A two-week celebration of the best of Bristol’s food and drink launches today. Eat Drink Bristol Fashion is housed in a spectacular ‘tipi’ complex that spans the length of Queen Square, and includes a 100-seat formal dining area on one side, a champagne and wine bar at the other and art installations provided by Arcadia Festival Sculpture and Performance.
Running until Monday, May 7, the concept is a collaborative project by Josh Eggleton of Michelin-starred pub the Pony & Trap in Chew Magna, and Luke Hasell of Tipi Events.
Mr Eggleton said the event is aimed at celebrating Bristol’s thriving food scene. “It’s been a huge project but we are very excited to get Eat Drink Bristol Fashion underway,” he said.
“We launched the concept to celebrate Bristol’s thriving food scene and have been overwhelmed by the positive feedback we have had so far.
“It’s a simple but creative concept. By bringing restaurants from across the city to the centre we’ll give Bristolians the chance to experience great food of places they may have never ventured to before.”
Mr Hasell added: “We hope people visit us from across the city and further afield. Our bars and tapas café are open all day and night with no reservation necessary or alternatively people can book tickets for some of the remaining guest chef evenings”
“We hope Eat Drink Bristol Fashion will further cement Bristol’s position on the UK’s cultural map. Not only will the food be fantastic, but the entertainment including visual art, bands and DJs will make our unique tipi venue an attraction in itself.”
Within the tipi structure is a coffee house open from 10am until noon, a tapas bar open with no reservation policy from noon to midnight, a formal restaurant for 100 people and two fully-licensed bars. The champagne bar is hosted by Moet while drinks groups and sponsors Matthew Clark and Butcombe are offering a range of wine and beers.
Each night a different resident restaurant will take over the main dining hall offering.
More than 700 tickets have already been sold, but some remain for events and are available at www.eatdrinkbristolfashion.
Tomorrow evening Bristolian master charcutier Vince Castellano and his team from Castellanos Deli team up with the Pony & Trap to offer a five-course tasting menu based around the traditional French practice of seam butchery – a style that cuts along the natural seams of meat.
For their main course guests will be invited to choose the cut they want from five-week dry aged beef. Vince will then butcher the cut which Mr Eggleton will expertly prepare.
Mr Eggleton added: “Vince Castellano is a master of butchery and this evening promises to be a real treat for all meat-eating food lovers. I would urge anyone who is looking for a real culinary treat to come down and witness Vince at work. Seam butchery is a very complex art and there are few that can do it at all, let alone as well as Vince – we’re lucky to have him in Bristol.”
