Immediately upon booking in a trip to Bristol, A and I began planning where to eat. And so I have been looking forward to visiting the much lauded, Michelin starred, Paco Tapas, for many, many months. Paco is the latest restaurant from the Sanchez Group. It sits beside its cooler, more casual cousin the Pi Shop and its sexier, older sister Casamia, boasting two Michelin stars, like older siblings so often do.
Opened in November 2016, the restaurant gained its star less than a year later, no small achievement. It’s a tiny space, just 30 covers, all at counter height, with an even smaller kitchen. The focus is on Andalusia flavours and wood fired cooking.
Arriving for our 9pm booking, we watch numerous, disappointed diners being turned away, having made the journey to the somewhat barren area around the old Bristol General hospital.
Menus here change frequently and hand written additions are scrawled beside the typeface on the menus. Sadly, for us, there are several scored through; lesson learned, book an earlier table, if you can.
We start with cocktails. A and M play it safe with Barrel Aged Paco Negronis and, upon a single sip, we unanimously declare them the best we have ever tasted, the depth and smoothness like none other and , you should be made aware, these boys have drunk a lot of Negronis. I take the recommended Paco Daiquiri and do not regret a single sip of it. It’s fresh, sherbetty and vibrant.
When we order, I ask Zenko, our waiter, to pace the delivery as it is a source of irritation to me when all the small plates arrive at once and perch precariously on a table designed for more traditional non sharing dishes. I needn’t have worried. Service is impeccable, it’s warm and friendly. Zenko talks about both the food and drinks with real love. The pace is perfect, plates and cutlery are changed often, everything feels effortless and that, we all know, takes real commitment, passion and hard work.
Olives are fat, salty and soft. Bread is generously bathed in very good, almost green olive oil and flecked with jewels of salt.
Jamon croquetas are one of my favourite things to eat, they do not disappoint. They arrive warm but not scalding, allowing us to greedily devour them. The rich béchamel is studded with hunks of sweet, salty ham. We mourn that the crab croquetas have already sold out. Although at £3.25 each, yes £3.25 each, our grief is short lived.
Mangecho is served with honeycomb that is lightly floral, not overly sweet, it’s a clever pairing.
Z brings us a tortilla that is quite simply oozing flavour, it has the wobble of jelly, the inside soft and golden. We mop it up with some very good bread.
Clean plates bring us three enormous gambas al ajillio, they are smokey from the grill, the flavours are rich and intense as we suck on the heads and then tear into the tender, luscious tails.
Leek and Romesco arrives charred, coal-like on the outside. Underneath the blackened outer layers, it’s soft, candy sweet.The Romesco is simply the best I have ever tasted, the combination of sweet pepper and crunchy hazelnuts (I think) was an explosion of joy in my mouth.
Our final vegetable dish was chestnut mushrooms and Oloroso (sherry), the depth of flavour in this unassuming little dish was magical. We asked for a spoon so we could drink the sauce, it was so meaty, earthy and umami it was hard to believe it was just two ingredients.
Meat came firstly as quail stuffed with Sobrassada and dates. The quail is perfectly cooked, confitted then cooked on the grill, this love and skill shown during cooking ensures it’s juicy on the inside and smokey. The slightly heat of Sobrassada and sweetness of dates never overwhelm the little bird. I loved this dish.
We finish with the Duroc pork ribs. They are every thing pork should be, fatty, juicy, finger-licking, sweet, salty, unctuous, I’ll stop here. I just wish they were bigger but that’s only because I’m greedy.
There are two desserts, we order both along with a glass of Sherry. At just £5 a glass, any glass, it would be rude not too.
Chocolate mousse is light and sumptuous but confirms that I definitely don’t like olive oil on my desserts.
Crème Catalan is fragrant and gently spiced with ginger and fennel seeds; we fight over the last spoonful.
I have only good things to say about Paco. The service was impeccable, the food stunning, the bill entirely acceptable at about £240 for five cocktails, three sherries, one bottle of wine, food and tip. There should be more places like Paco, it’s really brought some Andalusian sunshine to my life.