The Stable – pie and cider anyone?

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

Depot Winter Social

It’s dark, grim and persistently hammering down – it must be winter which means it must be time for the Depot’s Winter Social.

In dire need of cheering up we popped down there on Saturday evening to see what the £2 entry fee (free before 7:30pm) would get us

The place was pleasantly busy – enough to create an atmosphere but not so many that the food and drink queues were enormous. There was a great mix of people of all ages too.

The best thing about it was the chance to catch up with the Ffwrnes pizza boys

They drive their little pizza oven all over Wales in the back of Smokey-Pete the van delivering their superb wood-fired beauties to us undeserving rabble

Their pizzas are all made fresh with the best quality toppings on a sourdough base

These are my favorite pizzas bar none and at seven quid a pop they are excellent value too

Just look at those bad boys.

To finish off we decided to try the desserts from the folk at Science Cream

Their ice cream is made fresh to order and is quick frozen with liquid nitrogen giving an amazingly smooth and creamy texture

So good they even have the boy-wonder serving them.. Kapow Robin!

Our ice cream came sat on top of a creme-brulee.
My mouth is watering just remembering it. Delish.

All this accompanied by real ales and a real DJ playing a fab mix of retro and modern music.

If you’re stuck for something to do this weekend or you just have the winter-blues – get yourself down to the Depot Winter Social – I think you’ll love it

The Discovery

The Mrs is on a health kick (seemingly permanent but we can but hope for a change of heart). She wants to live long and prosper so everything home cooked tends to be veggie or Vulcan. Vegan – I mean vegan.
So it was a pleasant surprise last night when she expressed her overwhelming desire for a pizza. We headed over (on spec) to the Heath area of Cardiff to the wondrous Anatoni’s only to find it packed out so there was no room at the inn. We were offered a later table by the lovely lady hostess but opted to try The Discovery pub which is bang opposite.

Truth be told I was kind of hoping that might happen as I’d heard a lot of good things about the pubs in the Knife and Fork Group and had been dying to try The Discovery since we first …… discovered it (see what I did there?).

For all their obvious efforts there’s no mistaking the air of it being a reclaimed seventies pub from the outside. Inside however the atmosphere is warm and ever-so slightly shabby-chic with the lighting pleasingly but not too subdued. There are lots of old black and white photos on the walls of leaping dogs and bucket-wearing pandas that stay just the right side of kitsch. The wife wanted to bring some of the eclectic collection of un-matched chairs home with us but we couldn’t work out how to smuggle them to the car.

The restaurant is reached through a large bar area, empty-ish when we arrived but packed and very cosy-feeling by the time we passed back through to leave.

The restaurant itself was busy but not overcrowded and we were happily able to get a table without a reservation

(This is a promo-pic – it was full on the evening we visited)

The Knife and Fork Group rightly make a big play of the fact that their ingredients are seasonally appropriate and locally sourced and that their menus vary day to day accordingly. So all the meals are listed on blackboards rather than printed menus and the lists are pleasingly short. I do love a menu that shows the confidence of the chef to list a few good meals rather than the usual death by a thousand and one mediocre cuts.

Last night we opened our account with hummus, bread and olives

It sounds simple but often it’s the simple things that are hard to do well. No worries on that account here. The olives were very more-ish and the apparently home-made hummus had the consistency and flavor of a warm hug. Lovely.

For mains the Mrs went for the roast cod with chorizo (“well – it was only leetle leetle slices of sausage – and it had kale so it was almost vegetarian” etc etc)

The cod was super, perfectly cooked and subtly flavored and the accompanying chorizo was peppery and delicious.

I on the other hand, after agonising briefly over the “plank of pork”, went for the slow braised ox-cheeks with pomme puree (aka mash), red cabbage and kale.

It’s so hard to put into words how good it tasted I’ll let this picture explain:

It was so good I found myself giving an involuntary groan of pleasure with each mouthful. My kind of food. Simple, good ingredients, perfectly cooked, no messing about. Nom, nom and indeed nom.

Desserts were a little bit disappointing with nothing really grabbing our imagination

In the end we shared the snickers tart with salted caramel ice-cream. Very nice if not up to the standard of the mains – maybe I just don’t have a sweet enough tooth

Overall the meal was excellent. And at fifty quid for a three course meal of this quality for two (including wine and coffee) it was also very good value. In fact the mains ranged from £8 and up so it would be possible to have a cracking meal for a very reasonable price.
We’ll definitely be back to work our way through the rest of the menu. I’m already thinking about trying the plank of pork and the sweet potato gnocchi. Oh and the mushroom risotto. Fish and chips looked good to. And they do a rib-eye steak…..

Very highly recommended

Il Pastificio – too

The daughters were both back in the ‘diff for the weekend so off we went for a family meal and where better to try than Il Pastificio in its latest incarnation

Relocated from its’ previous bijou spot on Wellfield Road to a position on
Pen-Y-Lan Road the new location is much larger than the previous restaurant and it looks like it needs to be. We were lucky to get an early seating but when booking we were were asked that if we hadn’t finished eating by eight then might we take out coffees on the sofas downstairs as there was another group arriving. The word on just how good the food here is obviously out.
We ordered partly from the set menu and partly from the specials board.

For starters we tried the Fungi, Formaggio e Noce (large mushroom stuffed with goat’s cheese, pear and walnut):

I’m reliably informed by the wife that this was delicious but I didn’t get a look in to try it myself.
The eldest daughter had the Speck, Spinach and Provolone which I did manage to get a taste

The light green flavours of the spinach were the perfect foil to the mature salty flavorings of the meat and cheese – delicious.
The youngest had the artichoke salad

which was another simple dish where outstanding ingredients were allowed to speak for themselves, the artichoke being delightfully creamy.

I had one of the specials – scallops with creamed artichoke and chorizo

The scallops were just cooked to a wobbly-but-white-in-the-middle perfection and the combination of the white fish (bi-valve?), spicy grilled chorizo and creamy mashed artichoke was just spot-on.

I think I won the starter round, who would won the battle of the mains? (Not that I’m competitive or anything)

I again went to the specials board for the rack of lamb with mushrooms in a wine sauce and sauted veg with rosemary

Note the special razor sharp knife, presented by the waiter with no little panache. It was totally unnecessary –  the lamb cutlets were so perfectly pink-in-the-middle buttery perfection that I could have cut them with a plastic British rail spoon. My only mild complaint would be that the sauce was not quite warm enough so brought down the temperature of the whole dish. A minor annoyance though.

The “Panzarotti, ricotta a spinaci”, tubes of pasta stuffed with creamy ricotta and spinach, drizzled with butter and olive oil and sage was fab, the sage’s turpenols complimenting but not overpowering the subtlety of the other lighter flavours

The Paccheri Ortelana (meant to be a dish of tubular pasta but that had all gone so was replaced by tagliatelle) was pasta with pesto, aubergine and courgette. The sauce was a balancing act of sweet peppers and tangy tomatoes and as usual was excellent.

However there is no doubting the star of the show for the main courses. The eldest went for the half-lobster.
She was introduced to the fella before the starters arrived

and then with the usual Italian love of theatre it was produced under a silver cloche

And …. Ta Da!

An outstanding dish of stunning lobster meat served on a mound of unctuous prawn risotto. I couldn’t taste it myself because of my tedious allergies but am told it was fabulous.

For dessert we went for an old standard of tiramisu

bitter-sweet, alcoholic and lush, and big enough for two to share.

The girls opted for salted caramel torte with espresso and vanilla ice-cream.

Sticky, crunchy, caramelly deliciousness

All this, including coffee

and a couple of bottles of Shiraz came to £140.

Now that may sound pricy but that’s less than forty quid a head for three courses of this quality for four people including two (count ’em two) bottles of wine and coffee. Personally I think that represents stunning value. A pretty special place if you’re looking for somewhere to celebrate a special occasion.

Highly recommended

GBK Gourmet Burger Kitchen

Decided to pop into town to catch the film The Martian by Ridly Scott based on the book by Andy Weir – more on that in a separate piece.

We were in a rush to eat before the film and town was packed on account of a World Cup Qualifier between the All Blacks and Georgia. So we needed somewhere to eat that would serve us a decent bite and be quick about it.
Gourmet Burger Kitchen on Mill Lane seemed to fit the bill so we gave it a go.

The decor is a bit of an odd mix if I’m honest. Diner crossed with 70’s wall-cladding crossed with working men’s club leather bench seating. Let me stress that’s not to say I don’t like it – quite the opposite – it’s quite quirky and oddly cosy

I kicked off with a surprisingly good grilled halloumi and jalapeno dip starter. The halloumi was soft and moist – much better than your average rubbery supermarket block.
It was jolly good.

Mains were burgers, a shared portion of chunky skin-on chips and a side salad. The chips were excellent and one portion was plenty enough for us.

Burgers were a Chicken with Cranberry and Camembert,

and a GBK Cheese and Bacon.

Clearly working hard to hold it together due to the rush of pre-rugby-match customers the staff did a great job of smiling through the chaos and offering alternatives to ingredients that that run out – the camambert in my burger was happily substituted with goat’s cheese and if anything that made it even better.

There was a moment of Fawlty-esque farce where we received the wrong meals and the manager stopped in and snatched them from under our noses. But they were replaced almost immediately with the correct dishes and fresh chips – all handled with a smile.

Suffice to say both burgers were very good. They were speedily served with charm (and an organic IPA – which helps) in quirky warm surroundings. If you’re looking for a tasty bite in a rush then what’s not to like?
Recommended

La Cuina

We spotted La Cuina recently in a Wales Online “top 50 Cardiff restaurants” list and we’re amazed that we had never come across it before. We assumed it must be a new venue but it turns out it has been open since 2012. One look at the website was enough to convince me a booking was required as soon as possible so a visit from my brother was the perfect excuse to make a reservation.

Tucked away off Cowbridge Road East, La Cuina is an understated but classy little venue. The decor reflects the unfussy nature of the dishes on offer – no frills, just bloody good food

We were offered both the main and tapas menus and all elected to go for the main menu (but I’ve no doubt we’ll be back to try the tapas menu soon).

To start I tried the scallops with Catalan black sausage. The scallops were perfectly cooked, moist and delicate, and were the perfect foil to the earthy flavors of the black sausage which was similar to but lighter than a black pudding.

The others opted for the octopus with aioli on a bed of potatoes and black sausage. Another excellent dish. I’m not often a fan of octopus add it can be rubbery but this was perfectly cooked with a delicious smoky flavor.

I tried both starters and they were equally good.
For the main course I chose the Lamb – which is a sharing dish for two. It was a stunning dish and a very generous portion, a whole roast lamb shoulder. Again – no frills, the quality of the ingredients were allowed to speak for themselves. The meat was so perfectly cooked it melted in the mouth like butter. Superb.

The other two diners both went for the dish of the day which was hake served on a bed of roast vegetables together with samphire and a delicious saffron sauce. Another perfectly cooked fabulous dish.

We decided to push the boat out and to order desserts as well. We shared a  Crema Catalan and a “Pa amb xocolata”. The Crema Catalan was similar to a creme brulee topped with strawberries.  A little runnier than we expected but delicious nonetheless

The “pa amb xocolata” consisted of a couple of quenelles of chocolate ganache with sea-salted bread and olive oil (!). A highly unusual sounding flavour combination but spot-on. Delicious.

Together with a couple of half bottles of wine, a few beers and coffees the meal came to about £45 pounds per head. Not cheap but well worth it for the quality.

As they say in Catalonia “A vegades una gallina cega troba un gra” and by picking  La Cuina for a meal last night it looks like even this blind pig occasionally picks up an acorn. On this showing La Cuina is an absolute gem.
Highly recommended.

Tortilla – Caroline Street

“So farwell then SpiceBerry we loved you but you didn’t last. I’ll have to add you to my list of Curry Houses (past)” (with thanks to E.J.Thribb)

Alas Spice Berry is no more and has been replaced by a new Mexican takeaway/restaurant called Tortilla

I was hoping for something up there with Chipotle or even better a Tacos No.1 but then they would be competing not just on taste but with my hazy golden memory of a fabulous week in New York so probably not a fair comparison and probably no surprise that it didn’t quite reach that level for me.
Tortilla are located on Caroline Street – a street that has changed beyond all recognition from the days when it was a post-match chip-shop and curry sauce stop-off. Now you’re more likely to find up-market chains like Five Guys and Bistro Pierre than a trad chippy.
The place looks great outside and in:

The decor is urban chic with beer-bottle chandeliers and lots of reclaimed wood and industrial metal partitioning.

The setup is familiar to anyone who’s been to Mission Burrito our Wok To Walk. Select the size, various fillings and relishes and presto! You have a burrito

The grrrl and I both went for the medium size wrap – which even by my hungry standard was pretty huge. The missus went for the veggie option whereas I went for the steak (70p extra but worth it – very good), mediterranean rice, peppers, guacamole, cheese and sour cream with hot (hot) sauce.

All the ingredients were freshly prepared and the flavors were excellent – particularly the steak and the hot sauce.

If you’re looking for a reasonably priced quick bite or maybe an upmarket sandwich for lunch then Tortilla is well worth a visit

Locke and Remedy

So this was a first, invited to a “soft opening” for a new venue in Cardiff called “Locke and Remedy“. What on earth I’ve done to deserve it apart from a few scratchy blog entries I have no idea but it was gratefully accepted none the less.
This is a new restaurant based in the old library building which is bang in the centre of Cardiff and is a pretty stunning venue both inside and out but for some reason had been a graveyard for the hopes of various business ventures over the past few years. Cardiff’s very own version of the Bermuda Triangle. 
We arrived fashionably late by about ten minutes in teeming rain and were warmly greeted at the door with a cocktail called a Welsh Princess – a delicious prosecco and aperol (no – me neither) based beverage which hit the spot nicely thank you very much.

At the behest of very persuasive mixologists (ok – they didn’t have to try toooo hard) we tried various other cocktails during the course of the evening including an Old Wives Tale (an exquisite citrus flavored gin and limoncello based potion) and a
Sailors Hydranger (a toffee and spiced rum libation which started promisingly but was cloying by the end of the glass)

The mainstays of the menu at “Locke and Remedy” are pizzas and burgers which may sound a bit basic but that’s definitely not the case here. The pizzas have some atypical but very well chosen flavor combinations and the burgers are hand-crafted with relishes such as American mustard and ketchup hand made in the restaurant.
In order for the guests to try a little of everything, pizzas prepared in-house and cooked in wood-fired oven were sliced and offered around the tables as pseudo-starters.

I loved the pizza’s perfectly crisp thin crusts and they had some interesting flavor combinations.  The salty mackerel on the mackerel and prawn went down surprisingly well for me but the missus is a traditionalist when it comes to pizza so she wasn’t overly keen. The spicy chicken and pepperoni had a delicious chili kick and the goats cheese and black olive pizza was a definite favorite. The mozzarella pizza had a lovely oregano flavor but my particular favorite was the palma ham and chorizo.

For mains we were offered a choice of burgers combined with a mix of fries (plain, cheese and sweet-potato)
Now I must admit I’m not normally a huge burger fan – too often the texture is poor and they’re an excuse for poor quality mince. So I’m happy the report that the glazed short rib burger I tried was pretty stunning, quite possibly the best I’ve ever had. It had more of a pressed steak texture the a mince and the american mustard relish gave it a pleasing dry spice kick. It was really (really) good.

The chicken burger was also good , moist tender breast in a batter with more than a hint of an upmarket “colonels secret recipe” spice going on.

For dessert, the chocolate cookies with vanilla ice cream were moist, gooey, malty and fab.

In the name of over-indulgence we tried a few more of the cocktails and eventually hit on our joint favorite which was the Margarita Rosa

So can “Locke and Remedy” escape the clutches of Cardiff’s Bermuda triangle?

On this showing I would give it a definite yes. Good food and drinks with imaginative flavor combinations, prepared and served with care and attention in wonderfully ambient surroundings

Highly recommended

Troy Charcoal Grill and Meze Bar

We decided to go for kebabs with a Turkish bent tonight and so we ended up at Troy on City Road.
Compared to a lot of the other kebab restaurants on City Road Troy comes with a few advantages. Firstly it takes cards as well as cash and secondly they serve alcohol. Double bubble.
The first thing that is noticeable is the ginormous open hot-coal fire pit upon which the kebabs get cooked. We were led past this to a cosy little enclave where we sat amongst a few other couples and some students who were obvious regulars.
The background music sounded at first like Turkish rap (Kanye Middle East maybe?), then morphed into something that wouldn’t be out of place on Stuart Maconie‘s Freak Show but eventually settled into traditional Turkish folk.
We ordered a couple of beers and starters – but before they arrived we were given a huge bowl of fresh sesame-seeded bread, olives, a tzatziki-esque garlic yoghurt sauce and a spicy chili-tomato sauce – all complimentary.

Starters were a deliciously nutty tahini-flavored hummus, marvelously creamy herb-flecked feta, a kisir salad and the best falafals I’ve ever tried.

For the main course we ordered a rich cheesy vegetable moussaka, chicken kebabs and a Troy special which was a combination of minced lamb kebabs, lamb chops, grilled chicken, chicken wings and quail.

All were served with an excellent crisp crunchy salad and perfectly cooked rice.
The dishes were all delicious – moist, flavourful and char-grilled to perfection.
The meal (which was huge as well as delicious) came to sixty five pounds for three people including starters and drinks and loads of complimentary extras – great quality food and stunning value

Highly recommended

Bar 44

Strange days this week. My youngest turned eighteen. Yes all my kids are now adult and I am officially redundant as a person.
In ancient times I would expect the tribe to be looking for opportunities to bop me on the bonce with a large bone and to leave my body out in the snow for the bears. So with anxious glances for family members bearing mammoth-mandibles I decided to distract then by taking them for a celebratory meal at the new Bar 44 on Westgate Street in Cardiff.

We had already previously eaten at the Penarth Bar 44 where we had one of the best tapas experiences outside of Spain due in no small part to the excellent service we had at the hands of the head waiter. So on the eve of our visit to the new Bar 44 we were slightly freaked out to be served cocktails in Las Iguanas in Cardiff Bay by the same (now ex) head-waiter – a bad omen?

The new Bar 44 location is on the site of the execrably named and now defunct “Feather and Bone” (which never appealed to me – can’t think why with that moniker). It’s a prime spot that for some reason has failed to find it’s crowd – hopefully Bar 44 can remedy that.

The restaurant interior is very stylish with low vaulted-ceilings, white tiles and fancy bar fittings.

We opened our account with cocktails of the two-for-one variety – start as you mean to go on I say. Imaginatively concocted featuring figs, lavender and egg whites and all manner of unusual ingredients, they were subtle, stunningly colored and delicious.

The menu was helpfully divided into meat, fish and veggie dishes so we ordered a selection from each segment.
Garbanzo salad with parmesan shavings was excellent as were the Bacalao and Dorado dishes. The Grrrl particularly liked the merluza – served filleted and grilled.

I could have done with a sour dough loaf to mop up the stunning chorizo stew

I’m a meaty boy though so the chicken thighs and lamb were my favorite dishes – just gorgeous.

And little add-ons such as the olives and sour-dough with olive oil were just stunning.

We finished by splurging on vintage sherry which tasted of raisins and honey and had more legs than all of Rod Stewart’s ex-girlfriends, was almost as expensive but just as worth it.

It was a week of strange omens. I saw a business-man in tailored shirt and trousers wearing star wars deck shoes and another carrying a Tupperware box full of faggots and gravy. I saw the ghost of head-waiters past serving cocktails on the eve of my visit to the new restaurant so the week kept getting weirder and weirder.

And then I heard my daughter freshly returned from a holiday in Spain say that the tapas in Bar 44 were better than any she’d had in a whole week in Majorca.

What can it all mean? Better tapas in Cardiff than Majorca? Is it the end of days?

All I can say is if this is the rapture then bring it on.

Very highly recommended.