SquareMeal Top 100: Five Bristol restaurants named among best in UK

Five Bristol restaurants have been included on an annual Top 100 list of the UK’s best places to eat.

The Top 100 from independent restaurant guide SquareMeal uses a combination of reader votes and opinion from experts and critics.

The list, which excludes London because the capital gets its own Top 100, features a range of restaurants, from fine dining to gastropubs.

A spokesperson for SquareMeal said: “Whittling down the UK’s burgeoning dining scene into just 100 top spots was an excruciating job that took months of planning and deliberation by both our team and our readers.

“Despite incredibly tough economic circumstances, our homegrown hospitality professionals have overcome it all and managed to deliver top-class experiences for diners, with flair, ingenuity and individuality.

“Each of the top 100 results are a unique combination of our own in-house critic-led opinions and thousands of diner votes. When we say this list is months in the making, we really mean it. 

“We take huge care and pride in making sure only the very best in the industry find a place on the list, and have eaten at hundreds of restaurants over the past 12 months to whittle down the winners.”

The highest placed Bristol restaurant in the Top 100 is Wilsons in Redland, at number 20. Square Meal describes the small, family-run restaurant on Chandos Road as ‘one of Bristol’s best restaurants’.

The entry for Wilsons says: “Plates that appear deceptively simple but are underpinned by exacting technique are the order of the day at Wilsons, one of Bristol’s best restaurants. Here you’ll find true allegiance to showcasing sustainability through seasonality in fresh new ways.”

Michelin-starred chef Peter Sanchez-Iglesis has two Bristol restaurants in the Top 100 - Paco Tapas is at 25 and Casa is at 44. Both restaurants are located at the former General Hospital in Redcliffe.

Bank restaurant on Wells Road in Totterdown also enters the Top 100 this year at number 82.

It was praised for its excellent produce cooked over fire by head chef and co-owner, Jack Briggs-Horan. Bank was recently rated as one of the best in the UK for Sunday roasts.

Dan O’Regan, owner and founder of Bank, said: “We’re blown away to be named in SquareMeal’s Top 100, and it’s a great feeling see our name appear alongside so many of my favourite restaurants – both locally and further afield. 

“Recognition based on expert opinion is super satisfying, but to have diner votes in there too means a lot to us. We’re here to serve the community first and foremost, so to have so many people take the time to vote for us is pretty special. 

"The launch of Jack’s wood-fired sharing menu last year has been a real game changer for Bank, and we’re so proud of the diner feedback and national recognition that has come our way.” 

The fifth Bristol restaurant to make it into the Top 100 is Cor on North Street in Bedminster, which is at number 92.

Cor was praised for its ever-changing menu that ‘takes influence from the owners’ love of the Mediterranean with a seasonal spin’.