22-05-2025
William Sitwell reviews Dongnae, Bristol: ‘The freshest spring shower of a feast imaginable'
It was a Damascene-like corrective. My mind and body altered, albeit on the single issue of fermented cabbage. For years I'd been swerving it. Firstly, because it involves cabbage, the vegetable that traumatised my childhood (overcooked as it was and force-fed to me) and then because it became trendy some 15 years ago.
Suddenly, kimchi was everywhere. Every tattooed, unshaven mockney running a pop-up in London was serving it up. Korean food was in, crowned with a relish of cabbage, presumably dug into the ground at allotments in Hackney and then, suitably festering, brought to the surface, covered in chilli and bottled. All of sound mind – of which I was alone in the fashion-craven food world – declined it.
But now, some years on, I find myself eyeing it on a table in a suburb of Bristol. The Korean revolution has now reached Chandos Road, and Dongnae, which means 'neighbourhood', offers a menu brimming with small plates, stuff from the charcoal grill, banchan (side dishes), shiksa (mains, essentially) and two puds. And a wonderfully colourful culinary experience it is too.
While the outside is that of a classic Victorian shopfront, inside it's all minimal, handcrafted cabinetry, hardwood and white laminate tables, with slats screening the open kitchen.
And the service is helpful and friendly, giving off that vibe you get from a university town where the students are still duped into thinking life holds some possibilities, jobs even.
A starter of bream sashimi was as soft, translucent and tenderly flavoured as you might dream, and with excellent wasabi. And there were skewers of octopus and monkfish, tender and sweet in a glaze of gochucumin (a warming, devilish concoction pepped up with red chilli) and covered in crunchy chopped chives.
I'd seen the word jellyfish on the menu so felt the urge to order what we would never eat at home. It came in the form of 'salted jellyfish naengchae', a salad with pork hock and Devon crab buddying up. While the crab added some sweetness, the ham and other leaves with their soft textures all conspired to camouflage the jellyfish, to mask – or indeed excuse – it. But find it I did. And all this I did selflessly so that you don't have to. I ate it in all its rubbery, chewy, seawatery glory. And, frankly, if you must know, I'd rather have been stung by it.
Yet it was a segue to greatness, the centrepiece of which was wagyu beef – and not insanely priced – a strip loin from the grill presented on a handsome piece of firm wire mesh fixed in wood. The beef caressed the palate before melting. It was rich and satisfying and a dish that makes one simply admire a vegetarian for their willpower. It came with a host of little dishes: of sauce and raw garlic, chilli and verdant salad leaves. You could wrap it all up, adjust to your garlic/heat spec and stuff it all in. The freshest spring shower of a feast imaginable.
Then came that kimchi, rich and hot and adding a deeply exotic texture to the table, and yet more – dongchimi – fresher and in brine. Both slapping me in the face for my history of churlish refusal. There was also deep-fried Korean chicken wings and a wonderful plate of asparagus in an eggy sauce, topped with milky trout roe.
We finished with a rice pud, another childhood horror rectified to creamy glory with a tart jam of persimmon and a scattering of dried red beans.
Dongnae, from price and vibe to design and flavour, is beautifully pitched.
