It has been a long time since I had such a great dining experience. This evening in COR, We ordered 6 dishes(including bread), and every single one of them made me uncontrollably spill out the words – ‘Oh my God, it’s so good…Wow! It’s really tasty…Oishiii!!!…I’ve never had anything like this before……How can they cook that?’
COR – a Rising Star in Bristol
COR, is a small restaurant run by a husband-and-wife team who moved from Australia years before. After being the Executive Chef in several popular restaurants in Bristol, Mark brought over 16 years’ experience to open his first restaurant in the vibrant North Street, Bristol.
It has only been opened for 10 months, but it has got the attention form the Michelin, and was awarded with the Michelin Bib Gourmand.
With a strong and good start, gaining more and more popular in Bristol, finally I’ve got a chance to savour every mouthful.
They serve small plates, like a tapas style for sharing. The menu is in a good size, in my point of view – not too big, so you can focus on cooking; not too small, so customers have enough choices.
The Food We Ordered
January Margarita £6
With lime, orange, grapefruit and salt. Decently made an alcohol-free aperitif.
Sourdough with black garlic butter £5
The bread was not homemade, it’s from a local bakery. But it didn’t matter because it lived up to standard. The only thing I want to emphasise is, the black garlic butter was CRAZILY good! It was super light, silky and cream, and left nothing oily on your tongue. I highly recommend!
Small Plates
Croquette, fontina & caramelised onion £3.5 (Today’s special)
The waitress told us with her eyes closed ‘this is soooooooo good! I’ve never had such a good croquette before.’ Turned out she was right! Its ‘shell’ was so thin and crunchy, holding the cheese and onion puree inside. Heaven.
Savoury canelé, peas & gruyere & jamon £7.9 (Today’s special)
This was my fav at this dinner. First, I’ve never had a canelé that’s savoury; second, the combination of everything was genius! Cut the canelé in half , oh my! It’s pea cream! Pierce a little bit of everything into a fork, the jamon’s umami, plus some bites from the canelé, plus the peas’ sweetness, plus the smooth texture and moistness from the cream……altogether, and I can keep going on and on……
Cured Devon scallop, pickled fennel, granny smith, basil, mint £9.9
I was slightly disappointed with the size at first sight, and started to regret ordering this dish since the scallops were cut quite thin……But, once again, the flavour spoke for itself. When you have all the elements in a mouthful, the harmonies of the flavour saves this dish.
Larger Plates
Cornish cuttlefish cooked over fire, sobrasada, tximitxurri £15.9
Difficult words there, right? I know.
Sobrasada is like a cured sausage spread made with ground pork, paprika, salt and spices. And tximitxurri, aka chimichurri, is made from parsley, garlic, olive oil, oregano and vinegar. So the sobrasada gave you some kicks, while tximiturri provided an herbal flavour and mild acidity.
The cuttlefish itself was very tender. Again, overall, the flavour profiles were so diversified and the only way to respect the food, is to keep eating and praising ‘how come it’s so good?’
Hereford beef Babette, Tropea onion, hazelnut beurre noisette, gorgonzola, jus £19.9
Last but not least, a large plate finally arrived when we were almost full (same mistake again, ordered too much…).
The beef was a bit chewy because it’s a flank. But it was tender, not tough. Together with the sweet Tropea onion, which is exclusively grown in Calabria, in South Italy, accompanied by the hazelnut butter and jus, you can tell it was a lot of effort and skill to put inside this beautiful dish.
Again, one’s eyes are bigger than their belly. I was gutted not being able to order dessert. They look so good on Instagram!
Luckily, they change the menu monthly and now I have an excuse to go back.
They open on Monday also.
Advance online reservations are recommended, but they also take walk-ins. Just bear in mind that there is a higher chance of being seated at the bar, or noback-seating by the window.
