“What we are aiming to do at Root is create a dining experience that is relaxed, interesting, and enjoyable for the customers. Honest, simple food that has come from using quality ingredients, treated with respect. Our menu represents our philosophy: most of our dishes are vegetable-based, however we always offer outstanding fish and meat plates, sourcing them from the surrounding areas and coastlines.”

Beetroot with blackberry, hazelnut, and seaweed oil; potato skin gnocchi with seasonal, organic vegetables; and doughnut dessert with soft cream cheese, carrot jam, and candied walnuts.

What a zappy, good-looking addition to Bristol’s restaurant quarter this is. Huge floor-to-ceiling windows provide light and air for lush plants, walls are lined with shimmering green tiles and baskets of fresh produce loll sexily below blackboards of specials. The open kitchen throws open the debate between cooks and the cooked-for about a single-sheet menu that is predominantly vegetarian but peppered with occasional creations in meat and fish – which is exactly how the world is going to win, going forward: not by dividing into vegetarians and carnivores, but by eating less and less meat in a diet just loaded with plants.

“Rob Howell is offering some of the best veg cooking in Bristol ... clever and delicious.” –Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Financial Times