Mud Dock, Mission & Milkshakes (or Photo’s and Burrito’s)

Food and drink in interesting company can lead to flashes of group inspiration. On this particular dark night, fuelled by chorizo stew (truly delicious) and Lidl Viognier (not recommended), wine glasses and beer bottles were clinked and waved as we toasted our future endeavour. A photography field trip. How very grown-up!

I have a great camera but I’m something of a rookie when it comes to the technical side (as opposed to the ooh-look-how-pretty side) of photography. In contrast, two of my friends are keen and competent clickers so we decided to spend a day behind our respective lenses in each other’s company. This may not seem very food-orientated but the day was nicely broken up into chunks of photo-taking time interspersed with coffee stops.

Sun deck of the Mud Dock, The Grove, Bristol

The perfect spot for people spotting though it became increasingly packed with couples, squabbling families and groups of friends “doing brunch” and comparing hangovers. The café itself is shares its premises and owners with a bike shop, Cycle Works, which makes for some interesting passersby. The terrace has lovely views over the river and one of Bristol’s three (I think) swing bridges. We intended to use it as a meeting point, a convenient, sunny place from which to plan our route but half an hour of chatting, catch up and general geekery later, we left with latte-filled tummies (£2.50 a mug) but no formalised course. Ah well.

Window seat of Mission Burrito, Park Street, Bristol

I’ve been keen to try the Bristol branch of Mission Burrito for a while and with our shutter fingers starting to tire, we decided to stop in on a quest for sustenance. It proved to be a fantastic place to pause in the midst of the hustle and bustle of Park Street. Again, the window seat is a fantastic place to people watch – the canopy kept us nicely shaded from the surprisingly strong Spring sunshine. This branch is a big change from the St Michael's Street branch in Oxford that I know and love; there's space to sit and enjoy your food. Saying that, the food is more of the same delicious, speedy, satisfying fare. I went for a carnitas burrito, which at £5.95 isn't cheap for lunch but you get a lot of bang for your buck and it fills you up until...

At the bar of Rocatillo's Diner, Queens Row, Bristol

Milkshake time! Rocatillos is an American-style diner nestled on Clifton's "Triangle" which does kick-ass breakfasts but their real headliner is their MILKSHAKES. Seriously. For £3.95, you get a stainless steel jug of delicious artery clogging goodness. I had to share with one of my friends otherwise it would've been waaaay too much to handle after everything else. My other trip companion went for an 'Extra Thick' milkshake which lived up to its name - you could stand a spoon up in it without any sway!

And later... Highbury Vaults (on St Michael's Hill) for a swifty pint in their shady courtyard garden. Lovely though my glass was dirty. Bleugh.