Wilsons

In a world of outward-looking, trend-chasing restaurants, Wilsons is a rare and precious thing - a hyper-seasonal, low-waste tour-de-force, with a shapeshifting menu chalked up on a single blackboard. Anchored by what flows from co-founder Mary Wilson's biodynamic market garden, the pickings are plentiful. Armfuls of wild garlic, kohlrabi, and other veg weave their way into six courses of technical cooking. That said, Jan Ostle (formerly of The Hand and Flowers) and Henry Wadsworth (after five years at Le Manoir), let just a handful of ingredients do the talking.

A welcoming crab bisque is a case in point: sweet, rich crab, layered with an intense fish bone broth, pickled dulse, and a gentle scotch bonnet kick. Ears pricked, it’s quickly matched by Wildfarmed sourdough from Wilsons Bread Shop, and a kintsugi bowlful of silky taramasalata.

Next, slick raw slices of scallop arrive in wild garlic hay-smoked creme fraiche, commingling with a tart scallop dashi jelly. Cool and confident, it’s elevated by a foggy Portuguese vinho verde, resplendent with soft honeyed funk and apple-fresh notes that amplify the grassy sweetness of blanched broad beans. Elsewhere, a chicken main shows the kitchen’s intuitive ability to coax comfort from the familiar: juicy breast meat, a blistered thigh skewer, a lick of umami-rich mushroom, with perfumed wet garlic to keep things sprightly.

We flit back to greener pastures with Wilsons’ iconic farm herb sorbet: a lemon balm, sorrel, and dill amalgam served under a caramelised blob of Italian meringue, branded with a hot coal off the grill. Matched with a cup of housemade limoncello, together they make a tight pair - clean, refreshing, precisely tuned. On that note, Wilsons’ great value drinks pairing is a feat in itself, delivering a steady roster of low-intervention and biodynamic labels, largely European, each explained with genuine warmth.

Dessert offers Cheddar strawberries, draped in a blanket of strawberry foam spiked with Korean mint and pine. Preference demands a firmer whack from the latter, but as strawberry delivery systems go, it’s faultless.

Wilsons trades in modesty: no stuffy white tablecloths, no flashy ingredients, no price hikes. It’s a 24-cover neighbourhood spot, attuned to the simpler joys of eating. Post-Michelin star, Wilsons remains the little local we all wish we had within walking distance.

Wilsons in Bristol is the picture of a perfect neighbourhood restaurant, serving up impressive modern British food made almost entirely from produce grown on its own market garden. Charmingly petite, it is one of just a handful of restaurants in the UK with both a Michelin star and a green star. Despite its sustainability gravitas and world-class cooking, Wilsons comes in at remarkable value, thanks to management that cares about fairness, drive, and their Redland neighbourhood. In 2026, Wilsons won SquareMeal's UK Restaurant of the Year Award.

It opened back in 2016 by partners Jan Ostle and Mary Wilson. Ostle runs the kitchen, while Mary Wilson’s experience in the biodynamic agriculture sphere helps to spur on the restaurant’s USP as somewhere which puts local produce front and centre. Alongside this, Mary grew up in her family restaurant, which this iteration of Wilson’s is now named in honour of.

The Wilsons menu changes regularly, and there’s a short, sharp billing that flexes with the seasons. Much of what makes its way to diners’ plates has been grown in the restaurant’s own small holding, and the restaurant also dry ages its own meat and fish, and makes much of its own charcuterie. Example dishes might include farm tacos, hogget with aubergine and ewe’s curd, or a plate of dry-aged trout with beetroot.

Come the evening, the six-course tasting menu offers you the very best of the kitchen’s inventions, but the restaurant also offers a reduced three-course lunch menu on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. While some tasting menu restaurants can prove restrictive for guests with allergies, Wilson’s is able to cater to all dietary requirements as long as the team is given 48 hours’ notice.

Aside from the food, the drinks at Wilsons are particularly special. They’re interestingly sourced from a range of producers, with wine focused on organic and biodynamic bottles, and there are also some clever bottles made in-house too, such as the restaurant's own limoncello and a parsnip vermouth. 

The combination of sleek interiors, a charming team and robustly honest cookery keeps Wilsons busy all week. If you fancy trying the team’s fare, we’d suggest booking well in advance.