Readers of the blog (you oh so “self selecting” chosen few) will know I spent my formative secondary school years fart arsing about in Somerset. As a mardy youth, living in the middle of nowhere, I got myself into more trouble than I should have, but a saving grace was on Saturdays and Sundays (even when these fell on Christmas Day) I use to work in a hotel kitchen (leaving only Fridays for underage drinking and other shenanigans).

My work and drink stomping ground in those days was Wells (of Cathedral and Hot Fuzz fame) and, with my Mother and Sister still in the area, it was chosen as the venue for a birthday meal out (not mine).

I think it is fair to say that Wells has not been (even with my kitchen exploits) nor is now particularly known as a88 culinary hot-spot, but the opening of well regarded veggie focussed Bristol small plate slingers Root in the city centre can only be seen as a positive for the City (small it may be with a population of only around 12,000, but as it has a massive cathedral it qualifies as a city).

The menu is unashamedly veggie focussed, with only a couple of meat/fish dishes in the mix.

Despite my increasing irritation (in general, at pretty much everything, and) at the constant berating of “evil” meat as against “holier than thou” veggie stuff (never that simple I am afraid, give me local grass feed beef or lamb over highly processed fake meat any day – I do feel the tide is thankfully turning on this ghastly “how are we going to get people to eat our ultra processed shxte, oh I know let’s label it plant based!” stuff) I am far from adverse to a meal primarily made up of non meat/fish components.

In the right hands, veggie stuff can be really tasty and thus enjoyable to eat (rather than having to give yourself a sanctimonious pat on the back for managing to force some insipid gruel down your throat). After all, that is one of the main reasons we eat stuff, for the pleasure rather than for some puritanical display of virtue (well, at least I do).

We decided on 3 snacks and 4 small plates between the 3 of us and after my veggie tirade (very ra(nt)dish), it was rather fitting that the first dish to arrive was a bit of processed meat, although the kind of processing I am all for, in the form of charcuterie.

Local saucisson from Westcombe Diary in Evercreech (about 7 miles from the restaurant)

had a lovely rich nutty (my in vogue flavour at the moment) flavour to it, with pleasing hits of nutmeg and garlic and a touch of peppery heat. Crostini were beautiful crisp and doused in top quality oil and it was all brought together nicely by a refreshing and zingy cucumber chutney.

A generous portion of choux cheese puffs arrived next. I had been expecting 3 and was very pleasantly surprised by the rather bountiful plate (although 7 is a rather odd number for a sharing dish).

Lovely crisp, but not overdone, choux shell gave way to a tangy cheese filling.

I was slightly worried as to the date and raspberry ketchup, particularly the raspberry element. As it happened, it was rather nice. Think superior and lighter brown sauce, with a back note of refreshing raspberry (the sceptic in me was won over).

We continued the crispy exterior and soft interior theme, with a robust portion of fried aubergines.

Nice crunch to the exterior, with a polenta crust, without the interior being oily (the bane of aubergine cookery). It was all nicely lifted by a good (more tanginess to it than sugariness) sweet and sour sauce. Touch more seasoning would have been a welcome addition to the aubergine, perhaps, as would the sweet and sour element having been applied a tad more generously, if I was being picky (tis in my nature).

Polenta featured again with a block of the stuff deep fried, covered in a melange of various chards and mushrooms.

This all sat in an earthy mushroom puree. All veggie, but with a surprisingly meaty feel to it.

I love a bit of pointy (hispi) cabbage (which seems to have totally usurped boringly spherical savoy – actually love a bit of savoy) and here it had been given a sort of wedge salad treatment, with the benefit it had  over an iceberg lettuce of it actually tasting of something (alhough, much to my surprise, I had a very good iceberg lettuce based salad dish in London the other day),

with a good caesar dressing. Pickled shallots added a bit of extra zing and toasted bread crumbs (pangrattato) a nice bit of textural contrast. My only slight qualm regarding this dish was the cabbage could have done with just a tad more grill time to bring out more charry flavour.

Roasted carrots were just a little too al dented for my liking and (perhaps I am being a fusspot, how unusual I hear you cry, but..) I think it is not too much to ask for them to be top and tailed when you are being charged £9 . l mean there is rustic and then there is just plain old laziness.

Topping and tailing aside, the salsa verde had a nice fresh zing to it and the slight tang of the whipped Homewood feta (pretty sure you can’t use that name, unless it comes from Greece, due to PDO rules) worked very well as against the sweetness of the carrots

Our only other non veggie focussed dish was a piece of red mullet, with a good char and crispness to the skin and nicely cooked flesh.

A refreshing warm tomato salad, with sweet toms and lightly pickled cucumbers added nicely to the mix. My only slight quibble with this dish was the presence of a few bones in what should have been a bone free fillet. I don’t mind deboning a fish, but prefer to be pre – warned as to the likely presence of bones.

The puds list was quite enticing, 

with some interesting flavour combinations.

My sister had the spiced pumpkin cheesecake, with sage.

I normally shy away from anything “pumpkin spiced“, with a pumpkin spiced latte holding about as much appeal to me as a Heiniken filtered through a tramps sock (actually bearing in mind how awful Heineken tastes I would not be at all surprised if that sort of filtering process actually operated to improve it, I mean it can’t get any worse surely), but from my small taste of this it was very nice with lots of allspice, cinnimon and nutmeg (fine in a cheesecake, but keep it the hell away from my coffee).

On the pumpkin subject, why is it referred to as a “pumpkin spiced” latte, when there is no pumpkin (thank the Lord) in it? Something to do with pumpkin pie (which remains pretty rare in the UK) and spices used in that I believe, but if I just put salt and pepper on my chips I would be viewed as barking mad if I started calling them “prawn seasoned“ chips (based on salt and pepper being used in a rather fine prawn dish)!

Anyhow back to the desserts, the sage worked surprisingly well here, adding a sort to minty menthol dimension and a touch of lemon. Crushed biscuits bought a nice bit of texture to the dish.

I love a rice pudding (real comfort food) and I love the flavour of quince (nice and seasonal, but sadly hugely underused in this country), so a dessert combining the two rather appealed.

This was a well made rice pudding, with a big hit of vanilla, and a tart quince jam which was citrussy without the sharpness of lemon provided for a very comforting dessert. Nicely toasted almonds (which go horribly bitter is over toasted) added both a flavour and textural contrast

On the booze front they have lots of cocktails (of course they do, if you don’t put 20 + on your drinks menu the local constabulary would likely be down stating a possible breach of the peace)

and it is nice to see local beers and ciders (including old favours Yonder Brewery and Pilton Cider).

The wine list is short, but not without interest

with a mix of not on the beaten track wines, such as a South African Palamino and an English Rosé from, just up the road, Dunleavy Vineyard.

We started off with a Chin Chin Vinho Verde (£34 on the list and about £13 retail), which was rather nice with just a touch of spritz, lots of green apple and a gentle smack of lemony limeness on the finish. The epitome of easy drinking this wine, with it slipping down the gullet rather too easily.

I followed this with a glass of the Saffer palomino (£7.5), a new one on me. I drink a lot of palomino, just not tried a South African one before.

 

Fresh and zesty, with a touch of almond, this was rather nice.

With the puds I noticed the suggested  pairing with the rice pudding was an amontillado, which I thought odd (with the saying goes “If it flys –  amontillado” and I can’t say I have ever seen a rice pudding fly), as it is more suitable to pair with savoury stuff in my humble opinion. Thinking it wouldn’t really go I asked for a glass of the oloroso (probably should have gone PX), hoping the sweet aroma but dry taste of an oloroso would be more suited to the quince and spice in the rice pudding.

What I got I am pretty sure was the amontillado (the bill confirmed my suspicions)

Perfectly nice on its own, with a distinct tobacco flavour to it. It didn’t go with the rice pudding to my mind, with it sort of sucking out the sweetness of the dish. 

All sherry pours, including the fino and manzanilla were in measly 75ml pours, a heinous wine crime (on the eve of Sherry Week too) in my view (should be a 100ml pour as a min.). The sherry sin was compounded by the pricing, with a 75cl bottle of the Barbadillo fino retailing at a smidgen under a tenner and a 75 ml pour here a £5, so a mark up of over 5 times. Oddly the Lustau Oloroso is on the list at the same £5 for a 75 ml pour when it retails at over £22 for a 75cl bottle 🤷.

The sherry pricing here makes no sense to me at all and suggests a finger in the air approach. Odd when you put 5 sherries on the list (bravo) to: 1) serve it in “Scrooge- esque” 75ml pours and 2) price it on a, seemingly, willy – nilly basis.

The verdict

I can be a bit dismissive of veggie/vegan food (mainly the fake meat bollxcks), but the stuff here was very good with some excellent flavour combinations. A paucity of meat (we did have a little through the saucisson) in terms of the meal here didn’t bother me at all.

Good food and booze (sherry quibbles aside) made for a very nice family  evening.

If you are in what is a rather lovely neck of the woods (Wells cathedral is an architectural marvel of the sort that I every much doubt we have the ability let alone the inclination to build these days – been in London for the last couple of days and my view of the monstrosties of much of the more recent architecture on display is that most “modern” architects should be put in stocks by their hideous creations and have rotten veg thrown at them), you could do a lot worse than this place for food. A very welcome addition to Wells, I would say.

We paid £149 for food and booze for 3 and I thought that was fair value for what we had. The “discretionary” 10% service charge came pre-added, which I do not like, but service was OK (they forgot a coffee order and gave me amontillado rather than the ordered oloroso, but otherwise it was fine) and thus I had no issue paying it (just hate the “You don’t have to pay it, but I double dare you not to you tight arsed git”). 

Dog friendly too,

with some very well behaved (I didn’t take my reprobate one, who would have probably created havoc because he is an arse, like his owner) pooches in there on the night of our visit.

The details

Address: 12 Salders Street, Wells, Somerset, BA5 2SE

Website: https://www.rootwells.co.uk/