Launched in 2021 by Tom De Michele, Milk Bun operates an upmarket burger restaurant in Bristol’s Clifton alongside Milk Bun Deli, which has locations in Bristol and Bath and focuses on sandwiches made with the brand’s signature fluffy milk bread.
Milk Bun recently refocused its restaurant menu, removing its smashburger option to double down on larger patties.
Options on the new menu include the Bronx (35-day aged beef blend, milk bun, American cheese, house pickles, white onion, mustard, ketchup); and the Garlic Jam (35-day aged beef blend, milk bun, beef tallow mayo, American cheese, white onion, garlic jam).
The restaurant offers sides including fried pickles; miso honey mustard chicken wings; fries topped with aioli, pecorino and chives; and a Chinese-inspired cucumber salad.
De Michele’s new bakery occupies the former 1,300sq ft site of Cobbs Bakery, which operated for three decades.
The move will allow Milk Bun to scale both the volume and variety of its production.
The space will also allow Milk Bun Deli to make its deli counter products in-house for the first time, with plans to launch its own range of cookies, canelés and sausage rolls to take away.
De Michele will also launch a chef series next month that will see some of the South West’s most high-profile cooks collaborate with him to create their take on a burger.
The line-up includes Jan Ostle of Bristol’s Wilson’s (4 November); Kyu Jeon and Duncan Robertson of Bristol’s Bokman (9 December); Margot Henderson of The Three Horseshoes in Batcombe (13 January); Ben Tonks of The Seahorse in Dartmouth (17 February); and Rob Sachdev of Upstairs at Landrace in Bath (10 March).
“The series is something I’ve been thinking about since day one of opening the restaurant. I’ve always felt that burgers deserve the same love, care and thought as any other great dish – so to have these incredible chefs getting involved and bringing their experience to the bun is an amazing feeling,” De Michele says.