A Trip South West: Poco + The Bristol Pound

A few weeks ago, Good Egg founder Joel and chef Alex went on a little trip down to the South West to meet some of our new suppliers, and stop in at places we'd be meaning to visit on the way. This is their diary.

Joel and I packed up the old VW Camper with a couple of changes of clothes, two friends, and Baxter the dog.

All set for the first Good Egg supplier trip of the spring. With 2 days full of appointments across the South West, we decided to get a head start, set off in the evening and spend the first night in Bristol.  First stop Poco, The Observer’s ethical restaurant of the Year 2014. They hold a 3 star Sustainable Restaurant Award, something we'd love to work towards. One of the Poco founders, Jen, has already told us all about the great work the SRA do and how Poco are implementing sustainable ideas into every part of their work. We were intrigued to see how a 3 star restaurant of this standard operated – and the menu looked great. The old VW Camper made it down to Bristol in good time and we hit Poco right in the middle of dinner service.

 The place was buzzing. We took Jen’s recommendation on what to order from the seasonal menu, drawn out on large black boards at the far end of the restaurant. Everything was delicious - my highlight was the deep fried mussels and the kimchi. Their April menu is now up online and they’ve been substituted for deep fried Oysters (which sound even better). At the end of the night we noticed a chef weighing the waste from the evening’s service on a fishhook. There was practically nothing in the bag. Poco was impressive on every level. Almost all of their waste is recycled, composted or reused somehow. I can't wait for the day we can string up a waste bag that small after such a busy service. An old friend joined us for dinner – Bristolian Michael Loydd-Jones. He’s part of the team that set up the Bristol Pound, a local currency encouraging local trade. Mikey is a great source of knowledge when it comes to sustainable economics. He gave me a copy of Felicity Lawrence’s book ‘Not on the Label’ which is all about where food comes from and production methods – if that's your thing, I’d really recommend it.