Monday night in Staple Hill was never like this. When we arrived at the newly-opened Forge & Fern at 7pm, the place was jumping - there must have been at least 100 people there eating, drinking and clearly have a great time.
I'm told the first weekend at this major new opening was fully booked and here we were on Monday evening struggling to get a table. It never used to be like this when the building was the Red Lion - by the end of the old pub's life, this end of Broad Street was so dead you would be tripping over tumbleweed.
The 19th-century pub has undergone the sort of extensive makeover that would even bring a tear to the eye of DIY SOS presenter Nick Knowles. It’s a remarkable transformation.
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After several months of work, it reopened last week as a huge new family-friendly venue serving food and drink all day. As well as complete renovation of the original building, The Forge & Fern includes a new extension, creating over 3,000 square feet of floor space.
There’s a verdant living wall at the front, an all-weather garden and an alfresco terrace. It’s simply unrecognisable from its predecessor and the sheer scale of the place, and the vision of its owners is impressive.
The Forge & Fern is the first venue for the Bristol-based Forges hospitality group. Primarily property developers, this ambitious team of locals is already moving on to the next two openings, including one in a prime city centre location.
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The Staple Hill prototype has a strong environmental and sustainability focus. There are even rooftop beehives which will provide honey for dishes on the menu.
Food is served all day, seven days a week, with a range of cakes and coffee for those locals who simply want to pop in during the day. With no Loungers or Grounded venues in Staple Hill, this daytime cafe offering is sure to become popular with the locals.
Start your day at The Forge & Fern and you might be tempted by smoked streaky bacon and maple syrup crumpets; eggs Benedict or a Jolly Hog ‘Proper Porker’ sausage bap. There is a range of cooked breakfasts, too, starting with The Forge - a reasonable £8.95 for Jolly Hog treacle-cured back bacon and smoked streaky bacon, ‘Proper Porker’ sausage, hash brown, baked beans, scrambled egg and toast.
From noon, there are freshly made sandwiches and the main menu of brunch dishes and pub classics (burgers, salads, steaks, pasta dishes and fish and chips) which runs for the rest of the day. From 3pm, the 11 small plates are available, too.
In-keeping with the venue’s sustainable commitment, much of the produce is sourced from local suppliers, including Buxton Butchers and Hobbs House Bakery. The venue even has its own gin distillery - part of which can be spotted via a glass floor in the main dining room.
With its booth seating, marble tables, leather banquettes and William Morris-style wallpapered ceiling, the restaurant area has a smart gastropub look. We were surrounded by families and kids are as welcome as the adults - the ‘Little Ferns’ children’s menu is £6.50 for two courses and mains include rigatoni pasta with tomato sauce and Parmesan, and sausage, mash and peas.
For starters, we shared three of the small plates and they all impressed. There was a generous portion of light and crisp salt and pepper squid with a tangy sweet chilli sauce (£6.50) and crunchy buttermilk fried chicken with a punchy confit garlic mayonnaise (£6.25).
Best of the lot was the sticky Asian pork belly, red onion and toasted sesame (£5.95). The bite-size cubes of pork were fatless and succulent with crisp, caramelised edges and a delicious sweet and sticky sauce.
The teenager across the table made light work of her Striker Burger (£11.95). Served in a light and fluffy brioche bun with a heap of decent skin-on fries and house slaw, the thick 6oz beef patty was nicely seasoned, juicy and layered with smoked Applewood cheese, lettuce, tomato, relish and pickle.
She also added some Bristol-produced Jolly Hog bacon (she’s rightly obsessed with the stuff) for an additional £1.95. I swiped a piece of burger when she was SnapChatting her mates and it was excellent - I’d definitely go back for one.
I went for the 8oz Buxton Butchers sirloin steak (£24.50). The steaks are dry-aged for 30 days in Himalayan salt and they have a deep flavour.
Of course, the actual proof is in the cooking and mine was perfect - medium-rare as requested - and the knife sliced through the rosy pink meat with no effort. The golden skin-on fries were greaseless and properly seasoned and the cold, crunch of the baby gem lettuce wedge topped with truffle mayonnaise and crisp onion bits - very Miller & Carter, that - provided a nice contrast.
I was happy to pay the additional £1.50 for green peppercorn sauce. Served in a jug, it was creamy, rich and had a proper tingle to it.
A side of wilted greens, olive oil and lemon (£3.50) was cooked with care. The strips of greens had a squeak to them and the lemony oil gave it a lightness that made a change from the usual butter alternative.
Desserts were by no means an afterthought and displayed great technical skill. The signature chocolate mousse, honeycomb and salted caramel ‘pot’ with golden honey sponge cake (£7.95) looked almost too good to eat. With its smooth ‘terracotta’ plant pot made from set salted caramel, heap of chocolate 'soil' and life-size bumble bee, everything on the plate was edible and it certainly attracted plenty of attention from fellow diners. It was a dessert with a genuine 'wow' factor and the TikTokers will love it.
I went for the more traditional sticky toffee and date pudding with butterscotch sauce and clotted cream ice cream (£7.95). It was unimprovably good but not for anybody fine-tuning a beach body for the summer holidays.
There was simply nothing we didn’t enjoy about our evening at The Forge & Fern. It’s a major boost to an area like Staple Hill that hasn’t had a destination food and drink venue before, and it's the most significant Bristol opening so far this year.
This is a large-scale, family-friendly venue that serves high quality food and drink at fair prices and let’s hope more pop up in other Bristol neighbourhoods soon. We could all do with one of these on our doorstep.
The Forge & Fern, 76 Broad Street, Staple Hill, Bristol, BS16 5NL. Tel: 0117 2354960.
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