The Brass Pig, Clifton, Bristol

Official site of The Brass Pig - www.instagram.com

Official site of The Brass Pig - www.instagram.com

Situated on a large plot on the corner of Clifton’s triangle, this site was formerly occupied by La Tasca. It’s really more of a bar/restaurant than your traditional pub though, although it’s not obviously food orientated like many places. It’s a good sized pub on two levels. As you walk in the front door you can go down a few steps to the lower level, or up a few to the higher one. This central entrance/staircase has a large crystal lampshade hanging down from the ceiling almost to the floor. The lower bar is the cosier of the two with dark wooden flooring and several leather sofa’s dotted around. Upstairs feels somewhat lighter, with rough white washed plaster work on the walls with wood panelling lower down. There was a lot of open space with a few tables, chairs and sofas dotted around. A plasma screen in one corner was showing a film from DVD on loop, which meant I saw the end before the beginning. To the left was a raised area with a few more tables and a baby grand piano. Running along the front of the pub on this upper level was a balcony with infra-red heaters which was a popular spot for the smokers, even though the only view was the traffic. Folding windows along the entire front of the pub presumably open up in the warmer weather. The food offering was a little more unusual than your traditional “pub grub”, with dishes such as Chicken Parmigiana, Thai Fish Cakes, Pan-fried Duck Breast and Grilled Pork Loin. That said, there were a couple of more pubby options such as a burger and a blackboard offered a choice of pizza’s. Mains were mostly around the £8 - £10 mark, and whilst the food was ”ok”, we both felt it somewhat bland. My BBQ Chicken Pizza had no discernable BBQ taste for example. Bar staff seemed helpful and efficient though, and a jug of “free” water arrived with our food. No ales on tap unfortunately, real or otherwise. Unless you count Stella Black, I don’t really know what that is. They had Thatcher’s Gold cider though, so I wasn’t too disappointed.