recommendations and sifting through them for somewhere that would still be open to serve us lunch at 2:45 (!) we settled on Little French, a lovely little eclectic French restaurant in the North of the city. Now we’ve eaten there I honestly can’t recommend Little French enough: lovely staff, a great atmosphere and simply incredibly French food, done simply with love and care, and using the very best ingredients. Oh, and apparently eating out in Bristol is pretty cheap but if you’ve come from elsewhere for dinner Little French is also fantastic value: for everything you’re about to see, plus an extra glass of wine and a cup of tea the bill came to around £65 at the end of it!

I was the only one in the mood for a starter, and while I was very tempted by the grilled queen scallop with a Sauterns sauce and chives, I went for the steak tartare served with bone marrow toast. When it is done well steak tartare is one of my favourite dishes, and this was one of the best I’ve had: it had a wonderful texture, both a light and rich flavour, and had the perfect balance of chopped meat and punchy capers, pickles and shallot. The toast was wicked indulgent and went really well with an unctuous marrow butter slathered all over.

For our mains J had the aged rib eye with classic French home-style frites and a bearnaise sauce. I did not get a look in, apparently one of the best steaks he’s had in a very long time! I went for the special which included a lovely pairing of a glass of Bulgarian (rather than the house French) Sauvignon blanc. Simply grilled mackerel on the bed of a bright, creamy, simple dill and caper potato salad with a side of vinaigrette dressed leaves and a punchy smooth salsa verde. Just what I wanted for lunch, and a real celebration of simple French cooking.

Dessert was a forgone conclusion as I had already seen the Mousse au Chocolat arrive at the next table. Another French classic I adore, the chocolate mousse at Little French is rich, dense and indulgent, served in a puddle of cream. I can never seem to get mine as thick and luxurious as this (you can find my recipe here) – the perfect finish to the perfect meal. Bristol locals who have not yet been (I’ve already heard from quite a few of you after posting some of these snaps on Instagram) and out-of-towners who are looking for a good meal: book a table at Little French.

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