La Panza, Redcliffe Way: 'Stay, curyous traveller, and pass not bye, until you’ve given the tuna arrabbiata a try'

Italian that even Thomas Chatterton would stick around for

Happy Sunday, Saucers. It feels like a very exciting time for The Bristol Sauce. We’re nearing 900 of you — which is amazing — and we’ve got some top class guest writers lined up in the next few weeks. I was chuffed to see The Sauce mentioned in Andy Lynes’ superb newsletter Smashed just over a week ago, in which he (very kindly) suggests that you’re better off reading our reviews than those of a national restaurant critic.

A subscription to The Bristol Sauce is just £3.50 a month. I know that times are particularly hard at the moment, but my hope is that this publication helps you spend your hard-earned money wisely — at Bristol’s best and most innovative independent establishments. If that’s something you value, please consider helping us keep the lights on by becoming a paying Saucer.

Thank you! ~ Meg

---

Apparently Thomas Chatterton would retreat to the isolation of the attic in his former home and write through the night

“Stay, curyous traveller, and pass not bye, until this fetive pile astounde thine eye.”

So goes Gothic poet Thomas Chatterton’s ode to his old school and home on Redcliffe Way in Bristol, which is now a cosy, familial Italian trattoria with a higgledy-piggledy staircase and waiters that call you darling.

I’m kidding. Thomas was actually describing the building opposite his alma mater, the by-many-accounts stunning St Mary Redcliffe church. Though quaint and historic La Panza’s grade II-listed walls may be, they’re not quite at the level of astounding the eye (the stomach and soul however…).

La Panza moved from an equally rustic set up on Lower Park Row to its current traffic-flanked spot in 2020 and, often belonging to the hurried Temple Meads-bound hordes myself, I wonder how many passers-by do pass not bye as it’s almost hidden in plain sight between office blocks and overpriced car parks. True Italian trattorie are supposed to straddle the vibes of seated restaurant and home kitchen, and La Panza hit the nail on the head and pinned the Ciambellone cake tin to the wall with this one.

I’m not sure other architecture in this area is quite as worthy of poems, but the food might be

Ordering here is easy because firstly, everything sounds delicious, and secondly (on one particular evening) the already compact menu is slimmed down further by the kitchen being out of haddock, focaccia, two out of three of the dessert options, and four of the wines, but this feels more on-brand Italian than disappointing.

Lamb chops, deep-fried Tuscan style, (£12) are the savoury lollipops I didn’t know I needed — crunchy and fatty, the gamey flavours are lifted by a zingy caper mayonnaise. Artichoke romana with parsley and mint (£11) comes drenched in olive oil and laced with gooey lardo, which gives this fairly plain vegetable (which is part of the thistle family — who knew?) some longevity.

Is there any vegetable not improved by the addition of lardo?

White crab tagliatelle with cherry tomatoes and mint (£19) and trofie with wild garlic, asparagus, and peas (£15) are both humble dishes. One feels like the latter would serve the same purpose as a pesto pasta at home - easy to make and unobtrusive in flavour - but made extra special with the heavy sweetness of confit tomatoes and creamy burrata.

I suspect Chatterton would have approved of these pasta bowls

Gnocchi made with ricotta with duck ragu and pecorino (£19) is everything required from a ragu - brothy, peppery, and tastes like it’s been stewing for hours. And there’s something about cuboid gnocchi that tastes even better than the spherical breed.

To think you could get this for a tenner with a drink and focaccia feels illegal

Thankfully, the only dessert on offer today is an excellent pistachio cream tiramasu (£8) which lacks in booziness but otherwise is smooth, delicate, and — opines my friend au fait with the tiramisus of Rome — authentic. The waiter’s off-menu attempt at a vegan ice cream decaf affogato in place of out-of-stock panna cotta and chocolate torte is valiant but soupy. Still — the offer is appreciated.

Eating at La Panza feels closer to tucking into pasta at your Italian friend’s house than to your last meal at Prezzo. It’s also satisfyingly possible to pop in on a weekday for the £10 pasta, focaccia, and drink deal, nap off the wine, and make it back to the office in a one-hour lunch break. If you receive my out-of-office, you know where to find me.

More naff than aff, but appreciated nonetheless

In another poem, the troubled eighteenth-century Thomas once pondered whether it was possible to find happiness* on earth. Had he known his old school and home would one day serve up some of the best duck ragu in ‘Brystowe’, with various Natasha Bedingfield remixes playing in the background, he might have been closer to finding the answer. Perhaps the tortured teen would have stuck around longer than his 17 years.

Stay, curyous traveller, and pass not bye, until you’ve given the tuna spaghetti arrabbiata paired with pinot grigio a try.

All words and photos by Caitlin Johnson-Bowring

La Panza, Redcliffe Way, BS1 6NL

*The actual word used in the poem is selynesse — check out the etymology of silly here.

---

Read next: