Valentine’s Day Bristol 2022: Best places to book as city restaurants expect busy night

There’s no shortage of options to eat out in Bristol but a special occasion calls for a special menu.

So we’ve sought out the best that Bristol has to offer for Valentine’s Day.

Whether a seven-course tasting menu tickles your fancy or you’re more interested in dinner at a jazz bar, we’ve got you covered.

The Square Kitchen @ The Square Club

Their seven-course Valentine’s tasting menu is one for the connoisseurs.

The award-winning restaurant, which focuses on modern British cooking, uses local West Country ingredients and offers unique seasonal fare.

The main menu features fusion dishes such as lobster bisque black pudding and vanilla poached brill and cockle risotto with a seaweed emulsion.

The vegetarian menu features such delights as tarragon gnocchi with pickled carrot and pulled jackfruit.

Both tasting menus include two desserts and a pairing of wines can be added to the meal when booking.

Speaking to Sophie Yardley, the membership manager, she said: “Valentine’s Day is a really popular night for us as we are a special occasion restaurant.”

As a members only club, Valentine’s Day is the one night of the year when non-members, who have booked for dinner, can go to the cocktail bar which has a curated cocktail for the night.

Asking Sophie about the availability, she said: “We’ve sold about 50% of the tables we have available. We expect to sell out as we sell out every year”.

Has Covid affected their bookings? “Not really,” Sophie said, “perhaps we’ve had slightly later bookings this year.” Book here.

The Botanist Bristol

The Valentine’s Day menu stretches over four days at the Botanist: February 11, 12, 14 and 15.

If you fancy an intimate dinner for two but want to avoid the crowds, you can simply celebrate before or after the main day.

The three-course meal offers plenty of options for starters, mains and desserts.

Standouts from the starters are the baked camembert sharer - what’s more romantic than sharing food? - and the grilled lamb kofta.

The mains include fish and seafood, a burger, steak, vegetable bake and more.

The desserts include a sharing dessert of churros, brownies, eton mess as well as a cheese board for the savoury-fiend.

There are meat, vegetarian and vegan options across all three courses. Book here.

Browns

Browns have the option for a two or three-course menu with the possibility to add on a paired cocktail.

The starters include smoked salmon, duck, pan-seared scallops or a beetroot salad.

For the mains there are steak and lobster specials or for people who are looking for something else, there is sea bass, chicken breast, steak or mushroom wellington.

The desserts range from fruity apple and cherry crumble to a decadent chocolate trio of tort, profiteroles and mousse.

Chef supervisor, Jakub, said: “It’s one of the most busy days in the whole year apart from Christmas and graduation”.

“We expect it to be fully booked in the next few weeks,” he confirmed. Book here.

Future Inns

If you like your dinner with entertainment, Valentine’s Day at Future Inns could be just the ticket.

They are offering a romantic three-course meal with a glass of prosecco and a live pianist in the jazz bar.

There are three options for each course including a gluten free and vegan one.

Choose from homemade soup, goat’s cheese bruschetta or king prawns for the starter.

The mains include roast cod with vegetables, mushroom pasta or minute steak and the desserts range from a fruity apple and rhubarb crumble to a creamy creme brulee.

There’s also a gin and tonic sorbet option for the adventurous. Book here.