7 Best Restaurants in Bristol, The West Country

Occupying a former police station, this modern, clean-lined restaurant affords serene views over the passing swans and boats. Upstairs, the more formal restaurant serves delicately cooked dishes like pan-roasted hake with braised octopus and chorizo stew or spiced tomato lentils, polenta, and wild mushrooms, while the lip-smacking desserts include cherry parfait with marshmallow and macerated morello cherries or white chocolate mousse with berries. On the river level, the Pontoon bar has a more rough-and-ready menu that includes oysters, salads, and burgers, and with its terrace seating, it also makes a great spot for a weekend brunch, afternoon coffee, or evening drinks.

Despite the name, this laid-back and vaguely eccentric place is quintessentially English and ideal for a relaxed lunch away from the nearby rigors of the Park Street shopping scene. Generous salads, soups, and burgers are available, as are all-day breakfasts and brunches. Find your table first, note the number, and order at the bar—you can sit in the terraced backyard or in the two airy rooms upstairs, a secluded spot for a cup of tea with orange and almond cake. The restaurant opens at 8 am (9 am on Sunday) and closes at 5 pm.

The finest of a slew of restaurants and cafés clustered in Bristol's trendy, newly developed Wapping Wharf harborside district, this compact venue might be squeezed into a shipping container, but punches way above what its diminutive dimensions might suggest. The seasonally changing menu is also on the small side, but every dish is startlingly original, and each is a winner. Smoked trout with Jersey Royal potatoes, buttermilk, and horseradish, for example, is an excellent start to such mains as rump of lamb, borlotti beans, and charred radicchio. Desserts are also fabulous, and you can watch it all taking shape in the open kitchen. Dishes on the seven-course taster menu (£50; 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.

For glorious views of Bristol's most iconic sight, this restaurant with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Avon Gorge and Clifton Suspension Bridge can't be beaten. The menu is unapologetically carnivorous, specializing in steaks and smoked meats such as pastrami and ribs, though you can also enjoy spiced cauliflower steak, braised veal cheek, poached monkfish, and burgers. Sited inside the Avon Gorge Hotel and part of the Hotel du Vin group, it 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 (also a lunch option for when the restaurant is closed).

Bristol's former stock exchange has found a new role as an atmospheric Indian eatery. It's the perfect setting for classic and innovative Indian dishes such as nilgiri korma (chicken or lamb in a creamy almond sauce with rose petals) and machi mazadaar (salmon with mustard seeds and tamarind water). All the opulent trimmings have been restored, including the mahogany paneling, rich drapes, tiled staircase, and elegant statuary.

As the name implies, this casual eatery in the heart of Clifton village specializes in pork products, with special attention given to the humble British "banger." Sausages range from the traditional Gloucester Old Spot to Cotswold lamb, mint, and apricot; pork, leek, and stilton; and beef and ale, and all come with plain mashed potato or "champ" (mashed potato with spring onions). The menu also includes a tender slow-roast pork belly with plenty of crackling and gravy, mushroom, and spinach risotto, and a fish special featuring whatever seafood has been brought in from Cornish ports. The bright, modern restaurant is furnished with solid wooden benches and tables, and has outdoor seating, too. Local beers are served, and dishes are also available as take-outs.

The excellent café-restaurant upstairs at Watershed overlooks part of the harborside. Sandwiches and hot snacks are served all day, along with coffees, cakes, and beers.