Bristol - Cafe Poco

Cafe Poco is a great wee tapas bar that's found opposite the Canteen on Gloucester Road. The kitchen is placed much like a bar, in the middle of the room, and all down one side of the wood panelling is a huge array of fresh fruit and veg. I occasionally saw the chef wander out and deliberate over for it while, before plucking a unpeeled beetroot from the pile.

The menu had a huge variety of both hot and cold tapas, (as well as puddings), and it was all written on a massive blackboard on the back wall. Up on here they also had what sounded like foraged juices - namely Dandelion and Burdock, and Apple and Rhubarb. I alighted on the latter, which was delicious, as although the apple made it sweet the rhubarb then made it zingy, and it has spurred me to make rhubarb crumble very soon.

We ordered a lot of food... We got the traditional warm hummus with flatbreads, the manchego and membrillo, beetroot, butternut squash and chickpeas, and the pork belly.

It was all delicious. And always like with tapas, although I have suspicions that it won't fill me up, the act of picking and choosing and the slow way in which you approach your meal means that it always does. The hummus was probably my favourite part, and was fairly similar to that at Yalla Yalla, which had me holla-ing from the rooftops. (A review for which was written in January). However, the pork belly was a close contender, as it was cooked with lime and fennel and had the best crackling ever.

We then seriously indulged, getting a chilli hot chocolate each and sharing a pomegranate molasses brownie. The chilli in the hot chocolate had a proper kick and when I drained the mug my face may have shown momentary alarm as the chilli residue invaded my mouth. This was, however, only momentary, and subsided swiftly to a warming, pleasant feeling. The brownie had the pomegranate molasses inside it, and not just as a topping, which slightly baffled us with the first few bites - we couldn't work out what that errant taste was - but with creme fraiche it really worked, and made it a moist and yummy brownie with a twist.

As ever, if you order wildly it could end up a tad on the expensive side, but with dishes ranging from £2 to £4/5, it really needn't be too much. It was a really lovely meal and a perfect stop-off if you're on your way to the Canteen. Us third years, however, were far too tired and boring for any of that, and come 10.30, decided it was time to trot off to bed.

J