New restaurant, COR opening soon in Bristol

Restaurant owner Mark Chapman, born and raised in Australia, has worked in a number of fine dining restaurants across the county. He jumped into the Bristol food scene after moving to the UK, working in top venues like the Bath Priory and Season and Taste – owners of Gambas, Bravas, Cargo Cantina and Baker & Co.

COR will be the first business of his own, which is something he has wanted to do since he first started out as a chef at the age of 16.

“The restaurant COR is designed to be an inclusive restaurant for everyone,” Mark told BristolLive. “If you’re a table of one up to eight people you can come in. If you have a very low budget you can still enjoy something from the menu, whether it be a drink and a croquette or a tartiflette.

“Or if you want to come in for a romantic dinner or a celebration, you can come in and enjoy that, too. You can come in with all sorts of budgets. There’s a lot of people that don’t have that money, especially with this climate, so we want to make sure the lunch offerings are cheap and humble.”

Mark and his wife, Karen Paley, noticed the opening on North Street – formerly Flip Deli – and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to start their own restaurant.

There has been an influx of new openings along this high street in particular over the past few weeks, including a bottle shop and bar, North Street Cheese Company and Kitchen by KASK.

COR will cover dishes from every corner of the Mediterranean and work seasonally with produce from Bristol and the South West. COR, which means heart in Latin, will retain high-quality hospitality at the core of its business with food, drinks and service delivered with passion.

It will seat a cover of 38 diners, with bar and table seating along with 12 window seats that will always be reserved for walk-in customers. The restaurant will open on 26th October and is already taking reservations.