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Casamia: I know it's in Bristol, but just go

30/3/2013

27 Comments

 
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This is going to be longer than normal, you might want to get a coffee.

"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future", claimed Yogi Berra, the baseball playing philosopher; we agree and so try to avoid them. Yet when I ate there, I was overwhelmed with conviction that Casamia, the contemporary fine dining restaurant of the Sanchez-Iglesias family, will in due course become one of Britain's most famous and well regarded restaurants, that they will ultimately achieve three Michelin stars, and that should the World's 50 Best Restaurants still be going ten years from now, they could find themselves included in that too. Let's back track a little.

Casamia, meaning 'my house', for it was very much their house, is a restaurant in the Bristol area run by brothers Jonray & Peter Sanchez-Iglesias. Previously, it was run by their English mother and Spanish father as an Italian trattoria (since 1999), but in 2006, they handed over the restaurant to their sons who have subsequently steered their own course of tasting menus, thoroughly modern techniques, and a focus on seasonal British produce. Their achievement was recognised by Michelin who awarded Casamia a star in 2009, and the AA who have since awarded them 4 rosettes. Jonray and Peter therefore are both together, and individually, recognised as two of Britain's outstanding young chef talents, for the punchline here is that all of this has been achieved before either of them has reached 30 years old (Jonray, the older of the two is 29, and Peter 27).

Ahead of arriving at Casamia, I am genuinely excited about the prospect of my meal there, though totally unsure about what I would find. Google Maps shows Casamia four miles from Bristol's city centre in the suburb of Westbury-on-Trym and the restaurant itself is hidden behind gates, and even though I've checked on Street View what I'm looking for, with no real street facade, this restaurant doesn't give up its location easily. Inside however it's a warm greeting from staff and I am taken through into the main body of the restaurant where aside of its seasonal theme (the room decor itself changes with the season), it is an open finishing kitchen at the front where Jonray and Peter can be seen plating up that immediately grabs your attention. 
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the view from the kitchen
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the view from the table
Menu wise, even though it's lunch, there's a short tasting menu or a longer tasting menu only, a thoroughly brave thing to do, but this is what marks them as special, the conviction to follow their beliefs and do their own food. It's a huge risk, but it looks like they have made it work, and this no compromise approach to what they serve is exactly why in my opinion this restaurant will gain in stature over time, for in an age where we want our best restaurants to provide a personal connection to the chef's culinary vision (think SImon Rogan, Sat Bains, Brett Graham etc), this is exactly what Casamia does.

Menu descriptions are of little help here in guessing what will arrive on your plate as I soon discover, and while 'goats cheese, beetroot tart' sounds a somewhat commonplace way to start the meal here, for I'm expecting fireworks, I'm also instantly wrong-footed. The bite sized beetroot cup that arrives with a dollop of unexpectedly yummy beetroot jam below the goats cheese already make this one of the best beetroot dishes I have ever had. From its size, I also instantly know that they understand the proper way to construct a tasting menu; I'm already very happy.
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goats cheese, beetroot tartlet
Breakfast next. London restaurant goers are probably more au fait with breakfast eggs on their lunch (or dinner) menu though I can't imagine that many others are doing this in Bristol. How much can you fit in an egg? Lots it seems: toast, mushrooms, black pudding, pancetta, and of course, aerated scrambled egg. Ketchup; yes, ketchup too. Amazing how much you can get in there, beautifully well done in every way (look at the presentation below), a meal and all the joy that goes with a good breakfast in a single egg shell.

Spelt and parsley, and a spring salad (with 12 varieties of raw and cooked veg, and hot vinaigrette) complete with tweezers for eating follow. While my own favourite dishes occurred later in the menu, the table next to me doing their own straw poll saw at the end of the meal saw these earlier dishes come out on top. To me it highlighted that personal tastes alone will most likely dictate your preferences about this meal because the actual quality of every dish itself is unimpeachable. 
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breakfast egg
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Spelt from Sharpham park, parsley
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Spring salad
The next dish was my favourite until I ate the one after, but don't let that distract you. John Dory cooked at 42 degrees in oil, finished with a blow torch, overlayed with an apple and lemon gel, then topped with a cider sauce, sprouting broccoli and kale. The fish alone was to shout about, but with the uplift from the apple and lemon gel, balanced with a hot creamy cider sauce, as a fish dish, it's in a heaven of its own.
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John Dory, cider sauce, greens
Lamb, allium stew, mint sauce. It sounds simple, it even looked rather simple, it tasted divine. The flavour of each component was incredible, especially the lamb, each forkful was a dilemma of what to mix with what, should you just savour the brilliance of the lamb alone, maybe a bit of mint sauce with it, or a bit of everything; I did all of the above till I ran out of everything. 

So sad was I to finish that as I pushed my fork into the last piece of lamb, I relented and took my knife and further halved it, so delaying the inevitable by a half mouthful. I normally rail against large portions in tasting menus and the size of the plate here perfectly fits the bill of what a tasting main should be, but I would have sorely loved to eaten it again right there and then and would have paid to do so. This was my favourite dish of the day in a tough field where everything served is a joyous celebration of food.
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Lamb, allium stew, mint sauce
If the lamb is the 'main', what exactly is 'carrot and thyme' doing on the menu next? Left over veg? Well, it's all a bit clever, probably too clever cooking wise for me to fully understand but not too clever for me to enjoy. It's a carrot microwave sponge with carrot caramel and a thyme ice cream, made earlier at the pass with liquid nitrogen and spooned onto the dessert at the table for the fog effect. Jonray tells me that it is supposed to simulate a sticky toffee pudding, and it does, quite brilliantly. I find myself again smiling at their creative playfulness.
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Blood orange, rosemary
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dak chocolate lollipop
Finally, and offered as a separate option in addition to the tasting menu, is Apple Pie, their GBM dessert dish. The dessert is especially notable for two things, first, there is vanilla ice cream within the hot apple pie itself, again clever, and second, there's a side pot of cinnamon and nutmeg liquid on which liquid nitrogen is then poured to release at the table the most incredible aromatics. I keep returning to the idea that Peter & Jonray are both very clever and very technically smart but that the idea of enjoyable food never gets lost in that smartness.  
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apple pie
Throughout the meal, Jonray and Peter bring most of the plates to the table themselves, and when the waitress wasn't nearby, they'd even collect the always empty plate too. Interacting with the diners, they care passionately about whether the meal is being enjoyed. And no, it wasn't just because I am a blogger, the table next to me, holidaymakers who had seen Peter on GBM and decided to book, received the same treatment. They loved their meal too. Admittedly, on an early midweek lunchtime, it wasn't so busy allowing them to spend more time at the tables, but Casamia remains their house and the passion burns. 
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Jonray and Peter
It occurs to me while I eat the meal that there must be real benefits to brothers running a restaurant. Aside of the old cliches that two minds are better than one and that a burden shared is a burden halved, both of course true, but additionally, to be able to share a vision and get proper feedback through a trusting and equal partnership can only be extremely valuable, and something that I'm sure many chefs would desperately love to have. It puts me in mind of other culinary brothers, especially the Roca brothers of El Celler de Can Roca, Spain, perhaps because I see in Casamia the same original and personal vision be pushed through to the food that we so loved when we visited Girona.

I started by saying that this is a restaurant which could have three Michelin stars in due course: I have little doubt. The food is brilliant currently, the meal a joy, though to clarify, not just yet at the three star level, but Jonray and Peter are so young and are already delivering with confidence such an incredibly high standard of technique and food understanding that if they continue to grow their talents over the next ten years (as it is reasonable to assume they will), then Casamia will go all the way. 

Remember how you couldn't get a table at El Bulli, wished dearly that you could have done so before they closed, and heard disbelievingly stories of Adria's early days when getting a table did not mean joining a lottery? Well, we'll make it easy for you: Casamia, remember the name, and if you don't book soon and enjoy this discovery, no complaining in ten years time when you can't get a table period. You heard it here first.

Post script: only three months in, but already I think this is my restaurant of the year. 


Click for Casamia website

Follow Jonray on Twitter: @jonraysanchez

Follow Peter on Twitter: @petercasamia
 

Location Map for Casamia
Casamia on Urbanspoon
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27 Comments
Andrew James
31/3/2013 01:05:12 pm

I would be interested to know how a fully comped meal and that you were also known in advance to the restaurant could constitute a fair and unbiased review?

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TCC
31/3/2013 02:00:44 pm

Andrew,

thank you for your comment about which I would make two points.

First, the tasting menu here is priced at £68 and I drank no wine, only tap water as I was driving, and I was alone. While every man has a price, I price my own integrity and the integrity of our blog above £68.

Second, we are the only blog that I am aware of that provides a disclosure box on every post published that tells you this information and have done so now for almost two years. The very purpose of the disclosure box is to make visible to our readers potential conflicts of interest that other blogs and professional journalists never tell you about.

Accordingly, if you wish to ignore our review because you feel it is compromised, you are welcome to do so, that is why we make the disclosure available.

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Andrew James
31/3/2013 02:28:16 pm

CC, these are fair points to make, and as such I accept your comments. The review was certainly a fair description of the food which you ate.

In addition, I do accept that on all of your reviews (I have read many now!) you do indeed offer full disclosure information. Accept my sincerest apologies.

A

TCC
31/3/2013 03:50:52 pm

Andrew, thank you

ginola14 link
15/5/2014 04:04:33 am

...and for the record
TCC's homage to the 3Chimneys is not only beautifully written and shot, and the description and focus on Daniel Clifford's love of flavour not only spot on - but I can validate that I have yet to diverge materially on any one of their blog-bites. Well apart from the Waterside. But I will never understand why that place retains 3 stars ahead of LMQS or Midsummer or l'Enclume, or......

Lee link
31/3/2013 02:14:47 pm

Had lunch here about 3 years ago. It was pretty great, with some modernist whizz-bangery going on even then. The fact that I can remember 3 or 4 of the dishes we ate is testament to the clarity of flavours. Would like to go back now as the place is clearly continuing to develop. But; three stars, really?

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TCC
31/3/2013 02:28:29 pm

hi Lee,

thanks for the comment. Regarding the three stars comment I do say that the food is not yet at the 3 star level but will get there over a period of years. This is based upon having experienced food at places like Can Roca and seeing how the highest awards are given to the truly individual expressions of cooking when it is married with the highest level of cooking skill. Jonray and Peter were two of the youngest people in this country ever to be given a Michelin star, and neither is yet 30, their talent is without question.

They will learn much more over coming years while success will mean that financial pressures will ease allowing them to take more risks. Sat Bains was 31 when he won his first Michelin star and 40 when he won his second.

So the 3 stars comment is not really about where they are now, but where they are going if you extrapolate a continued year on year improvement in their food offering.

But like I say in the post, predictions about the future are difficult things. All just my opinion of course.

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Jonny mills link
31/3/2013 03:46:17 pm

I agree, It was the first meal of my 9 stars 7 days holiday and was a perfect perfect way to start, the boys are gems and going to be up there with the sat bains, Daniel Clifford, etc etc of the influences in this industry, the effort and care that runs in that whole family is unbelievable! Onwards and upwards is the only way for these boys'

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Ozzy link
1/4/2013 09:01:21 am

I really need to get myself to Bristol soon...

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Rosie
1/4/2013 11:37:46 am

Hi TCC,

Big fan of the blog. Wanted to ask, how does the breakfast egg compare to the coddled egg at dabbous?

Will book here soon looks wonderful

Rosie

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TCC
1/4/2013 01:49:21 pm

hi Rosie,

and thanks. The coddled egg at Dabbous is all about the egg and mushroom and let's be honest, it's pretty perfectly done. At Casamia, it's the whole breakfast with the tomato ketchup also so think breakfast in an egg shell and more flavours on the palate.

Which is best is likely to be personal preference.

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Alan Spedding ( cumbriafoodie ) link
2/4/2013 02:37:41 am

WOW..... A few REALLY BIG satements there Mr CC. Good luck to the young lads , they certainly deserve it.
Couldnt help laughing at the John Dory pic....Has it swam off or adapted itself into a background of greenery ? The Chameleon of the sea.
Cheers and catch you soon.

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Harry
3/4/2013 01:01:46 pm

I couldn't help noticing the portioning of the courses seems petite even for a tasting menu (which seems to be a common complaint I've read from others who have visited).

From your descriptions, the food sounds faultless and granted none of us are visiting a place like Casamia simply to "fill our bellies". However I can't help feeling that even at a reasonable 68 pounds, I'm going to be walking away feeling I've just eaten what amounts to a series of canapes.

Also, when you were there (for lunch I presume?) did you notice any dress code? I heard rumours that at one point it was "Jackets required" for men.

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Lee Burns link
4/4/2013 12:10:36 am

Harry, it's some time since we visited, but we had a six course lunch and it was delicious with some dazzling cooking, but we did go through three mini-loaves of their stunning house bread, partly because it was superb and partly because the portions were small. This worked fine though. The food is intensely favoured and we were happy enough to fill up on bread. Hope that helps. If I lived in the area I would've been back many times.

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TCC
4/4/2013 11:33:05 am

It's definitely not a series of canapes, with the John Dory and Lamb sensible size tasting dishes. Overall, 'fill wise', the the meal took me to a sensible place.

As for dress code, I'm pretty sure there isn't one, I will endeavor to find out for sure.

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TCC
5/4/2013 03:30:11 am

I have checked with the restaurant, there is no dress code at Casamia

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Harry
5/4/2013 05:56:09 am

@TCC @Lee

Many thanks for the info/clarifications.

Guy
23/5/2013 03:54:01 am

I had to laugh at the comments about Jackets being required at Casamia.

I think eating at any Michelin Star restaurant would require the diner to want to dress up slightly for the occasion? But having grown up with Jonray and Peter I can assure you that the Sanchez-Iglesias family are one of the most welcoming families I have ever had the privilege of knowing. This is transferred into everything that is done as Casamia, from its early days as a great Italian Restaurant to its rightful place as one of Britain's hottest food destinations. The boys remember their roots and I think this is reflected in the restaurant now. Pompous it is not.

I remember at 15 Peter would make pizza for us in the old style oven, and I would sit with the Brothers and Bristol's other top Michelin Star chef, Josh Eggleton from the Pony and Trap, until the hours of the morning. Even then you could see the love all three had for food and their visions of the future.

I have been luckily enough to sit and enjoy meals with the boys and Josh recently and their knowledge and vigour for their industry is refreshing and gives an insight not many people will ever be privy to experience.

This may be biased but I see how hard the brothers work, and the love and attention they place into every dish they create, I really believe they will achieve 3 stars in the future.

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TCC
23/5/2013 04:07:27 am

thanks Guy, that's a lovely comment.

Harry
28/5/2013 04:30:55 am

I'm so glad I could provide you with amusement Guy. However my enquiry was not whether one had to "dress up slightly" but specifically about jackets. I asked because a number of restaurants (3* etc) I've visited in the past required jackets to be worn throughout the meal. In terms of physical comfort, I've found this can intrude on the overall experience especially where longer tasting menus are involved. It is a relief to hear this is not the case with Casamia

Sasha Lubetkin
4/5/2013 02:01:18 pm

I was delighted to read your account of your glorious lunch at Casamia. We've eaten there twice, and if we were rich we'd eat there a lot more often. As it is, it's our special treat for birthdays and wedding anniversaries. A real culinary revelation full of subtle and witty delights. What amazing good fortune it is for us to have such brilliant chefs right on our doorstep.

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Caroline
22/9/2013 01:56:31 am

We are booked to eat here this coming Friday for my husbands birthday, the blog and the comments make the anticipation almost palpable .... I can't wait. I will let you know how we get on

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Sasha Lubetkin
22/9/2013 06:17:06 am

Lucky Caroline! I hope you and your husband have a truly lovely evening.

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Caroline
28/9/2013 05:51:22 am

last night my husband and enjoyed the most amazing culinary delight. We were booked in for dinner tasting menu and wine flight. 12 courses of the most exciting creative and technically superb food we have eaten and we have eaten out a lot. The chefs and all the staff were warm friendly and completely without pretension, bringing course after course of the most stunning food to our table. We arrived about 7.30 and didn't leave till after 11 no rush, no second sitting, no pressure at all. Fabulous wine selected to completement the food completed the evening. I can't rate this resturant highly enough. You have to go. It's a special treat but very much worth every penny

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TCC
28/9/2013 05:55:24 am

Caroline,

thanks for the comment and so glad you had a great meal there. The Sanchez brothers are hugely talented and put 110% into every service; we are thrilled you enjoyed it as much as we did.

TCC

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justine
8/3/2014 10:54:49 pm

despite the fame, they seem to be very humble. they deserved to win gordon ramsay's best restaurant. nice blokes.

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kim lane
9/2/2015 03:17:58 pm

Please can you tell me if there is ever likely to be a gluten free menu tasting here?

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