The Canteen is around the corner from my place, and everytime I go there to have some coffee and I see somebody having lunch there, I always get green of envy. So, I finally convinced my friends to go there for lunch. One of them was a little hungover and he just had a coffee, while another friend and I were having our lunch.
The Canteen serves lunch everyday between 12-3pm and dinner between 5-9pm. They promote local and organic food above all: the organic fruit and vegetables are supplied by the Community Farm, fish comes from Cornwall, they have Gloucestershire pork and the beef is from Herefordshire. They serve a special roast dinner on Sundays too.
The Canteen has a nice outside terrace that gets completely full when the sun shines. There are around 20 all-size tables inside, most of them occupied lately, probably because the weather is getting worse, and the terrace is now empty. There is a reading area in one corner with comfortable sofas where you can borrow a book and read, and there is also a music are at the opposite corner, where you can buy local music artists' works. All artworks hanging on the walls are for sale as well as the lamps and tables!
There were 6 main dishes to choose from today, all of them local home-made dishes, making the best out of simple ingredients. The menu is written in a blackboard next to the kitchen, which changes every day and prices are quite low (main dishes cost between 6.50-11 pounds). I ordered Linguine with a side salad, and my friend went for the Roast Beef. We ordered and paid at the bar, and they brought the food to the table when it was ready.
Any main dish includes the soup-of-the-day. Today, we had a homemade tomato soup (top left picture), very tasty, which arrived within 7 exact minutes, and we were having our main dish 10 minutes after the soup.
My linguine (lower left picture) had an interesting mix of flavours: the sweetness of red peppers with the hotness of the jalapeños, and goat cheese on top. My friend's Roast Beef (top right picture) had good size cuts of meat and he was very satified with the portion of food (I must say that this does not happen very often).The only small inconviniences we had were regarding the vegetables, which we would have cooked for a little longer (onion in my case, leek in his case). We had coffee to finish, which was as good as always.
Overall, good and fast service, tasty local food for a very affordable price. Very recommendable!
More info: http://www.canteenbristol.co.uk/
Jamaica Street Studios, one of the largest artist-lead studios outside London, will open its doors this weekend. The opening night will be on the 19th June 2015 (7-10pm) and studios, which are housed in a former iconic carriagework, will be accessible 20-21th June from 11am to 5pm.
