Our pro says...

In just three years, Bristol cousins Dominic Borel and Ben Harvey have made an indelible mark on the city’s dining scene. Their much-loved original restaurant Pasta Loco was followed by Pasta Ripiena, a city-centre joint specialising in stuffed handmade pasta. Then, earlier this year, the family opened deli/wine bar La Sorella, and now has taken over a site that had been home to one of Bristol’s most iconic restaurants for 40 years. The dark wooden dresser in the dining room (a greengrocer in the 1950s) has survived the refurb, but Bianchis is fit for purpose as a thoroughly contemporary Italian trattoria. *I was recognised.

Razor-thin slices of marinated octopus were drizzled with high-quality extra-virgin olive oil and spiked with capers, fresh marjoram and chilli. Salt marsh lamb and oregano ravioli in a tomato butter emulsion was a poised and well-balanced dish, the plump pasta parcels generously filled with lamb delicately perfumed with fresh oregano.

A grilled pork chop the thickness of a decent paperback was juicy and still smoky from the chargrill. It was topped with some salty prosciutto, a punchy salsa rossa, red onion and sage-scented potatoes cooked in butter until crisp and crunchy. A thick piece of poached cod was teamed with briny Dorset mussels and clams that still tasted of the sea, and squeaky braised green beans

Lemon tart boasted the right amount of zip from zesty Amalfi lemons, while Frangelico panna cotta achieved the correct creamy wobble, the nutty flavour from the liqueur enhanced by crushed hazelnuts and slices of poached pear.