We’ve recently made a couple of visits to The Stable – a cosy new joint in the ground floor units of the new Admiral building.
Started by Richard and Nikki Cooper as a single restaurant in Dorset, The Stable has grown to have a small chain of locations across the South which now includes Cardiff.
According to their blurb their original vision was to create a unique environment making food with local produce at decent prices. And lots of Cider.
So do they succeed?
You might have walked past the Stables without even noticing it, so dwarfed is it by the Admiral building that it is set in. However the missus is a sucker for twinkly candle-light and I’m a sucker for pies so it had all the pre-requisites to grab our attention by the curlies and we had made a mental note weeks ago to give it a try.
We have popped in a couple of times for a bite before going on to catch a movie because it’s very conveniently located for several city-centre cinemas.
First off they have a limited menu consisting of a variety of crowd pleasers made with some very interesting sounding taste combinations. Let’s step back and examine that sentence, shaaaaaall we…
A limited menu – it’s pies or pizza – so if that’s not your thing then (salad or ploughman’s aside) you’re pretty much out of luck. But hey – what’s not to like about pies or pizza?
Interesting taste combinations – herb roast potato, Perl Las blue cheese, roast onions and spinach pizza (The Blue Pearl) and Lamb, Rosemary, roast potato and honey pie (The Lamb Bam Boogie) for example – enough to make your mouth water just reading the menu.
As you might have guessed I’m a sucker for this type of food. I’m slowly working my way through the pie choices – so far I’ve had the ham hock, peas and mustard, and the afore-mentioned Lamb Bam Boogie. Both were excellent if a touch dry – maybe a little gravy-boat would be a good touch. The accompanying roast potato wedges were slightly overdone on the first visit but second time ’round they were perfect.
My other half went for the Billy the Kid pizza – goats cheese, mushrooms, spinach, caramelized onions and roast hazelnuts. We both agreed it was an honourable failure. Excellent ingredients and pizza base but maybe just a little too many flavours going on. Still – good enough that she’s ordered it on both visits so maybe we’re being a tad over-critical
If you’re a fan of ciders then your in for a treat as The Stable has a mahoosive selection
… And also some very good craft beers. I tried the Seafairer Pale Ale which I very much enjoyed.
And there’s an interesting wine selection –
The wife-ness went for a carafe of the Languedoc which was delicious.
Lastly a word about the ambiance. It’s all very casual and unpretentious. I assume partly due to a healthy number of visitors from Admiral the atmosphere was pleasingly buzzy.
And the lighting is just right – tons of twinkly candles that make the room feel intimate even though it’s quite a big open space. Perfect for a quiet meal for two or for a large group.
We’ll definitely be back – all in all a very enjoyable night out and highly recommended
Eat see hear Cardiff 