Is something exciting happening on Whitchurch Road? It’s certainly beginning to feel that way. With several recently opened indie food venues such as Le Pot, Coco Rico and Got Beef joining more established favourites like The Crispy Duck it seems that Cardiff’s foodie options are growing rapidly. From Newport Road and Roath Park, rolling up through Wellfield, Crwys and City Roads it seems like Whitchurch Road is extending Cardiff’s indie-destinations right up to the Gabalfa Roundabout.
A week or so ago a new Whitchurch Road venue, Society Standard opened it’s doors for the first time and having heard some good things about it on social media we decided to forego our usual friday night Chapter visit to give it a go.
First impressions were that it’s a little out on a limb so maybe will struggle for footfall but by the time we left both Society and the nearby Le Pot were very busy indeed so both seem to have found a clientelle and appear to be more than holding their own.
The decor at Society Standard is New York loft style stripped brickwork and industrial metalwork chic:
Lots of funky artwork (all for sale) on the walls and open kitchens add to the vibrant atmosphere
Society does a pretty good balancing act of being a bar, restaurant, coffee-shop come all-round destination.
In terms of beers, alongside a plethora of bottled real ales they also have a number of draught options of which I tried a couple. The Double Standard IPA – brewed specifically for the Standard restaurants (there are two more in Bristol) is very, very drinkable – smooth with an excellent depth of flavour. The Bavarian wheat beer from Cardiff’s Pipes brewery is suitably wheaty and complex – both delicious.
On the wine front there was a pleasingly concise list of options from which we tried the Italian Pinot Mirabello which is crisp, fresh and slightly tart – very good indeed.
The food on offer is a tempting mix of meaty and veggie options which suits our family feeding dynamic perfectly – lots of temptations for all.
My partner in crime considered the truffled mac-n-cheese burger and the fish pie before opting for the moules marinier served with fries and a hunk of chunky bread from Pettigrew’s Bakery. I requested a couple of soup spoons to help finish off the marinier sauce only to be told by the missus in no uncertain terms that I could keep my mits off (she relented and I can report that it is as delicious as it looks)
For myself I briefly dabbled with the idea of taking on the pork sharing platter or one of the steak options (to be honest there were about ten dishes I wanted to try) before deciding on the half-rack of ribs served with fries, pickled red cabbage, soured-cream dip and succotash. After many chidhood years of wondering what on earth Yosemite Sam’s cartoon cry of “suffering succotash” refers to I can now report that it’s a delicious dish of butter-bean and diced bell-peppers. As good as that and the cajun-spiced fries were though, star of the show was the half-rack of ribs. Sourced from Dennis Willis Organic farm in Chepstow they are without doubt the best ribs I’ve ever tried. Cooked to sweet, melting perfection and covered in a not-too-obvious barbeque sauce (by which I mean it complemented the ribs rather than overpowering them) the sheer quality of the dish was a very pleasant surprise indeed. Not just a trendy bar then – but a really good food destination too.
Having tried the half-rack I regretted not trying the full rack however that meant I’d left enough room for a desert. Having considered the options and taken advice from the very friendly staff we decided to share a “Cranachan”. After it was described by the waitress as “like eating a cigar but in a good way” how could we resist? It was a tumbler-full of peaty, smokey oats, honey, bourbon and thick chantilly cream – loads of flavor and texture -my kind of desert.
To accompany it we had a couple of Americanos made with coffee sourced from the Clifton Coffee Co – and the enthusiasm of the serving staff for describing the dishes and their various sources showed in the excellence each of the courses we tried. The attention to detail was spot on.
So – no complaints? Well just a minor one. The venue appears to be two units knocked through into one and the left-hand side is a little narrow to the point where, with the doors open at either end (because of the constant stream of smokers to the rear garden) it became a bit drafty. Nothing a hinged-door couldn’t fix though.
All in all a very welcome addition to our list of foodie destinations. We’re already thinking of occasions we can use as an excuse to return. We’ll definitely be back.
Very highly recommended
Eat see hear Cardiff 