![\"Inside](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_BRI_PG_030425ragu-13.jpg\")
Inside Ragu restaurant at Wapping Wharf(Image: PAUL GILLIS \/ Reach PLC)<\/p>\n‘All hail the Bristol riviera’Inside Ragu restaurant at Wapping Wharf(Image: PAUL GILLIS \/ Reach PLC)<\/p>\n
Restaurant critic and BBC MasterChef star Grace Dent has dubbed a recently opened Bristol restaurant her ‘favourite new restaurant of 2025’ so far, in her latest review for her column in The Guardian<\/a>.<\/p>\n The columnist, broadcaster and author, who many will know as being a regular critic on MasterChef and its Professionals and Celebrity counterparts, published a review of Italian restaurant Rag\u00f9<\/a>, which opened at Wapping Wharf’s Cargo 2 venue back in April<\/a>.<\/p>\n In her review, Grace described Rag\u00f9 as being “a cool, minimal, romantic ode to Italian cooking that’s housed in a repurposed shipping container”.<\/p>\n She added: “To my mind, Wapping Wharf has gone from strength to strength in recent years, and no longer feels at all like one of those novelty ‘box parks’ that have about them a heavy whiff of the edgy temporary fixture.<\/p>\n “Today’s Wapping Wharf is a true independent food destination in its own right, and with a bird’s-eye view from one of Rag\u00f9’s window seats, while eating venison rump with gorgonzola dolce and sipping a booze-free vermouth, you can watch the crowds head for the likes of the modern French Lapin, Tokyo diner Seven Lucky Gods, modern British Box-E, Gurt Wings and many more; by day, there’s also a bakery, a butcher, a fromagerie and so on.”<\/p>\n Tucking into the likes of Rag\u00f9’s battered artichoke and aioli, crespelle in tomato brodo, and chocolate budino with sour cherries and amaretti, the critic also described Rag\u00f9 as offering up “some of the most skilful cooking anywhere in Britain right now”.<\/p>\n She added: “I recommend the place wholly, effusively and slightly enviously of anyone who gets to taste the heavenly tiramisu made with sumptuously soggy slices of panettone before I get the chance to return.”<\/p>\n She even described the crespelle in tomato brodo, spinach and sheep’s ricotta as having “the greatest, richest, most drinkable-by-the-bucket” tomato brodo she had ever tasted, asking: “What are they doing to tomatoes back there in that tiny kitchen?”<\/p>\n She pointed out that the “star of the show” was the Ashton Court venison, and described service here as being “fantastically prompt throughout, as the young team coped with the Saturday night chaos with calm aplomb”.<\/p>\n Rounding off her review, Grace said: “Rag\u00f9 might very well be my new favourite restaurant of 2025, and we’ve barely reached summer yet. All hail the Bristol riviera.”<\/p>\n Rag\u00f9 opened its doors back at the start of April as the second venture from Mark and Karen Chapman, the team behind Bib Gourmand venue COR<\/a> in Bedminster.<\/p>\n COR first opened its doors on North Street in Bedminster<\/a> in October 2022, and has gone on to be recognised with a Michelin Bib Gourmand.<\/p>\n It has, in fact, become one of Bristol\u2019s top flight restaurants, attracting rave reviews from the likes of national critics like Tom Parker-Bowles and appeared in the Good Food Guide and Michelin, which awarded it a prestigious Bib Gourmand for \u2018good quality, good value cooking\u2019.<\/p>\n According to the couple, Rag\u00f9 is a “love letter to the wonderful food<\/a>, culture, warm hospitality and adventure experienced in Italy”.<\/p>\n They had originally planned to name their new restaurant after their son Luca, however they announced via Instagram back in March that they had been forced to change the name<\/a> because another restaurant in London had threatened them with legal proceedings if they didn’t.<\/p>\n![\"Inside](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1_JS364813076.jpg\")
Inside Ragu at Cargo 2, Wapping Wharf(Image: Paul Gillis\/Reach Plc)<\/p>\n![\"Dent](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_Grace-Dent_MasterChef.jpg\")
Dent on MasterChef(Image: BBC)<\/p>\n