Tom Hunt is fanatical about waste. Or rather, the lack of it. It's at the heart of every aspect of Poco, which has built a loyal following in its first 18 months in Bristol's Stokes Croft area. "If I'm chopping chillis, I don't cut the stem off – I pull it away, so we can use every last bit of the pepper in the food," Hunt says.
The name Poco couldn't be more apt. It's the Spanish for small (but the restaurant's first "o" is pronounced as in sock). And everything here is dedicated to leaving a small footprint. They aim to recycle or compost 95% of everything that is used and even weigh the restaurant's waste at the end of each day. (Typically, this can be less than 1kg.) If a supplier can't be persuaded to change its packaging, they'll change supplier. Here they don't just stick to the guidelines of bodies such as the Marine Conservation Society – they aim to better them.
The ethos extends to the way the food – English in a tapas-style – is served. All the dishes, mostly in the £3-£5 range, are designed for sharing, and the waiting staff will gently lead you away from over-ordering. The blackboard menu lists all the suppliers, the bulk within 50 miles of Bristol. The fish comes from Bridport, and the menu tells you the name of the boat that caught it. (I mentally tip my hat to the crew of the Gillian for the mackerel.)
Hunt mostly oversees the food, Ben Pryor sources the drinks (many from local micro-breweries) and Jen Best is the chief waste-cutter. They met when running festival food stalls and gravitated towards Bristol, home to many people involved in infrastructure and catering at Glastonbury and Womad. "It just seemed the natural place to go," says Best.
Hunt, who started out as a chef with Moro's Jake Hodges, has plenty of form as an eco-chef (his term). He works on the Feeding the 5000 event with previous OFM award winner Tristram Stuart and has long championed the slow food movement. In Poco's intimate but relaxed interior, pleasantly buzzing with customers every night of the week, you sense his pride in combining delicious food with rigorous ethics. And, as Jen Best points out, those tapas portions have another advantage. "We've even had lifelong vegetarians want to try a little bit of our meat." (I fell by that wayside as well…)
Poco's mantra is "90% British, 10% EU, 100% seasonal". And, yes, one ingredient in the richly flavoured Peruvian chocolate pot might appear to break that rule, but the money helps to replant an Andean valley with cacao trees to support the farmers and other species to maintain the diversity of the surrounding rainforest.
Poco, 45 Jamaica Street, Bristol BS2 8JP; 0117 923 2233; eatpoco.com; tomsfeast.com
