Sunday lunch@Greens, Bristol

We are meeting Edda at Greens in Bristol for Sunday lunch. The Good Food Guide describes Greens as a ‘welcoming bistro with wonderful food’ and some of Edda’s colleagues have told her that it is ‘amazing’. We can’t wait to see Edda and we are definitely looking forward to a colourful lunch.

We arrive first and the restaurant is quiet with only two other sets of diners. Edda soon arrives, and so do other diners, as the place starts to get into the lunchtime swing. Greens has a set lunch menu, a Sunday lunch menu and a vegetarian menu. A kaleidoscope of choice for all.

Edda picks the carrot & leek roulade with Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes & vegetables that include a vibrant purple cabbage. I have the pan-fried sea bass with Jerusalem artichoke puree, roasted tenderstem broccoli and a citrus sauce that brings orange & lemon to my dish. Rock goes for the fillet of pollock with chickpea casserole, cavolo nero & pancetta. We also share a side dish of broccoli in a superb golden yellow hollandaise with chestnuts. The sea-bass and pollock are cooked perfectly and all the dishes are well put together with beautiful purees and sauces.

For dessert Rock tries the vanilla pannacotta with a red citrus compote. Edda has the blackberry sorbet and, as it’s my turn to be seasonal, I pick the christmas pudding tart with brandy cream. The white pannacotta is delicate and sublime to taste – plus it passes the important ‘wobble’ test. The sorbet is both rich in taste and colour. The tart is full of spiced fruit and surrounded by melt-in-the-mouth pastry. We are over the rainbow and having a blast.

Dinner @ The Star Inn, Sparsholt

Tonight we are meeting our good friends José and Matilde for dinner at the Star Inn at Sparsholt. There has been a pub on this site for over 300 years and now the Star has really put Sparsholt on the map by being ranked 26^th in the Good Food Guide’s top 50 pubs of 2015.

José and I both choose the crispy crab and black pepper cakes with lime and ginger dressing to start. Rock picks a simple Heritage tomato and mozzarella dish, while Matilde goes for the confit rabbit leg terrine with orange, plum and pecan nut bread. The crab dish is beautiful and given a real zing by lime jelly cubes. Matilde’s terrine is smooth and flavoursome – Rock tastes it and wishes she had been more adventurous with her choice of starter.

According to José, we are being served by a young woman that looks like a character from a film he once watched – particularly when she removes her spectacles. José’s attention moves quickly back to the food with the arrival of his Kelmscott farm pork fillet and belly with sweetcorn, spring onion and air dried tomato.

Pan seared fillet of grey mullet with baby squid, squid ink linguine and fennel arrives for Matilde. Braised Jacob’s ladder of beef with girolle mushroom, watercress and turnip for me and truffle, mascarpone and mozzarella arancini balls with chive and baby leek for Rock. All the dishes are beautifully presented and taste as good as they look.

We all share recent experiences – some good, some not so good – about buying laptops, downloading apps and streaming music. Dessert is also a sharing event. José and Matilde share the Valrhona caramélia chocolate cheesecake with Williams pear sorbet. Rock and I share the apricot parfait with apricot nectar and pine nut ice cream. We all have coffee and share some fabulous home-made chocolate petit fours.

The atmosphere and the service has been very good but, most importantly for us, the food and the company has been great!