One of Bristol’s newer restaurants is already packing the punters in with it’s pared-down menu, showing that cramming in as many items as possible isn’t always the right way – sometimes, just two will do.
The main choices at Flour & Ash are pizza and ice cream. Okay, there are a few starters and sides as well, the pick of which are the white truffle salami (£6) and the crispy ox tongue with salsa verde mayonnaise (£5).
Pizzas come with or without tomato sauce, prices ranging from £6.75 for the margherita to £15 for aged beef fillet with watercress, Old Winchester cheese, horseradish and rosemary oil. The only other pizzas in Bristol that get anywhere near to emulating these are served at The Stable on the Harbourside.
Ice cream and sorbets cost £2 per scoop, and feature delights such as caramel stracciatella, rice pudding and freshly ground nutmeg, and buttermilk and passion fruit ripple. It’s a concept that has worked well so far for former banker Steve Gale, who swapped bean-counting for cooking when he trained as a chef at City of Bristol College. This is his first restaurant in what used to be an Indian takeaway beneath the shadow of the railway arches.
Pizzas are made from sourdough that’s been left to prove for up to 72 hours, and the glow of the wood-fired oven acts as a homing beacon for hungry patrons. Beers are mostly local, with varieties from Wiper and True, and the New Bristol Brewery less than a mile away in St Pauls, while wines by the glass are specially chosen by Grape & Grind off-licence in Gloucester Road.