Caper and Cure, Bristol restaurant review

Jamon butter. Crab butter. Mushroom butter. Marmite butter. Scampi Fries butter. Doner kebab butter.

Is there anything that can't be turned into a gourmet spread to be slathered over sourdough?

I've eaten and loved the first four in the above list. Now I'm waiting for a restaurant to turn the latter two dreams into reality.

Bristol's Caper & Cure would be a very good candidate for the job as their jamon and crab butters are both absolute corkers.

With glowing reviews from national restaurant critics and fellow food bloggers alike, Caper and Cure has been on my to nosh list for over a year.

It joins a ridiculous number of acclaimed places in the city which I'm keen to visit soon including Little Hollows, Bianchis, Sonny Stores, the Little French, Cor, Bokman, Bulrush, Adelina Yard, Box-E, Tare and Noah's... I could go on.

Located in the uber-hip area of Stoke's Croft, Caper & Cure is a neighbourhood restaurant which puts their produce front and centre. A map of Europe dominates one wall of their intimate dining room, showcasing where they source their ingredients from; there's asaparagus from the Wye Valley, wine from Somerset, scallops from orkney and a selection of beers from Bristol. The passion for produce extends to the front of house team too who all radiate knowledge and passion for the food and booze they're serving.

Caper & Cure's compact menu of modern bistro cooking is all thriller and no filler. Dishes I want to bury my face into include cheddar and lardon croquetas, St Austell mussels with cider and bay, onglet steak with anchovy cream, and honey and vanilla panna cotta.

Snacks set the standard for the rest of the meal. Jamon butter (£5) would have been more appropriately named buttered jamon such was the pork content of this spread. Blitzed up jamon lubricated with a nominal amount of butter was delicious spread over the soft sourdough.

Slices of tender-as-it-gets braised octopus (£6.50) were dressed with a vibrant, delicately acidic chimichurri - it was a dreamy snack for a warm sunny evening.

Onto starters and a tumble Isle of Wight tomatoes (£9) of all sizes and colours were paired with creamy burrata and punchy black olive tapenade.

Crab butter (£12) was the dish which sang loudest to me on the entire menu, combining two of my favourite ingredients. It lived up to its name - a crab shell was filled with a glossy warm butter sauce flecked with heaps of sweet crustacean. Sourdough bread was a handy tool for ferreting every last drop of butter out of every nook and cranny of the shell.

Mains were very good but didn't quite hit the same highs as snacks and starters.

A precisely cooked fillet of meaty hake (£24) was served with tender spuds, broccoli and a vibrant salsa verde butter sauce with plenty of basil. It was a familiar dish executed very well.

Blushing pink and stupidly tender pork tenderloin (£23), stock rich lentils, a crispy disc of morcilla and hispi cabbage all jostled for attention with a mammoth flavoured chorizo sauce with a big hit of paprika. Every component on the plate was delicious in its own right but the delicate pork was a little lost behind the potent sauce.

Desserts were both belters.

Silky pistachio custard (£9) was topped with delicate brûléed caramel layer and served with a scattering of nuts and buttery shortbread pieces. 

An excellent selection (£10) of Cashel Blue, ripe and funky Rollright and Cornish Yarg with crackers and chutney was generous for its price.

We had a lush evening at Caper and Cure. It's the kind of neighbourhood restaurant which you'd be lucky to have around the corner.

The Details:

Address - Caper and Cure, 108A Stokes Croft, Cotham, Bristol BS1 3RU

Web - https://www.caperandcure.co.uk/visit

Telephone - 0117 923 2858