Restaurant in Bristol, United Kingdom
Two Bib Gourmands. Prices that rarely match the quality.
OTHER in Bedminster holds back-to-back Michelin Bib Gourmands (2024–2025) and a 4.9 Google rating, all at a ££ price point that is genuinely hard to find at this level of cooking. Chef Zak Hitchman's short, constantly changing sharing menu draws on training at Ynyshir and Casamia but delivers it in a casual, orange-walled bistro where the bill rarely stings. Book a week or two out for weekends.
This small sharing-plates bistro in Bedminster, Bristol's graffiti-decorated inner-south neighbourhood, holds two consecutive Michelin Bib Gourmand awards (2024 and 2025) and charges at the ££ price point. That combination is rare enough that booking here should be your first move, not your fallback option.
Book OTHER if you want technically accomplished small-plates cooking at a price that makes the bill feel almost implausibly low. The Michelin Bib Gourmand is awarded specifically for good cooking at moderate prices, and OTHER earns it. If you are looking for a white-tablecloth occasion or a fixed tasting menu with wine pairings, this is not that restaurant. But for a loose, sociable, share-everything dinner with genuinely skilled cooking underneath the casual surface, it is one of the stronger arguments Bristol has right now.
The room is small and deliberately low-key: bright orange walls, bare-topped tables pushed together for communal dining, bespoke framed prints, and an eclectic soundtrack that sets the energy without overwhelming conversation. The atmosphere reads as carefully curated casualness rather than accidental informality. The noise level is lively but manageable, which makes it a reasonable choice for a date or a small celebration where you still want to talk across the table. It would be a stretch for a quiet business dinner, but for a birthday or an anniversary where the mood matters as much as the formality, it works well.
Chef Zak Hitchman trained at Ynyshir and Casamia, two of the most technically demanding kitchens in Wales and Bristol respectively, and the menu at OTHER is his deliberate step away from that register. The restaurant is named Other precisely because the menu resists a single category: the cooking draws on Japanese, Southeast Asian, Mediterranean, and Central European references without committing to any of them. The result is a short, frequently changing list built around snacks, sharing plates, a daily fish special, and a couple of larger options.
The structure works like an informal tasting arc rather than a fixed sequence. You might begin with homemade crisps alongside satay and aïoli dips, move through tempura pollock with beer-braised tomatoes and harissa, or roast carrots with cavolo nero pesto, radicchio, chickpeas and feta, then pivot to something like a deconstructed bánh mì with char-siu pork belly or a celeriac version for the table's non-meat eaters. The menu is short enough that three hungry people could order across the whole list, which is the right way to approach it. This is not a restaurant where you choose a main and two sides; it is a restaurant where the table decides together and the progression of dishes lands in whatever order the kitchen sends them.
Where Hitchman's technical background becomes most visible is in the desserts. A poppyseed doughnut or a set lemon custard with a crisp rye digestive biscuit layer, citrus jam, and toasted Italian meringue are not the desserts of a casual bistro running on autopilot. They are the desserts of a chef who has made the deliberate choice to apply real skill at a price point that does not demand it. If the hot and sour crab sauce appears anywhere on the menu during your visit, the Michelin notes are clear: order it without hesitation.
The drinks list is intentionally minimal: six wines by the glass alongside local beers from Good Chemistry Brewing and Wiper and True. The wines carry the same value-conscious logic as the food. If you are used to restaurants where the drinks list is where the margins are rebuilt, OTHER is a departure from that. Everything, food and drink, comes at a price that makes the Bib Gourmand feel well-calibrated rather than complimentary.
Booking at OTHER is relatively easy compared to the city's higher-demand tables. The restaurant is small, which means the room fills, but you are not competing with the weeks-out wait that venues like Bulrush or Adelina Yard require. A week or two of lead time is sensible, particularly for weekend evenings. The address is 32 Cannon Street, Bedminster, BS3 1BN, a short distance from Bristol city centre by bus or a ten-minute cab ride from the waterfront. The neighbourhood is unpretentious and the restaurant fits it: there is no dress code expectation and no pressure to perform occasion-dressing. Smart casual is more than sufficient.
For broader Bristol dining context, Pearl's full Bristol restaurants guide covers the city's range across all price points, and the Bristol hotels guide, bars guide, experiences guide, and wineries guide are useful for planning around your dinner. If you are coming from further afield and benchmarking against Michelin-recognised UK venues, the comparable casual-Bib register is closer to Hand and Flowers in Marlow than to the full-tasting-menu formality of L'Enclume in Cartmel or Moor Hall in Aughton. For internationally comparable sharing-format venues at a similar register, IGNIV Zürich by Andreas Caminada and Cobra in Antwerp offer useful reference points for what chef-driven sharing menus can look like at different budget levels.
OTHER is the kind of restaurant that is easy to overlook on paper and hard to forget after you have eaten there. Two Bib Gourmands, a 4.9 Google rating, and a price range that puts it within reach of a regular Thursday dinner rather than a twice-a-year event: the case for booking is clear. Go for a small group who want to order freely, leave room for dessert, and do not need a set tasting structure to feel like the evening has been worthwhile.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OTHER | Sharing | If you were to ask Chef Zak Hitchman what kind of food he cooks, you may not get a clear answer, such is the variety of influences that he skilfully adopts. That’s borne out here in a playful, constantly changing menu served inside this small, modish bistro with bright orange walls. If there’s anything on the menu involving the hot and sour crab sauce, don’t hesitate in ordering it, as it’s the perfect encapsulation of the kitchen’s understanding of flavour. Everything, including the wines, comes with an appealing price tag and the friendly service is the icing on the cake.; Kitsch, colourful and extremely good value, this small-plates diner from Casamia's former head chef Zak Hitchman fits right into its graffiti-splattered Bedminster surroundings. Bright orange walls are adorned with bespoke framed prints, while most of the bare-topped tables are pushed together for communal dining. An eclectic soundtrack and friendly service add to the casual, if carefully curated, vibe. Named ‘Other’ to reflect its difficult-to-define menu, Hitchman’s plan is to cook what he likes and change things up regularly. Despite his training at Ynyshir and Casamia, this is far from fine dining – and all the better for it. The bulk of the menu is snacks and sharing plates, ranging from homemade crisps with sinfully moreish satay and aïoli dips to tempura pollock with beer-braised tomatoes and harissa or roast carrots with cavolo nero pesto, radicchio, chickpeas and feta. A daily fish special and a couple of larger options (perhaps a deconstructed bánh mì with either char-siu pork belly or celeriac) round things off. The menu is short enough that three hungry people could eat the lot, though it's worth leaving space for dessert, where Hitchman’s technical skill is given free rein in, say, a poppyseed doughnut or a set lemon custard covered with a crisp layer of rye digestive biscuit, citrus jam and toasted Italian meringue. The minimal drinks list offers six wines by the glass as well as local beers from Good Chemistry Brewing and Wiper & True.; Michelin Bib Gourmand (2025); Michelin Bib Gourmand (2024) | Easy | — |
| Bulrush | Modern British | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| BOX-E | Modern British | Unknown | — | |
| Little Hollows Pasta | Italian | Unknown | — | |
| Wilsons | Modern British | Unknown | — | |
| Blaise Inn | Traditional Cuisine | Unknown | — |
Comparing your options in Bristol for this tier.
The menu rotates frequently and covers a wide range of ingredients, from tempura pollock to roast carrots with feta, which means there are usually options across different dietary needs. That said, the kitchen changes dishes regularly, so it is worth contacting them directly before booking if you have a specific restriction. The sharing format can make it harder to navigate multiple restrictions at a single table compared to a traditional à la carte setup.
Yes, clearly. Two consecutive Michelin Bib Gourmands (2024 and 2025) are awarded specifically for quality cooking at a fair price, and OTHER earns both. Chef Zak Hitchman trained at Ynyshir and Casamia, two of the most technically demanding kitchens in the UK, and the ££ price range means you are getting that level of skill without the bill that typically follows it. For what the kitchen delivers, it is difficult to find comparable value in Bristol.
Come as you are. The room has bare-topped communal tables, bright orange walls, and a graffiti-splattered Bedminster setting — dress code is whatever you would wear to a good neighbourhood bistro. Turning up in anything formal would feel out of place.
If anything involving the hot and sour crab sauce appears on the menu, order it — Michelin's own description singles it out as the clearest example of how the kitchen understands flavour. Do not skip dessert: Hitchman's technical background shows most clearly there, in dishes like a set lemon custard with rye digestive, citrus jam, and toasted Italian meringue. The menu is short enough that three people can work through most of it, so ordering broadly is the right approach.
It works well for a low-key celebration where the food is the point, not the setting. The communal tables and casual room mean it does not carry the formal occasion feel of somewhere like Bulrush. If you want a more private or structured dining experience for a milestone event, OTHER is not the call — but for a birthday dinner where you want serious cooking without the ceremony, it fits.
Bulrush is the obvious step up in formality and price if you want a more structured tasting format. BOX-E is a similarly intimate, chef-led room with a strong reputation for value. Wilsons has a comparable neighbourhood ethos with a focus on natural wines and produce-driven cooking. If your priority is casual and affordable over technically ambitious, Little Hollows Pasta is a straightforward alternative.
OTHER does not operate a fixed tasting menu. The format is snacks and sharing plates, with a short menu that changes regularly. Three hungry people can eat most of the menu in a single sitting, which functions similarly to a tasting experience without the formal structure. If a set tasting menu is what you are after, Bulrush is the more appropriate Bristol option.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
