2 Best Restaurants in Bristol, The West Country

The finest of a slew of restaurants and cafés in Bristol's trendy, newly developed Wapping Wharf harborside district, this compact venue might be squeezed into a pair of shipping containers, but punches way above what its diminutive dimensions might suggest. The seasonally changing menu is also on the small side, and most dishes are tapas-size, but every one is startlingly original, and each is a winner. Smoked trout with golden beetroot, buttermilk, and horseradish, for example, is an excellent start to such mains as rump of lamb, cannellini beans, and rainbow chard. Desserts are also fabulous, and you can watch it all taking shape in the open kitchen. Dishes on the seven-course tasting menu (£55; request when booking) are unspecified—it may surprise but will not disappoint. The restaurant is steps away from the Floating Harbour and M Shed, and there are tables outside on the deck for warm days.

Floor-to-ceiling windows overlook the Avon Gorge and Clifton Suspension Bridge at this restaurant, where meat and seafood dishes are cooked over an Argentinian asado, or firepit. Look for onglet, aged rump, fillet steak, sea bass, and monkfish tail, as well as such vegetarian options as roasted cauliflower steak and spicy charred carrots. Fixed-price early evening menus are also available. Sited inside the Avon Gorge Hotel and part of the Hotel du Vin group, the restaurant is named after the two legendary giants whose competition for the hand of the beautiful Avona led to the carving of the gorge. Enjoy pre- or post-prandial drinks on the broad outdoor terrace of the adjacent White Lion bar.