Michelin star chef to open new Italian restaurant in Bristol this month

Peter Sanchez-Iglesias will open Casa, his new Italian restaurant, on the former site of his Michelin-starred restaurant Casamia in Bristol.

Casa, meaning ‘home’ in Italian, will see Peter and his family return to cooking Italian food - just as they did when they first opened Casamia in Westbury-on-Trym in 1999.

His parents Sue and Paco launched the restaurant and Peter joined the kitchen brigade when he was just 16. This new opening marks the next step for the Sanchez-Iglesias family, who have created celebrated neighbourhood and destination restaurants in Bristol for over 30 years.

Reimagining their much-loved restaurant, Casa will offer a contemporary, accessible, yet refined take on traditional Italian dining, acting as a sibling to Peter’s Michelin-starred Spanish institution Paco Tapas next door.

The 66-cover restaurant will offer a similarly relaxed environment in which to enjoy a dynamic menu created by Peter and executive chef Joel Breakwell, who has directed the kitchen at Paco Tapas for the past three years, retaining its Michelin-star since 2019.

Dishes will be made using high quality ingredients from the very best Italian and British producers, working with many of the same local suppliers that the team have partnered with for years.

As a nod to the original Casamia, Peter and Joel will revive beloved dishes, served on plateware archived by the family over the years.

A signature potato ravioli will be elevated with the addition of a rich and hearty Lion’s Mane mushroom ragu, and the family’s famed Tiramisu will return just as it always was, to round out the meal in style.

The menu, which will feature handwritten annotations of daily specials, will begin with antipasti bites including fried semolina with parmesan and prawn crudo, as well as a selection of premium cured meats and cheeses.

This is followed by a seasonal selection of pasta plates, with classics such as Tortellini in brodo sitting alongside seasonally changing double Agnolotti.

The fish courses will use the best that the South West has to offer, while the meat courses channel indulgent Italian classics such as slow-cooked veal ossobuco and a sharing portion of steak Florentine, with vegetable sides including cime di rapa and cabbage with pancetta.

Along with the house tiramisu, dolces include pine nut pannacotta, and refreshing lemon sorbet. Housed in the basement of the former General Hospital, the interiors will see a dramatic change from Casamia’s previous black interiors – the space will be fully opened up to overlook Bristol’s vibrant harbourside, featuring warm maple and birch finishes, and tables surrounding a busy open kitchen.

Diners will be welcome to either drop in for a plate of pasta and a glass of wine, or feast at length with the Chef’s Menu, which encompasses the very best of the menu that day.

Casa will open its doors on November 16.