Second Floor Restaurant, Harvey Nichols, Bristol

Whilst in Bristol over the past few days I enjoyed a business lunch with a colleague at Second Floor Restaurant in the Harvey Nichols in the Cabot Circus centre.

A late lunch, we arrived around 2:30pm and were one of only two tables, which made for a very quiet setting. The restaurant is very much geared up to be “fine dining” and the luxurious gold seating around the place made for a very opulent atmosphere.

We made the most of the set lunch menu and shared our food throughout so as to try as much as possible.

To start we had a pheasant terrine with a prune and red onion marmalade with toasted focaccia and a smoked kipper terrine, which came with the same bread, a little green salad and a wedge of lemon. Both were excellent, the pheasant was rich, chunky and gamey, seasoned well and beautifully complemented by the caramelised red onion and prune accompaniment. The kipper too was fantastic, much smoother in texture and with a light and delicate flavour, enhanced with a squeeze of lemon and the green salad that was generously populated with fresh sprigs of dill – always a good partner to any fish dish.

For the mains we had a fillet of South coast gurnard that came with a Jerusalem artichoke risotto and lemon veloute that looked simply stunning when it arrived. The fish was pan fried to perfection, fleshy white fish, full of flavour and with a delicious and expertly seasoned crispy skin. The risotto was very light with just the merest hint at creaminess, and again flavoured with delicate dill – divine.

Alongside the gurnard we selected the belly pork dish, cooked in ginger, chilli and coconut and accompanied by some gloriously creamy, sweet potato mash. Once again the dish looked gorgeous and the flavour certainly matched up. The pork belly had been slow cooked to the point where it absolutely fell apart and melted in the mouth, and the sauce the meat had been cooked in was a sweet yet sour, sticky glaze, Asian inspired on a classic British dish – genius. Once again, this is a dish I will be attempting to emulate in my own kitchen.

We completed the meal with a vanilla pannacotta that was ridiculously light with a poached quince compote that completely lifted the delicious vanilla cream jelly to a whole new dimension – superb. 

We also had a Valrhona chocolate brownie with a twist – it also comprised of pumpkin, something I found quite strange when perusing the menu, but that my dining companion, a chef and restaurateur, said would work well and that squash and sweet potato do work well in baking. So we gave it a shot and I wasn’t disappointed. It came with a scoop of black pepper ice cream and when it arrived it reminded me of a mini Guinness. The chocolate brownie was rich and whilst dark chocolate can be quite bitter, the pumpkin inside meant the flavour was instantly transferred to sweet. The ice cream was lovely, and subtle and worked well with this sweet chocolate dessert.

The set menu at £17 for two courses and £20 for three courses is incredibly reasonable given the high standard of food on offer, we literally couldn’t find a single flaw with the meal, which given I was with a professional chef speaks volumes. We both had a glass of house white wine with our meal and a large bottle of sparkling water and the entire bill, including service amounted to

I’ll definitely return again next time I come to Bristol, especially as the menu is seasonal and changes each month. The service was impeccable, the food flawless and the bill affordable, not to mention the view overlooking the city and watching the world go by from the second floor – a fabulous retreat.

The Tinto Lounge - Gloucester Road, Bristol

Weekends spent out of London for me generally entail the following three factors as a matter of course; great restaurants, copious amounts of alcohol and exploring and shopping on a hangover of varying degrees of severity.

Spending the weekend in Bristol with my younger brother Daniel (a student) and our friend Stephanie (another student) proved to be no exception.

Fully armed with the knowledge that funds were at an all-time low for the other two, my culinary expectations for the weekend were not high.

On Friday night we enjoyed some drunken singing and dancing at Java, a Park Street nightclub and then spent Saturday afternoon in the city of Bath, taking in the Pump Rooms, some fabulous prints at The Victoria Art Gallery and of course, Bath Abbey. We then headed back to Bristol and took in a few late afternoon drinks in The White Lion Pub, overlooking the stunning views over Clifton Suspension Bridge.

On Daniel's suggestion we headed in the early evening to the Tinto Lounge - a fairly casual Spanish themed cafe bar on the busy Gloucester Road, for a hearty, yet very reasonably priced meal. The place was absolutely buzzing with atmosphere and the mixture of people included families, couples and groups of friends.

There are no menus, just two big boards on either sides of the restaurant, which offers the perfect opportunity to people watch occupiers of the other tables under the guise of perusing the menu.

A selection of three tapas dishes cost £7.50, including bread and oil, which I thought was incredibly good value as they were generous portions, enough to fill one student tummy adequately.

However we each went for a main meal, following some ciabatta bread with oils. I opted for pork chop on crushed potatoes in a chestnut mushroom sauce with seasonal green vegetables. The pork and the creamy sauce were fantastically cooked and very tasty. The potatoes were quite bland, lacking in any seasoning at all, which was a shame, but as I'd been unable to resist some potatas bravas to share, and in light of the fact the dish cost less than £10 I feel it would be in very poor taste to grumble.

Daniel and Stephanie both went for the same dish - apparently a favourite, and I soon tasted why. A chorizo, crayfish and chicken jambalaya which was simply bursting with flavour. A spicy heat enveloped the rice and fragrant flavours made the tongue tingle, whilst the chorizo element kept the Spanish theme running throughout.

There are jugs of water dotted about the intimate restaurant where you are able to fill up throughout your meal and diners are invited to order and pay for their meal at the bar prior to eating it, which although slightly alien in restaurants, means that once you have finished, there is no waiting around for the waiting staff. It is almost an upmarket fast food outlet.

Our meal for three cost under £40 including wine and we all left full and satisfied. This really is a great place to enjoy a meal with friends or family, especially if you are on a budget.

Some say you get what you pay for, but here the price was low, but the standard was higher in some respects that in much pricier restaurants. The presentation may not have been Michelin-starred, but what was lacking was more than made up for in its warm, friendly charm.

The place was running alive with people, laughter and the sound of glasses clinking, and as we vacated our table there was an eager gaggle of girls waiting to occupy it, so it is clearly a winning formula and a place I would fully recommend trying out for yourselves.

To find out more about the Tinto Lounge please call 0117 942 0526 or visit www.thelounges.co.uk