Jay Rayner is a big fan of the city’s indie restaurant scene
Other, a new restaurant on Cannon Street(Image: Other)
In his latest review, renowned food critic Jay Rayner has offered Bristol the highest of honours, urging it to “don’t ever change”.
In his review of the Cannon Street restaurant Other – which was described by BristolLive as “already a hidden gem” shortly after its opening – he asked if Bristol was “the best city in the UK for indie restaurants” and appeared to answer in his column that it certainly looked (and tasted) like it.
Jay begins his review noting that the “people of Bristol like to eat well, in the way fish like water” adding that the city is “infested with small but perfectly formed independent restaurants which stay that way”.
He noted a fellow reviewer, Bristol-based journalist Meg Houghton-Gilmour, who suggested that instead of frequenting London-based chains, there was always a better local alternative.
He notes how head chef Zak Hitchman previously ran the kitchen at the now closed Casamia, a Michelin-starred restaurant, but says “this is a different proposition”.
Inside Other on Cannon Street(Image: Other)
He explains: “The food, like the red ceiling and the bright orange walls, isn’t subtle or demure. It doesn’t know what the words mean. The menu practically vibrates with vigour and enthusiasm. But it’s also comforting. It’s food designed to set you right at the end of a trying day.”
He goes onto described a mouth-watering array of fayre he sampled, including thick-cut crisps, Indian spiced aioli, prawn toast, minced spiced chicken, sweet-sour dill pickled cucumbers, smoked cleriac, slices of piggy lardo, bitter radicchio and blood orange.
He remarks: “This parade of big-fisted ingredients heaped one atop the other could feel like a house party where nobody is watching the door for gate-crashers. But Hitchman has the good taste to know the difference between plenty and too much. He always stops at plenty.”
Inside Other on Cannon Street(Image: Other)
Jay goes on to offer his only negative of the visit regarding the main course, suggesting the char siu pork chop was a little overcooked, but adds that this was the “only mis-step of the night”.
He returns to his happy place during his meal at Other – which he describes as “joyful, inventive and undeniably cool” – with the “much-loved” desserts and notes how all the beers are local to Bristol.
He adds: “Perhaps this neon-bright dining room with its flamboyant food and ineffable cool sounds like a lot. Perhaps it sounds like a little too much. But then not every restaurant has to be for every night. Other only seats a few dozen but those seats are full. It’s really not hard to see why.”
Keen to try more of Bristol’s delicious food, he evidently decided to head to Wapping Wharf for a quick lunch at Ragù – also reviewed by Bristol Live’s Ellie Kendall when it opened in April 2025 – which he describes as a “small-plates Italian” housed in a former shipping container.
Jey wrote of sampling “bouncy slabs of focaccia with whipped butter under generous gratings of bottarga, and deep-fried artichokes in the Roman style, their trimmed leaves browned and curling”.
Inside Ragu at Cargo 2, Wapping Wharf(Image: Paul Gillis/Reach Plc)
He informs FT readers that “candy-coloured slices of trout crudo come doused in a dressing of blood orange and heavily aromatic olive oil.
“Spears of asparagus, the very green of spring, are smeared with anchovy. New potatoes have been boiled, burst open then deep fried. And all of this served in a space which could once have been filled with consumer electronics or the worst disposable fashions en route from Shanghai or Shenzhen.
Ragu opened in April 2025 at Cargo 2 in Wapping Wharf(Image: Paul Gillis/Reach Plc)
“Instead, it’s now a chilled place riffing on the rustic Italian repertoire.
“Oh Bristol, don’t ever change.”