Located in Bristol just near Brandon Hill park is the Hope and Anchor pub with special street food guest Naasto Baasto in attendance. This was my first meal out since lockdown as well as my first pint in a pub. So we thought why not a bit of sun, Vegan Indian street food and a pint.
My friend Liz who lives in the area had booked in advance where you have a 2 hour time slot to munch and drink. We arrived just on time and with our masks on and we were taken to our tables. Warning when entering and using the hand gel the pump says press gently, take the advice it came pouring out and had to share the gel between 3 of us.
We were taken to our tables outside which was at the top of their tiered garden, tucked away in the corner. We were shown the two apps to use the NHS track and trace, as well as the Butler Food ordering App. Our table was somewhat small and originally we had booked for four of us not three. We had asked about the table next to us if it was also booked because social distancing would of not complied otherwise. Luckily the group of ladies that had Instead sat on another table diagonally from us, with the time slots being staggered it meant social distancing could resume.
The Butler app to order food was a bit temperamental at first, depending on what network your on it may not download for you. There did not seem to be an alternative if we were not great at technology, but to book the table in the first place you had to go online which kind of eliminates a certain generation. We eventually got into the app and got to look at the menu. We opted to share dishes so we could get a range of different foods. The only thing I would say with the application, if you order one too many things is not easy to remove these.
The menu had a few selected dishes for mains and a range of side nibbles. The two mains were a dal and a Mumbai sandwich, the sandwich was not something easily shareable so opted for the dal. We also ordered a side of basmati rice so we would have something to mix it with. The dal was a tomato base with split peas, vegetables and spices. It was a great combination of spices and was demolished it as we were all starving.
They had a bigger range of sides to choose from which we opted for 3 of them. The first one was popadoms, these were not the average popadoms you would find. They were a range of mixed flavour popadoms, even having some whole wheat ones. They were delicious and I wish we had more as they were gone before you knew it. Another side we had was the onion bhaji rings, onion rings with a spice twist. These were amazing so crispy and flavoursome. Our final nibbles were called batata vada, an alternative to chips. If you know me, I love mash potatoes so these were a big hit. These consisted of mashed potato balls with coconut and spices. Out of all the dishes I have to say these were my favourite out of them and I should have asked if they did take away boxes.
When getting a drink as you can see from the picture above one is missing. So we had ordered 3 drinks, but my cider took 3 more trips to our table area to arrive. I'm not sure if this was due to them just reopening and they were a bit rusty with a few things. But I eventually got my cider and it was delicious and refreshing. We did have one point where one of the umbrellas resting in a plant pot had a topple and we had to move it as there was no way it would keep standing. Lucky it only rained a tiny trickle while we were eating so no umbrella was not an issue.
Overall the food was delicious and reasonably priced, with our 3 drinks as well coming to around £32. Though our table is a bit small we had made it work. Would I return again if in the area, possibly but maybe with a bit more variety of main dishes to choose from.
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