Doing Things Differently: A conversation with Head Chef / Owner Zak Hitchman, OTHER Bristol

After years spent cooking in some of Britain’s most demanding Michelin starred kitchens – including Ynyshir and Casamia – chef Zak Hitchman took a sharp turn away from tasting menus and fine-dining formality. In late 2024, he and his partner Emma Lyons opened OTHER, an 18-cover neighbourhood restaurant on Bristol’s bustling Canon Street, quickly earning a Michelin Bib Gourmand and a place in the Good Food Guide’s 'Best Local Restaurants 2025'. Equal parts serious and soulful, OTHER distils everything Hitchman learned at the top level into something freer, looser and far more personal. Here, he talks to The Knife about swapping perfectionism for personality, building a kitchen that works at human scale, and why "doing things differently" might just be the future of dining.

Zak and Emma outside OTHER

• You’ve gone from the intensity of Michelin starred kitchens to running an 18-cover neighbourhood restaurant. What pushed you to step away from fine dining and start again on your own terms?

I’ve spent around 15 years cooking professionally, most of that in high-level Michelin kitchens – one-star places mostly, a few two-stars too. Long tasting menus, endless prep, huge teams – that was my world for a long time. But over time my interest in that kind of cooking faded. When Casamia, the restaurant I was running in Bristol, closed, I took some time out. I helped friends, did some private cheffing and agency work, and realised I didn’t have the desire to go back into that intensity again. I just wanted to cook super tasty food in a relaxed environment. That’s what we’ve built with OTHER.

• You’ve already earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand and a place in the Good Food Guide’s 'Best Local Restaurants 2025'. How do you balance that recognition with keeping things laid-back?

The Bib was a great one for us. We opened in October 2024 and got it by February, which was quick! But it fits exactly what we’re about: really good food at a reasonable price. I’m still using everything I learned from those high-end kitchens, but now applying it in a different way – same flavour, same care, just in a more casual setting.

• Your menu draws from all over the world: Turkish, Vietnamese, Middle Eastern. How do you keep it feeling like you?

When we first opened, we changed the menu weekly, but now it’s more seasonal. It’s still always evolving, but we don’t rewrite the whole thing every week anymore. The food is really just based on what we love to eat, what excites us. I don’t think "fusion" is quite the right word, but it’s a mix of global influences for sure. My background includes a lot of Japanese-inspired cookery, so those ideas and techniques naturally sneak in. But we’re not trying to be authentic to any one cuisine, we just do our own thing. That’s where the name OTHER came from.

Emma serving dishes at OTHER

• How do you decide when to strip things back and when to flex creatively?

Honestly, most of what we do is pretty stripped back. I like things to be minimal, let the ingredient or the technique do the talking. For example, we’ve got a dish right now using hogget neck. We brine it, smoke it slowly, glaze it, and serve it with pineapple ancho chilli jam and spring onions. That’s it, three elements. A lot of our dishes are like that: two to four components, maximum.

• You’ve brought back your famous sourdough doughnut from Casamia, though slightly reimagined. Why revisit that dish?

It’s just too good not to. At Casamia, it was already one of our most popular dishes, and it still fits perfectly here. We now toast it on the barbecue, butter it, and roll it in a salty sugar mix, so it’s got a savoury edge. Some guests order it solo after their savoury dishes; others have it with our crème brûlée, which is designed to be eaten together. It’s indulgent, fun, and totally OTHER.

• How do you keep creativity flowing without a big team or tasting-menu format to lean on?

Mainly through our suppliers. We work with a brilliant greengrocer just down the road, I’ve known him since the Casamia days. I see what’s fresh, what’s in season, and that sparks ideas. I don’t really follow trends or what’s "in". I just apply my methods to whatever ingredients are looking great that week.

Zak in the kitchen at OTHER

• OTHER has a homely, personal vibe: colourful walls, vinyl on the shelves, Emma’s granny’s cutlery. How deliberate was that?

Very! We didn’t want white walls and cookie-cutter minimalism. We painted the restaurant ourselves with help from family. Emma’s granny’s cutlery is used in service, it’s been in the family for generations. The plates and crockery were all found second-hand: vintage pieces from the 60s and 70s, full of character. Guests often say, "My gran used to have these!" It gives the place real warmth and personality.

• You run OTHER with your partner, Emma. How do you split the creative roles between kitchen and front-of-house?

Emma handles the admin, accounts, and the overall look and feel. She was the driving force behind making the space bright and bold. I’m more on the food and concept side – she keeps my wilder ideas in check! It’s a good balance: one creative brain, one logical one.

• Bristol’s food scene has exploded in recent years. What do you think defines this new wave of neighbourhood restaurants?

Bristol’s always been a creative city: art, music, food, all of it. Each area has its own thing going on: Bedminster, Stokes Croft, Clifton – they’re all so different. That creativity carries into the restaurants, too. There’s this mix of independence, experimentation and community spirit that makes the city feel alive.

Zak and Emma inside OTHER

• You borrow flavours from global cuisines but keep it distinctively Bristol. How do you walk that line?

Honestly, I don’t overthink it. Everything we cook naturally fits the restaurant because it’s my food, my taste. Using local suppliers and seasonal British produce roots it here anyway, no matter where the inspiration comes from.

• You now run a kitchen of just two full-time chefs. How has that smaller-team setup changed the way you work?

I’ve always preferred smaller teams, even at Casamia we were only four chefs. At OTHER, it’s just me and one other chef, Salomé, cooking together four days a week. It’s intense but sustainable. We wanted to create a place where we can work hard without burning out, so we’ve kept it small on purpose. The menu’s tight, but we put a lot into every dish – some things take days of prep.

• And looking ahead, do you see OTHER as your long-term home or a stepping stone to something else?

It’s hard to say. These are tough times for restaurants. We’ve had an amazing first year, but it’s not an easy industry right now. So for now, we’re just taking it as it comes and focusing on keeping OTHER thriving.

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