Towards the end of last year, Zak Hitchman launched OTHER in the south Bristol suburb of Bedminster with his partner Emma Lyons. The chef is well known in the city, having overseen what turned out to be the final chapter of Peter Sanchez-Iglesias’ Michelin-starred Casamia.
With the full backing of his employer, Hitchman reimagined the Harbourside restaurant after the first lockdown, turning it into something more progressive and edgy. The stark white dining room was painted black and became a canvas for graffiti and video projections. Beginning and ending with the chime of a gong, the 20-course tasting menu of Asian-influenced dishes was paired with an eclectic and unapologetically loud soundtrack that was created on the fly each night.
At the time, Hitchman, who had previously worked at the equally irreverent and noisy Ynyshir, described the project as a “weird gig with food”. Carefully choreographed but less pretentious than it sounded, the rebooted Casamia split the room. After two years, Sanchez-Iglesias pulled the plug on the restaurant citing rising costs.
With an average spend per head of about £40, Hitchman’s second album is definitely not a follow up to Casamia. Seating just 18 guests, the brightly-coloured space serves a notably concise menu of small and sharing plates inspired by global flavours. The team is equally lean comprising just Hitchman, Emma Lyons, 23-year-old chef de partie Salomé Cavatz, and three part-timers covering front of house and KP duties.
Low budget it may be, but OTHER has already earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand and a place in the Good Food Guide’s Best Local Restaurants 2025. We sat down with Hitchman to hear how things are going.
OTHER is a very different proposition to your previous restaurant project
After Casamia, I felt like I’d taken fine dining as far as I wanted to. It was fun, but these days I prefer cooking, and eating, in more casual restaurants. Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I ate at that level. It also bothered me that Casamia had to be so expensive. Most of my friends and family couldn’t afford to eat there. At OTHER, people typically spend £30–£50 per head including drinks, which feels much fairer.
How have you managed to keep prices so low?
We run a really tight team. On a busy service, it’s two chefs including me, a KP, Emma, and one other person out front. That limits what we can offer. There are just a handful of dishes, but I’d take that over having eight chefs in the kitchen and a business that doesn’t work. We want to follow the model of small, family-run places. Emma and I are always here. We’ve missed just one service between us.
Having such affordable pricing must also limit the sorts of ingredients you can use
It does, but I’m okay with that. At Casamia, I cooked with a lot of expensive luxury ingredients, but I’m bored of caviar and wagyu. At OTHER, our proteins are still high quality but more accessible. Right now, we’re serving pork belly and gurnard. Snacks and small plates include seven-hour smoked mutton with roasted pineapple and ancho chilli jam, and a tempura pollock dish with raw scallop, green salsa, and jalapeño. Flavour-wise, it’s not that different from Casamia. A lot of my inspiration comes from brilliant takeaway food - the stuff everyone loves. Shifting from a 20-course tasting menu to a concise small-plates format was a challenge at first, but nearly a year in we’ve found our rhythm. We thought about doing an occasional tasting menu but decided against it. We didn’t want to confuse people about what we are.
Tell us about your background
I’ve been in fine dining kitchens for about 15 years. Before Casamia, I spent four years at Ynyshir, starting in 2016 not long after Gareth (Ward) took over. Back then, it was still a country house hotel serving afternoon tea and lunch menus. By the time I left as sous chef, it had transformed into something much closer to what it is today. Emma has also worked in hospitality from a young age, but she’s done other things too, including teaching and accounting. The latter has been very useful for running OTHER.
Why did you call the restaurant OTHER?
We wanted a name that stood out. The branding and interiors are bright and bold, and the menu blends influences from all over the world - it’s not any one thing and OTHER just felt right. Emma and I have been together for about 14 years, and for much of that time we’ve talked about opening a restaurant. It’s just us, no investors, so we set it up on a tight budget and keep it as streamlined as possible. Running a restaurant is tough at the moment, but things are going okay, all things considered.
Why Bedminster?
We were originally going to open in the city centre, but that site fell through at the last minute. In the end it worked out for the best. This place is only 10 minutes from home, so we can walk to work. We’ve lived in Bedminster for six years, and it has a different feel to the city centre. North Street has a strong daytime trade, but fewer dinner options. There are some great places including COR, Sonny Stores and Souk Kitchen but in general the area is more daytime orientated. There aren’t that many restaurants overall.
You’re nearly a year in. How has the restaurant been received?
The response has been amazing. A fair few people followed me from Casamia, but they actually prefer coming here because it’s so much more accessible, both in terms of price and booking a table. It’s not been easy and we’re still figuring out what a restaurant even is in this day and age, but the support has been incredible.