Twenty years ago, North Street was a very different picture from how it looks today, now swelling with cafes, beer taprooms and clothes shops. There certainly wasn't anything offering smoothie bowls and fresh juices like the new health food cafe Nook.
This latest addition to the high street is the cafe's third site in the region after seeing success in Frome and Bath. Owner Millie Clifford previously said she was captivated by the vibrant, healthy food she was eating in Australia and wanted to bring that to the UK.
Nook took over the old site of Bravo's English & Caribbean Takeaway, which moved to Easton, and a stark example of the changes around Southville in recent years, with North Street once referred to as the most gentrified area in Bristol. A few hundred metres away lies East Street, which is exemplary of what North Street once was.
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Inside Nook and the interiors take Scandinavian minimalism to new extremes, sparsely decorated with houseplants and unvarnished wooden benches, tables and stools. This means it's not the most comfortable seat for a leisurely lunch or a table-hogging Macbook user planning to spend hours nursing an oat flat white while rinsing the wifi.
Nook has only been open a few weeks but word of a new cafe in Bedminster had clearly spread fast. On a weekend visit, there's already a buzz before 11am and I felt fortunate to get the window seat as I watched swathes of people queue up waiting for a table.
The menu has ample choices, all based on ingredients that are supposed to make you feel instantly better just by ordering them. Smoothies, fresh juices and poke bowls are all dishes we thought were a fad but seem to have lingered, mostly through Instagram influencers.
Perhaps one of the more indulgent dishes are the fluffy pancakes (£7.95), which lacked the soft, light texture that was promised - and very much reassembled the ones I attempt to make at home - but they were elevated through a heavenly topping concoction. Creamy coconut yoghurt was dolloped on top of golden mango cut with a berry compote and toasted coconut flakes.
You can add peanut or almond butter for an extra £1 or £1.50 respectively, a hefty mark-up, which I conceded to. Other breakfast items include a sticky, moist banana bread with yoghurt (£6.25) and possibly some of the most high-end porridge bowls I've ever seen, a luxury item at £6.50.
Nook is perhaps built a reputation for its fresh juices and smoothie bowls pumped with immune-boosting goodness, but they're not cheap coming in at almost £9 a bowl. The Berry Acai, one of four smoothie bowls, is loaded with berries, bananas and coconut, blitzed into a thicker smoothie that you eat with a spoon rather than drink.
Breakfast is served until 11.30am and after that time you can still enjoy the smoothie bowls or move on to the lunch menu. This consists of Hawaiian-style poke bowls (from £8.95) and ramen made with a warming miso broth priced from £4.50 up to £9.95.
The harsh reality is that wholefoods and fresh produce carry a hefty price tag in 2023 and with so many businesses closing, you have to be thankful that 1) another small business is moving in and; 2) it's not a fast food outlet. Nook has had no trouble fitting into the existing North Street community - it almost feels like it's been there for years - perhaps save the porridge bowls, a dish that might not win the people of South Bristol over just yet.
Nook is located at 24 North St, Southville, Bristol BS3 1HW, open Wednesday to Sunday, 8am until 4pm. Dishes range from £4.50 to £9.95.
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