Tart After Dark

Monthly, at Tart, 16 The Promenade, Gloucester Road, Bristol, BS7 8AE. Tel: 0117 924 7628

With so many pop-up restaurants and secret supper clubs popping up across the city, it was only a matter of time before an established cafe/restaurant got in on the act.

Best known for its staggering array of cakes and afternoon teas, Gloucester Road cafe Tart only opens during the day, but owner Jennie Bashforth has finally caved in to customer pressure and decided to open in the evening – for one night only each month.

The result is the cheekily named Tart After Dark, the sixth of which took place last week.

By day, Tart is the epitome of sophistication, with duck egg blue paintwork, ladies who lunch and the gentle chink of teacups.

At night, the cafe is transformed into a very different place, with low lighting, flickering church candles and sultry French music – the sort normally associated with Parisian cafes or French art house movies.

The welcoming sound of Prosecco corks popping greeted us as we arrived and staff were busy ferrying glasses of fizz and olives to the guests, many of whom were regulars.

Although this was a supper club in all but name, it felt less structured and more like a "proper" restaurant.

The 48 guests may have all been eating the same food from the no-choice menu, but each table was served separately at slightly staggered times.

This made a difference from some supper clubs and pop-up restaurants where each course is served at the same time by waiting staff carrying huge trays.

Each Tart After Dark dinner has a different culinary theme.

This one was described as a North Italian feast and the menu was created by Tart's head chef Andrew Griffin.

I first came across Griffin when he worked for Stephen Markwick at Markwicks in Corn Street in the late Nineties. He went on to work with Markwick again at his Redland bistro Culinaria before moving down the road to Tart.

Although he doesn't shout about it, Griffin is easily one of the most talented chefs in Bristol.

He learnt well from Markwick and his approach to seasonal food and creating big flavours is very similar.

There were several reminders of past meals at Markwicks and Culinaria during the course of this dinner.

A pre-starter of arrancini (deep-fried risotto balls) took me straight back to the mushroom risottos I used to eat at Markwicks.

The squash ball-sized globes had a crisp breadcrumb coat and a rich, very mushroomy rice filling. Small slices of bruschetta were topped with sweet and tender strips of olive oil-coated roasted red pepper flecked with chilli and flat-leaf parsley.

They certainly got the digestive juices bubbling with anticipation for the next course, as did our bottle of Frentano Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2009, from a short wine list created by Grape and Grind, the new independent wine merchant further up the Gloucester Road.

The wine list comprised two whites and two reds, but the two whites and the dessert wine were French, which seemed a pity when the food was Italian.

The starters and main courses offered two choices – one for vegetarians – but we both stuck to the meatier options. Not that the veggie dishes weren't tempting – pumpkin-filled ravioli with butter and sage, followed by polenta cunsa baked with fontina, tomatoes, Parmesan and butter should be enough to tempt any carnivore to the other side.

But meat it was to be and the agnolotti alla Piemontese ("rich meat-filled ravioli in a well-flavoured beef stock") made for a fantastic starter.

The three tulip-shaped pasta parcels were fashioned from the thinnest, silkiest handmade pasta and the generous beef and veal filling was bursting to get out into the intensely beefy, heavily reduced stock.

Brasato al Barolo – beef braised in Barolo wine – comprised a hockey puck-sized round of slow-cooked middle chuck beef, which had been cooked for 12 hours. It had been wrapped in a slice of salty pancetta which had crisped up nicely.

It was accompanied by a cluster of sweet, roasted carrots and a spoonful of creamed leeks flecked with smoked bacon.

A chef who has never been shy of using butter, Griffin had also made a crisp, buttery potato rosti, which lurked between the meat and the pool of very rich red wine sauce.

It was not a dish for the faint-hearted, but then it was cooked by a chef whose Twitter name is "Bighairyattart", so you wouldn't expect anything less.

By the dessert stage, we were reaching for the white flag but it would have been rude to say no to a trio of desserts: bustrengo (polenta and apple cake); salame al cioccolato (chocolate "salami"); and pannacotta.

The cake was more like an apple bread pudding than the usual grainy, sand-like polenta cakes and all the better for it. The slice of chocolate salami was studded with chopped pistachios and hazelnuts and was lighter than it looked.

The pannacotta was light and refreshing, with a zig zag of fruity, not-too-sweet raspberry sauce.

After coffee, the white flags were certainly out and waving, but it had been an evening of great food, the smoothest and friendliest service and, at £30 a head (plus drinks), very good value.

It may not be a "proper" restaurant and only takes place once a month but Tart After Dark puts most restaurants in Bristol to shame.

The next Tart After Dark is in April and will be a Portuguese feast. Check out the website at www.lovelytart.com for details. Early booking is strongly recommended.

Prices: £30 per person for four courses, plus drinks

Wheelchair access: Yes

Food: 9

Atmosphere: 9

Service: 9

Value: 9

Overall: 9