Eat in Old City & St Nicholas Market, Bristol

Marmo

• ★ 4.5
• Italian
• ££

Order The day's fresh pasta with a low-intervention European wine from the list.

Marmo runs an owner-led Italian kitchen and wine bar in Bristol's old Guardian Assurance building on Baldwin Street, holding a Michelin Bib Gourmand.

The Ox

• ★ 4.1
• Steakhouse
• £££

Order Steak from Buxton Butchers beef, or the Sunday roast served until 17:00.

The Ox has grilled charcoal-cooked beef in a wood-panelled bank vault under Corn Street in Bristol's Old City since 2013, with roasts on Sundays.

Cotto

• ★ 4.2
• Italian
• ££

Order Pasta at the counter with whatever the staff are pouring that week.

Cotto is the Bianchis team's Old City wine bar and kitchen on St Stephen's Street in Bristol, pairing fresh pasta with an all-Italian wine list.

Eat a Pitta

• ★ 4.1
• Falafel
• £

Order The falafel box with everything on, halloumi added if you are hungry.

Eat a Pitta's Glass Arcade counter at St Nicholas Market is Bristol's falafel institution, piling boxes with salads, hummus and pomegranate seeds.

Three Brothers Burgers

• ★ 3.9
• Burgers
• ££

Order The Big Messy with a river-deck seat; monthly specials rotate hard.

Three Brothers Burgers grills its patties on a moored barge at Welsh Back in Bristol, from the Big Messy to a vegan tandoori tempeh special.

Small Street Espresso

• ★ 4.5
• Café
• £

Order Espresso on the Clifton Coffee house roast

Small Street Espresso has poured Bristol's benchmark flat whites in a slim Old City room since 2012, rotating guest roasters past its house Clifton beans.

Dareshack

• ★ 4.0
• Café
• ££

Order Speciality filter during a gallery show

Dareshack folds a speciality coffee bar into a 4,000 square foot studio and gallery on Wine Street, giving central Bristol its arts-crowd living room.

Full Court Press

• ★ 4.4
• Coffee roaster
• £

Order Weekly-changing single-origin espresso

Full Court Press rotates a weekly-changing line-up of small-lot coffees through its Broad Street bar, Bristol's most studious cup of filter since 2014.

Ahh Toots

• ★ 4.2
• Bakery
• ££

Order Whatever showpiece cake slice is in the counter that week

Ahh Toots decorates Bristol's most painterly cakes by the Christmas Steps, a small counter of patisserie, brownies and made-to-order showpieces.

The Apple

• ★ 4.5
• Cider bar
• £

Drink A pint of still farmhouse cider on the top deck

The Apple pours dozens of farmhouse ciders from a converted Dutch barge on Welsh Back, the floating heart of Bristol's cider drinking culture.

The Milk Thistle

• ★ 4.5
• Speakeasy
• £££

Drink A whisky cocktail from the hidden vault list

The Milk Thistle stacks four floors of hidden cocktail rooms behind an unmarked Colston Avenue door, Bristol's grand speakeasy with a whisky vault.

The Bank Tavern

• ★ 4.4
• Pub
• ££

Drink A local ale while you wait years for a roast table

The Bank Tavern hides down a John Street alley in Bristol with an award-named Sunday lunch so popular its roast bookings sell out a year ahead.

The Old Duke

• ★ 4.4
• Jazz pub
• £

Drink A pint of ale with the trad jazz band three feet away

The Old Duke runs free live jazz and blues every night of the week on King Street, a Bristol institution in a cobbled-street pub dating from around 1775.

The Famous Royal Navy Volunteer

• ★ 4.3
• Craft beer pub
• ££

Drink Whatever rotating UK keg line is about to run out

The Famous Royal Navy Volunteer runs 36 all-UK beer and cider lines inside a 1673 King Street building, Bristol's Grade II listed craft beer flagship.

The Beer Emporium

• ★ 4.2
• Beer bar
• ££

Drink A cask pour from the 32 underground lines

The Beer Emporium runs 32 keg and cask lines in vaulted cellars under King Street, the underground bar of Bristol's self-styled Beermuda Triangle.

The Christmas Steps

• ★ 4.2
• Pub
• ££

Drink A local craft pint on the medieval stairway

The Christmas Steps pours local craft beer in a c1600 building on Bristol's medieval stairway street, with a free jukebox and a serious kitchen.

The Mothers' Ruin

• ★ 3.9
• Dive bar
• £

Drink A gin in the sticker-covered back room

The Mothers' Ruin is Bristol's beloved St Nicholas Street dive, a gin-named grotto of band stickers, late pints and impromptu gigs upstairs.

Seamus O'Donnell's

• ★ 3.9
• Irish pub
• £

Drink A properly settled Guinness during the session

Seamus O'Donnell's keeps trad sessions and slow-poured Guinness alive on St Nicholas Street, the Irish snug of Bristol's Old City bar crawl.

Eatchu

• ★ 4.2
• Japanese
• £

Try Handmade gyoza

Eatchu fries and steams handmade gyoza on Exchange Avenue at St Nicholas Market, Bristol's Great Taste-winning dumpling counter since its stall days.

Matina

• ★ 4.4
• Middle Eastern
• £

Try Chargrilled meat or halloumi in fresh-baked naan

Matina bakes naan to order and stuffs it with chargrilled lamb, chicken or halloumi, the queue that defines lunch at Bristol's St Nicholas Market.

Portuguese Taste

• ★ 4.0
• Portuguese
• £

Try Pastel de nata and feijoada

Portuguese Taste ladles feijoada and stacks pastel de nata in the Glass Arcade, St Nicholas Market's little corner of Lisbon in central Bristol.

Cafe Atlas

• ★ 3.9
• Moroccan
• £

Try Tagine with couscous and mint tea

Cafe Atlas slow-cooks tagines and pours fresh mint tea at St Nicholas Market, bringing Marrakech lunch plates and baklava to Bristol's Glass Arcade.

Caribbean Wrap

• ★ 4.0
• Caribbean
• £

Try Jerk chicken wrap and curry goat

Caribbean Wrap rolls jerk chicken and curry goat into lunch at St Nicholas Market, Bristol's quick daytime fix of the city's Caribbean kitchens.

Low and Slow

• ★ 4.0
• American BBQ
• £

Try Pulled pork, brisket and jackfruit boxes

Low and Slow smokes pulled pork and brisket for St Nicholas Market lunchboxes, Bristol barbecue counter cooking with a jackfruit option for herbivores.

Spice Up Your Life

• ★ 3.8
• Indian
• £

Try Home-style curry with rice and sides

Spice Up Your Life serves home-style curries from St Nicholas Market's Exchange Hall, the long-running budget curry counter of central Bristol.

Chilli Daddy

• ★ 4.2
• Sichuan
• £

Try Sichuan noodle boxes and dandan noodles

Chilli Daddy numbs Bristol with Sichuan pepper at its Baldwin Street restaurant, noodle boxes and dandan noodles built on family recipes from Sichuan.

Zero Degrees

• ★ 3.7
• Brewery
• ££

Zero Degrees brews lagers and ales under its own steel tanks on Colston Street, the central Bristol brewpub that pairs house beers with wood-fired pizzas.

St Nicholas Market

• ★ 4.7
• £

St Nicholas Market has traded under the Exchange since 1743 and now packs Bristol's densest lunch mile into its Glass Arcade and covered halls.

St Nicks Street Food Market

• ★ 4.0
• £

The Street Food Market spills St Nicholas Market's traders onto Corn Street and Wine Street on first Fridays, Bristol's open-air lunch hour.

Bristol Indies' Market

• ★ 3.7
• £

The Bristol Indies' Market runs six days a week beside St Nicholas Market, an outdoor line of local makers and small food traders on Corn Street.

Sandwich Sandwich

• ★ 4.2
• Sandwich
• £

Try Stacked deli sandwich

Sandwich Sandwich stacks Bristol's most argued-over lunch on Baldwin Street, a family deli founded in 2012 that won Time Out's national Sammie Slam.

Strange Brew

• ★ 4.2
• ££

Strange Brew mixes club nights, gigs and art shows in its Fairfax Street event space, the connoisseur's small room of central Bristol's night-time scene.

Bambalan

• ★ 4.0
• ££

Bambalan spreads Bristol's biggest sun terrace across the Beacon Tower podium, tacos and frozen cocktails soundtracked by summer day parties.

Queenshilling

• ★ 4.0
• ££

Queenshilling has flown the flag on Frogmore Street for decades as Bristol's long-running LGBTQ+ club, with pop-heavy weekend nights and karaoke specials.