A dinner is twelve people at one table, early in the week, when a good kitchen is at
its quietest. We take a fixed menu, we tell you the numbers in advance, and we pay per
head on the night. No room hire, no minimum spend, no deposit. These are the things
that tend to make an evening like that work.
Banchina opened at Gloucester Quays in March 2026, in the unit that was TGI Friday's. It seats about 130, including 50 outside, and the open kitchen and Neapolitan pizza oven sit at the heart of the room, so the pizzas are made in view of the tables. The team describe the interior as Amalfi Coast tones, natural textures and soft lighting. The menu runs from house-baked focaccia, burrata and arancini to Neapolitan pizza, rigatoni carbonara and lobster ravioli. It is the second restaurant from Metin Civlak and the Sef's Steakhouse team in Cheltenham, and it hosts our Gloucester dinners.
Soul n' Seoul opened on Westgate Street in January 2024, in the unit that had been the Hubble Bubble cafe, and is the first Korean restaurant in Gloucester. The room is small and loud in colour: corrugated steel walls painted red and black, bar seating along the window onto the street. The kitchen cooks dolsot bibimbap in hot stone bowls, Korean fried chicken plain or in a sweet and spicy glaze, kimchi fried rice, bulgogi and kimbap. Starters sit around £7.50 and most mains between £9 and £17. It is independent, open seven days, and its own booking form already takes parties of more than six.
Upstairs at The Cheeseworks is the wine bar and kitchen above The Cheeseworks, the cheesemonger that has traded on Regent Street for more than twenty years. It opened above the shop in 2025, one room seating twenty five that takes up to thirty for private dining. The kitchen is built around cheese: toasties, charcuterie, sharing boards and small plates, with pickles, preserves and accompaniments made in house and bread from a local bakery. Wines are picked to drink with British and European cheeses, alongside local beer and cider. Lunch runs daily, dinner Wednesday to Saturday.
Nagomi opened on Crescent Place in September 2022, two minutes from the Promenade, in part of the building that once housed The Stable. Its tables have grills and hotpots set into the middle, so much of the cooking happens in front of you: Japanese yakiniku, Korean barbecue, shabu shabu and Korean hotpot. Alongside that sits a kitchen menu of small plates, sushi and bar food, from edamame and kimchi to Seoul fried chicken, with Kobe wagyu on the menu too. It is independent and single site, open Monday to Friday for lunch and dinner and all day at weekends.
