Tuck in for a tenner

Home

So you’re starving, you fancy a nice meal and all you’ve got in your pocket is a recession-diminished tenner… what you gonna do? Load up on carbs down the supermarket? Buy a fetid kebab? No – you’re going to dine out in style! Melissa Blease, Joe Spurgeon and Mike White show you how with some fab under-a-tenner autumn offers.

1 SPYGLASS

Spyglass really comes into its own in the summer – the water alongside, the plane trees’ dappled shade, the lilt of jazz drifting down from the Old Duke. But even in the depths of winter, with semi-hibernation opening hours (Thur-Sat only), there’s a lot to be said for the place. The roof’s tented with broad red and yellow stripes, paper lanterns glow overhead and three of the walls are floor-to-ceiling windows, giving an airy inside-outside feel. There’s a whiff of colonial summerhouse – ferns, wickerwork, vines coiling at the glass – made all the more appealing by snivelling Bristol rain outside. Out left, a view over Bristol Bridge to Castle Park; an insouciant swan paddling by. But back to the food. Alongside their trademark barbecue mastery (honey-glazed king spare ribs, marinated lamb kebabs and the like), Spyglass’s new Winter Warmer menu offers an imaginative take on comfort food. So instead of stew we get Hungarian goulash (prepared by a real live Hungarian, apparently); instead of a roast there’s chicken breast with piri-piri, warm veg salad and potato wedges. Venue sampled a spicy Spanish chicken casserole and a lamb tagine. Both were excellent: the casserole had a peppery tang to it, every mouthful a treat of chorizo and kalamata olives; the tagine was a darker, sweeter dish, coloured with wedges of pepper and apricot. The good news for this particular budget-munching feature is that Spyglass’s Winter all-in-one deal offers a choice of seven mains of this quality, with garlic bread and a drink, all for £10. HOW TO SPEND YOUR TENNER… Salmon steak with lemon and parsley glaze, garlic bread on the side, and a glass of ruby red Merlot to finish you off (£10 the lot). Offer available until 30 Nov.

SPYGLASS WELSH BACK, BRISTOL, BS1 4SB TEL 0117 927 7050 WEB WWW.SPYGLASSBRISTOL.CO.UK

2 BANK OF STOKES CROFT

Five years ago you’d have been hard pushed to get a decent macchiato on the Croft. Now the tatty/arty strip is reeling somewhat amid the reality that gentrification has, after decades of anticipation, very much arrived. Within a hundred yards there are already several places offering decent middle-class nosh and proper coffee – Canteen, Zazu’s Kitchen, Kino, Kuvuka, and now The Bank of Stokes Croft, sister venture to Southville’s deservedly popular gastropub The Spotted Cow. The Bank’s bankishness is proudly worn: a former strongroom (inches-thick metal door still in place) is now an orange-benched snug, the windows remain heavily barred. But it’s got the young ’n’ funky box ticked too, with a big pop-referencing collage, wall-projections and DJ-sty in the corner. The furniture’s utilitarian – school exam-hall tables and chairs inside, chunky wooden benchery in the smoking yard out back. The walls are dark blue-grey, the floor more-or-less black, but windows and a vast skylight let enough of the day in. Currently the menu offers pizzas or stuff in bowls. The pizzas are generous 11-inchers, thin-based and thoughtfully topped (blue cheese and cider poached pear; chorizo, semi-dried tomatoes and olives) and big enough to fill two light-eaters or stuff one hungry person. The bowls bring delights like Goan fish curry with herb basmati rice, or butternut squash, sweetcorn and red onion chowder. Venue tried a chorizo pizza and a bowl of beef and Bath Ale stew with horseradish dumplings. The stew was meaty and satisfyingly thick, the veg nicely al dente. The pizza was a smasher – coloured with peppers and olives. And the good news for your wallet is that any pizza or bowl-based main is only £5 when you buy a drink – leaving you change for another cheeky half or a fancy chocolate-sprinkled coffee for afters. HOW TO SPEND YOUR TENNER… Pint of your choice £3.50, a bowl of beef and Bath Ale stew with horseradish dumplings (£5) and a coffee (£1.50).

THE BANK OF STOKES CROFT 84 STOKES CROFT, BRISTOL, BS1 3QY TEL 0117 923 2565 WEB HTTP://THEBANKOFSTOKESCROFT.WORDPRESS.COM

3 BIG CHILL BAR

Like the festival which spawned it, The Big Chill Bar breezes easy bonhomie. Stools and rug-covered banquettes loaf about on the left, benched tables on the right. Media types, students and slightly smug people with perma-tans are often to be found here, but don’t let that put you off. There’s a funny little smoking courtyard and a newly opened roof terrace, too. Their new menu offers several different variations on the towering, skewer-supported burger. Beef naturally leads the stampede, with the Mexican (£7) a particular favourite – ‘cactus’ salsa, jalapeno chillies and a melt of Monterey Jack cheese over a bit of cow the size of a woman’s fist. The Speciality range is where the interest lies –highlights include the Levant, a homemade falafel burger with cucumber yoghurt relish, baked aubergine and black olive tapenade (£6.50); and the Marrakesh (£6.75) – a delicately spiced lamb burger with hummus, grill-blackened aubergine and punchy harissa. Two tap-water drinkers dining with a tenner each could get one such burger apiece, a chilli-buttered corn on the cob on the side (£2.50) and a honeycomb smash cheesecake with peach coulis (£4) to finish. HOW TO SPEND YOUR TENNER… A Crimini – a Portobello mushroom served burger-style with goats’ cheese, pine nuts and pesto (£6.25) and a chocolate and nut brownie with vanilla ice-cream (£3.25).

BIG CHILL 15 SMALL ST, BRISTOL, BS1 1DE TEL 0117 930 4217 WEB WWW.BIGCHILL.NET/BRISTOL

4 THE LOUNGES

There’s a good reason why the Lounges are so popular. Neither a café nor a pub, they’re the best of both worlds. On the one hand they’re open early and do a cracking full English, on the other they’re open late, do decent dinners and have a proper pub’s worth of booze. They’re friendly, thoughtfully staffed and dependably good, every time. Venue slid into the North Street branch. The trademark Lounge décor (homely wooden furniture, vintage black and white photos), laidback music and bubbly, attentive staff were all in evidence. Scrubbed-top tables, stripped floors, big windows for watching stoic South Bristolians thrash past in sideways rain. All good. Many’s the time your correspondent has lurched in here to assuage a leviathan hangover with a burger –a chargrilled, inch-think beastie surrounded by skinny fries and salad. These are currently on offer every Monday, with a warm chocolate brownie, ice-cream and chocolate sauce, for £8.50. But we’ve bigged up enough burgers in this feature already, so let’s talk tapas – something else the Lounges do with particular aplomb. Visit on a Tuesday and they’ll grace your table with three tapas (more than enough to fill up on) and a glass of house wine for £8. The tapas board has no less than 16 options. Between two, Venue chose honey-glazed, five-spice pork belly, served shredded with spring onion, giving a lightly oriental feel; crayfish with spicy tomato and chilli; chorizo in a red wine and garlic sauce, blood-dark and ringed with red onion; crunchy sweetcorn fritters with sweet chilli dip; fried risotto balls with mozzarella and proper homemade pesto; and paprika-swirled hummus with a basket of crusty bread. The range of colours and flavours felt like cracking value for eight quid a head; and even though tapas is famously just a lot of little tastes of things, we couldn’t finish it all. Excellent food, excellently priced. HOW TO SPEND YOUR TENNER… Any of three the tapas mentioned – we’d recommend them all – plus a glass of wine, for £8. Then you could finish with a steamed hot chocolate with marshmallows, or maybe a pot of loose-leaf Suki tea, or club together and add 50p to share a knickerbocker glory with ice-cream, meringue and strawberry sauce.

THE LOUNGE 227-231 NORTH ST, BEDMINSTER, BRISTOL, BS3 6JJ TEL 0117 963 7340 WEB WWW.THELOUNGES.CO.UK NB THE YUMMY MONDAY BURGER OFFER AND TAPAS TUESDAY OFFER ARE AVAILABLE AT ALL FIVE LOUNGES IN BRISTOL, AND THE ONE IN BATH.

5 MARKET

This scrubbed-up, fairly new kid on the Sawclose block has brought a blast of fresh air to the ‘Theatre Royal Plaza’ scene, blending inspiration from the Jamie’s Italian approach to scene-setting (lots of characterful reclaimed furniture, fixtures and fittings) with artful, gastropub touches (candelabras, wonky eclectic stylings, tasteful paintwork etc) within and a fabulous heated, alfresco terrace dominating proceedings outfront. Grub, meanwhile, is a distinct cut-above expectations of an establishment that specialises in burgers, pizzas and Medi-themed sharing platters; it’s all properly upmarket, and offers flexibility to singletons, couples and large groups of revellers alike. Whichever day of the week you visit, value for money goes large, too. Go for the classic burger (£5.95), add fries for £1.10 and you’ve still got enough change from a tenner left to splash out on a half of Hefeweizen wheat beer (£1.85) or a 500ml soft drink carafe (£1.95). But drop by on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday and you can chow down on half-price pizzas, burgers and salads respectively. A burger of this quality for £2.50? You won’t find that anywhere else in Bath – and you’ll still have change left for a two-pint jug of draught beer to go with it (£6.80). HOW TO SPEND YOUR TENNER… Mango & chicken salad (usually £6.25, but half-price Mon-Wed) and a garlic & rosemary pizza bread on the side (£2.95), all washed down with a glass of sauvignon blanc (£3.50).

MARKET SAW CLOSE, BATH, BA1 1EY TEL 01225 330009 WEB WWW.MARKETBATH.COM

THIS FEATURE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN VENUE MAGAZINE ON WED 13 OCT 2010: OFFERS DETAILED ABOVE MAY NO LONGER APPLY.