Little Hollows

Little Hollows is chef-owner Chris Davis's neighbourhood pasta restaurant on Chandos Road in Redland, opened September 2021 in what was previously the Rubicon cafe. It picked up a Michelin Bib Gourmand within a year and a place in the Good Food Guide's 100 Best Local Restaurants for 2023 not long after -- fast, well-earned recognition for what reviewers consistently describe as a small, bright, candlelit room with jazz playing and a private garden out back, lined with herbs and flowers, that comes into its own on a warm evening. The pasta itself is made fresh every morning and hung in the window to dry before service, a visible, honest bit of theatre several reviews single out.

Against the brief's target profile this is close to as good a match as exists on this list: independent, genuinely chef-led, five years old, well-reviewed without reading as a room chasing five-star noise. The set menu at £27-29 sits comfortably within budget, though at least one reviewer flagged the wine list as surprisingly pricey for a casual neighbourhood spot -- worth knowing before ordering rather than a dealbreaker.

The one real constraint, and it is structural rather than a quibble: Little Hollows' own booking policy caps evening parties at 6. A table of 10 on a weekday evening is not something the restaurant's normal booking flow supports -- it would mean either moving the dinner to lunch service, or negotiating exclusive use of the whole (small) restaurant directly with Chris Davis, neither a simple "book online" ask. Closed Monday, which also rules out the series' preferred first weeknight outright; Tuesday would be the one to test. Chandos Road itself is a quiet, cafe-lined Redland side street, unglamorous and residential -- a good fit for a working dinner, not a see-and-be-seen one.