Pasture, Bristol

Official site of Pasture - www.pasturerestaurant.com

Official site of Pasture - www.pasturerestaurant.com

A recent opening on what was for many years the site of the Byzantium restaurant, and then a short lived Thai restaurant known as Bangkok Joes if I remember correctly, a restaurant does still feature here but it is confined to the upper floor with the downstairs being very much a bar. First impressions might suggest otherwise with a greeter stood at a lectern by the door, but you were certainly more than welcome to just proceed to the bar for a drink. First impressions at the bar were also not positive with no taps being visible, so I assumed that only bottled drinks were available. On closer inspection however, there was a bank of taps on the wall behind the bar and these offered some interesting keg options from local micros. It’s all one large open plan room, with a cutaway section in the centre of the ceiling giving views of the restaurant above. Flooring is some attractive slabs that look almost like old flagstones, with a large octagonal tiled section in the middle being something of a feature. The bar counter at the rear was copper clad and marble topped, whilst the walls were a mixture of plain cream plasterwork on the left and roughly sawn boards on the right giving a more rustic feel. These were liberally covered with empty picture frames for some reason, whist a large floral artwork decorated the curving staircase. Seating was a mixture of high turquoise stools and padded bench seating around the perimeter. Large windows at the front gave good views of the magnificent church opposite. Beers were all keg as mentioned previously and were listed on a blackboard at the end of the bar. On this occasion they included Kaleidoscope and Quintet from Wiper & True, along with Nor’ Hop and Claudia Wheat Beer from Moor Beer. There was also a Keler Pils lager from another Bristol micro, Lost and Grounded. Ciders meanwhile were Stan’s Big Apple and Old Rascal from Thatcher’s, the latter of which went down very well.