Here you will find food ideas from restaurants, recipe ideas, festivals and daily restaurant deals worth buying

The recently relaunched Grey’ s Restaurant at the Hilton Hotel in Cardiff are currently offering an afternoon tea discount for two guests for just £23 including a glass of bubbly.

With Cardiff Castle as the perfect backdrop to sample triple layered sandwiches, welsh cakes, scones with clotted cream and jam plus a selection of mini pastries such as macarons this afternoon tea discount voucher would make nice little Christmas gift for sisters, mums and grandmothers although not forgetting the male appreciators of sugary treats as I wouldn’t mind this one myself.

I bought one for my grandmother back last year when there was a similar discount on the afternoon tea at the Hilton but that was before the relaunch of the new Grey’s Restaurant and that didn’t include a glass of bubbly either so I’m sure it will be even better this time even though nanny Carole wasn’t complaining about hers anyway.

My mum decided to buy a separate voucher for her sister at the time but you can purchase an afternoon tea discount voucher for 4 too instead of messing around with multiple vouchers for just £45.

[button link=”https://www.travelzoo.com/uk/local-deals/Cardiff/Restaurant/268093/Hilton-Cardiff/” color=”default” size=”large” stretch=”” type=”” shape=”” target=”_self” title=”” gradient_colors=”|” gradient_hover_colors=”|” accent_color=”” accent_hover_color=”” bevel_color=”” border_width=”1px” icon=”” icon_divider=”yes” icon_position=”left” modal=”” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ alignment=”center” class=”” id=””]Buy the Hilton Hotel afternoon tea discount voucher[/button]

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I’ve wanted to try the food at Penarth’s most highly regarded restaurant for a couple of years now but it’s not the type of restaurant to try out on a normal Friday night due to the higher price bracket on some of the food there but now Travelzoo Cardiff are offering a discount voucher for James Sommerin giving 2 dinners a 6 course tasting menu for £79. The usual price of the 6 course taster menu at James Sommerin is £70 each so it’s a 43% discount meaning you pay just £39.50 per head.

If you haven’t heard of James Sommerin before, they have been won many restaurant accolades over the years but 2016 has been their year after being awarded the coveted title of AA Restaurant of the Year for Wales and more recently their first Michelin Star so do they do seem to know what their doing behind the cooker.

With it’s picturesque views out over Penarth to match the expertly crafty gastronomic plates this is the perfect place to celebrate with friends and family as you can upgrade the restaurant discount voucher at James Sommerin to include 4 dinners too. That’s not all if you’re feeling up to it you can get a discounted 9 course taster menu for 2 for an extra £20 per person and not for the faint hearted the 14 course Chefts Table experience for the ultimate indulgence with a glass of champagne at £199 instead of £325 or £395 for 4 dinners.

I’ll be honest I wasn’t feeling too excited by the 6 course taster menu but the 9 course menu does have a few more red meat dishes and the addition of pidgeon to tempt me snapping this deal up. It would make a great Christmas present for any food loving family members plus if you get it for them they might just take you with them so it’s a win win!

The discount voucher at James Sommerin restaurant based in Penarth is available for lunch from 12 – 2.30pm, Tuesday to Saturday between 2nd January and 30th April 2017

[button link=”http://tidd.ly/9b0925e9″ color=”default” size=”large” stretch=”” type=”” shape=”” target=”_self” title=”” gradient_colors=”|” gradient_hover_colors=”|” accent_color=”” accent_hover_color=”” bevel_color=”” border_width=”1px” icon=”” icon_divider=”yes” icon_position=”left” modal=”” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ alignment=”center” class=”” id=””]Buy the James Sommerin restaurant discount voucher[/button]

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I took a visit to sample the new menu at The Verve Grill at The Village Hotel in Coryton this week just off the roundabout and just opposite Asda. Working in Newport, I more or less pass the hotel on a daily basis but never even thought of going for food there as hotel food tends to be overpriced garbage at the best of times. I know a few people who are or who’ve been members at the gym and they all had good things to say but until this week it’s the first time i’ve stepped over the doors to the place so didn’t really know what to expect.

The hotel has a choice of two restaurants with the bar offering your standard pub grub of burgers, wraps and the like and was told it had just had a makeover and have to say I did like the look and feel going on there as it had a much more relaxed feel on first inspection compared to some hotels i’ve stayed at in the past but only poked my head in for a nosey round so didn’t stay to sample what was on the taps.

The 2nd restaurant was the Grill Restaurant serving as the name might suggest more meatier options focussing on your steaks, lamb, chicken and fish and a bit more fancier stuff than in the bar restaurant.

As I was driving I didn’t get to make a dent in the list of beers on tap and in the fridge so I gently sipped my vino tinto as I gazed over the menu.

verve-grill-new-menu-village-hotel-cardiff

Starters included:

  • Pea and mint soup
  • Chicken lollipops
  • Hot sticky Bourbon bbq ribs
  • Tuna capriccio
  • Stuffed Mushrooms
  • Prawn Cocktail
  • Antipasta platter
  • Hummus, red pesto and roasted red pepper dip and grilled flatbread

I do love a good rib, but it’s not often I have fresh tuna and I was a bit confused with the wording of the dish as I thought they had spelt carpaccio wrong although I think it might of been some dish they named themselves but after asking my best mate Googley he told me capriccio is Italian and means
a painting or other work of art representing a fantasy or a mixture of real and imaginary features.

The actual dish claimed to include herb and citrus marinated sliced tuna with avocado, mango and a chilli salsa. Seeing as though the accompanyments ticked all the right boxes I bit the bullet not knowing what the tuna would end up turning up like whether it was cooked or ceviche esque and slowly cured and cooked gently with the citrus juices. I had happy memories of sampling my first prawn ceviche for my first bit of nurishment after 3 days stomping in a field in Miama at Ultra music festival a few years back so thought what the heck.

tuna-capriccio-starter-verve-grill-village-hotel-cardiff

The dish came and was nothing like I imagined, well sort of what I was hoping for but presentation wise I was quite impressed as it was like no tuna dish i’d ever seen with the large round disks of soft, raw tuna as if the fish had been put into a mandalin and sliced into tracing paper like sheets of ruby red flesh.

Without any hesitation I dug in tearing gently at the disks of fresh tuna sheets, topped with a bit of the salsa and let it melt in my mouth and analysing the outcome before a gently nod of agreement to myself. The tuna was good and I liked the refreshing touch of salsa to go with it but if I were to offer any feedback I couldn’t quite get the citrus flavour coming through so a fresh wedge of lime on the side to juice to your required depth of limyness would of been a good addition and a generous scattering of fresh corriander because…well corriander just takes freshness in salsa or any citrus dish to the next lever instantly with no fuss.


First course out of the way and onto the mains on the board.

There seemed to be two options for mains and as this was a hotel with quite a large leisure facilities they would be silly not to tap into the healthy options for those looking not to over induldge in terms of calories and had a 500 club offering main courses with a good chunk of protein bit a bit more forgiving in terms of carbs and fats and all coming in at less than 500 calories.

Well there would be none of that nonsense for me (tonight anyway) and had a quick glance over but wasn’t even kidding myself because if I’m out for food and going the full hog i’m not leaving until my buttons on my shirt feel like their about to pop off, which they pretty much were by the end of the evening.

But if you have overindulged this week already or picking up something after a tough workout downstairs and don’t feel like cooking options the 500 club options are below

500 club mains

  • Tiger prawns in wholemeal pasta, spinach in lemon and dill cream
  • Black pepper crusted fillet steak in asian broth and green veg
  • Teriyaki salmon and black rice salad
  • Herb marinated chicken breast in warm salad and salsa
  • Chicken, avo and feta salad
  • Seasonal salad with asparagus, ricotta cheese, nuts and ranch dressing

Mains included

  • Seared tuna steak
  • Beef fillet stroganoff
  • Minute or sirloin steak and chips
  • Lamb rump and all the trimmings
  • Rack of Bourbon ribs
  • Mussels and fries
  • Mushroom Risotto
  • Pan Seared Cod
  • Chicken Kiev
  • House Burger
  • Chickpea, spinach and sweet potato curry
  • Grilled thyme chicken breast

To my dissapointment there wasn’t any game on the menu as that’s usually my go to option as I don’t tend to cook it much at home but went for my next fav lamb and this one came with with garlic and rosemary roast rump of lamb, mented pea puree, baby veg and port jus.

I was tempted to have the mussels as I love drowning half a loaf of bread in the broth at the bottom of my seafood couldrom but not sure that would of filled me as I usually have them as a starter and my fellow dinners including myself would of died of boredom waiting for me to salvage every last morsel of muscle meat from their shells.

 

For an added bit of stodge and because I’m a greedy mofo I kindly agreed to do halfies on two sides of jalapeno mac n cheese and chilli mushrooms. After my recent purchase of mac n cheese on the food market on the hayes in cardiff a few weeks back I’ve been having dreams about it since!

The lamb appeared along with the rest of the mains not long after starters and I was battle ready, knife in hand. Mwsh opted for the same main as me but being a farmers daughter I think she’s got lamb’s bloody running through her veins as she’d have lamb as part of every meal if she could. I was slightly jealous at her opting for hers medium rare as I’d only ever dared go medium on lamb in the past and hers was a develishly red in the middle compared to mine only slight pink but she admitted hers wasn’t very crispy on the fat and mine was just perfectly crisp and caramelised.

The veg wasn’t overly mounted on the plate underneath but it was ample with the addition of the sides of creamy, blistered and cheesy mac n cheese along with the nicely spiced mushrooms which I was pleasantly suprised with the nice kick of chilli.

There’s nothing worse than ordering something with chilli or thinking it’s going to be spicy like most indian’s I’ve ordered lately and you wouldn’t have trouble feeding it to an infant as there hasn’t been a single bead of scovile induced sweat to grace my forehead. This wasn’t overly hot and wasn’t expecting it to be but there heat was just about right that it didn’t overpower the flavour of the rest of my plate.

I promised myself i’d take it easy tonight as I’d missed crossfit for the past week because of the bloody traffic and being too retarded to read my rota and turned up on the wrong late shift but that lasted about 23 seconds and jabbed at the sticky toffee pudding on the menu to the waiter with eagerness in my eye as I was needed a sugar fix to get me out of this sleep deprived half conciousness I’d been in all day.

Desserts include

    • Ice Cream & Sorbet Selection
    • Chocolate Mousse
    • Baked Vanilla Cheesecake
    • Creme Brulee
    • Sticky Toffee Pudding
    • Chocolate Brownie
    • Apple & Strawberry Crumble
    • Verve Hot Chocolate Sundae
    • Ice Cream & Sorbet Selection

sticky-toffee-pudding-and-ice-cream-dessert

The dessert arrived in a huge delicious pool of golden toffee sauce just waiting to be lapped up in comparrison to the shot glass sized bowl of ice cream to accompany it although that was probably to stop it melting from the sugar magma covering the pudding but could of been a bit bigger. You can’t really go wrong with sugar laden stoge covered in yet more molten sugar and didn’t last long after it arrived although I did politely offer a taste to my fellow dinners with a look of dream in my eyes.

The verdict

I was pleasantly suprised by the menu as it’s probably the first time i’ve dined at a hotel without staying there as it’s usually out of necessity when i’ve traveled with business and too late to venture out into the locality to find something to curb my hunger pans.

I usually tend to find hotel restaurants to be overly expensive for what they are but on reflection they have a lot more overheads compared to a street food stall at a food festival considering the amount of staff they need to keep the complex ticking over but the prices here weren’t as bad as I was expecting.

Starters around the £7 mark, mains £17 and desserts £6 but after a summer of hitting the street food scene hard I’ve found the prices have risen and portions shrinking and based on that the prices were a good reflection with me needing about 3 dishes to fill me up priced around £7 each and desserts around the £5 mark.

As I’d never stayed at a village hotel previously I wasnt’ sure what to expect and was half expecting the plastic meat from the likes of TGI’s but it was good quality and a nice change of the tuna for my main. Everyone on the table seemed to be in good spirits after the meals and didn’t hear any negative feedback on the mountain we had consumed between us.

Location wise it wouldn’t be somewhere I would probably end up going regularly as it’s in between home and my more local eateries and a bit further out of town from Cardiff if I caught a train down to the city centre for food and a bit added expense catching a taxi there and back. I would recommend the place though saying that and would have no qualms in going back and ticking off a few of the likely suspects on the menu I was torn between this time. Hopefully next time I won’t be driving and can get to see what hopped based beverages they’ve got behind the bar too.

Contact

Address: Village Hotel, 29 Pendwyally Road, Coryton, Cardiff, CF14 7EF

 

As most things I’m quite accustomed too these day’s it was a long old struggle conditioning my sensitive tastebuds to appreciate the grown up flavours from red wine to olives, beer, gin and now coffee.

I was a late starter and couldn’t quite fathom the explosion of coffee shops in and around South Wales over the years especially in some of the towns and villages I thought would never appreciate and savour the complex caffeinated flavours of freshly ground coffee especially paying up to £3 when a packet of 100 teabags will set you back about the same for some Dutchy Originals Orgnanic blend ed tea from Waitrose.

I can remember it now one afternoon stuck working in a business development event about 2 years ago bored out of my skull wishing my life away when all of a sudden a strong whaft of a roasted perfume seemed to seduce my concentration or lack of it from the coffee shop in corner. Coffee up to this point just brought me out in a cold shiver thinking of chomping down on a coffee Roses chocolate by mistake or playing russion roulette trying to steal a Revel off my nan who if you know her guards her Revels like her life depended on it and picking the bloody coffee one out of all the other posibilities!

So I thought come on your a grown up now, you should of grown out of the carton of Caprisun a long time ago it’s time to start enjoying or at least attempting to drink something a bit more refined and delve into the coffee culture I’d looked on in bemusement until now.

I thought I’d ease myself in gently plus I didn’t have a clue what the difference was between a coffee, latte, machiatto, cappuccino and the rest on the list the length of my arm so opted for a latte as it seemed to have the most milk content and I was pleasantly suprised how much I actually enjoyed it.

It was a long old slog after that mind switching up to something a bit different but probably because of the quality or lack of that a latte was quite strong or bitter enough to entice me to grow some balls and have something with a bit less milk in it up until a few months ago. So the scene was Riverside Market in Cardiff, the drug dealer (well coffee is more or less a drug and got me hooked since) – Coffee am Byth, the caffeinated beverage sampled – The Flat White, the result – I haven’t looked back since!

This led me on my quest for the best coffee or more precisely the best Flat White in Cardiff. Check out some of the coffee traders sampled below and my favourites in order of preference.

coffee-am-byth-cuban-flat-white-coffee-riverside-market

1. Coffee am Byth – Roath Market Saturdays & Riverside Market Sundays

It might of been my first sample of a flat white but it raised the bar so high it just hasn’t been rivaled yet and finding it hard to imagine anyone actually presenting to me a more pleasant, smooth and sublime concoction in a carboard cup than this.

The guy might be cheating a bit by pimping the flat white with his “Cuban” upgrade option, which comes with subtle hints of brown sugar and cinnamon that are planted in amongst the freshly ground coffee beans before it’s poured so it leaves just traces of the golden caramel and christmassy taste in your mouth instead of being mixed post pour in your cup of coffee leaving ugly remnants and floaty bits of cinnamon to choke on.

I don’t mean this with any malice but the guy who owns Coffee am Byth is the ultimate coffee geek and that’s exactly what you want when ordering a steamed, golden cup of brain surging juice. We’ve asked loads about coffee when we’re shivering in the deathly wind storming down the taff opposite the Riverside Market on a Sunday just out of a love for the coffee and in an attempt to recreate the Cuban flat white at home after recently investing in a De’Longhi Coffee machine and his knowledge on the subject is second to none.

uncommon-ground-flat-white-coffee-in-cardiff

2. Uncommon Ground – Royal Arcade

I stumbled on this coffee shop after deciding to bite the bullet and get my head scalped the week before next door at Keep the Faith. I was on a mission that evening though as I had a spare 10 minutes to get the final few strands on my skull expertly sheared off before jogging to the appartment to get ready for a works night out so didn’t have time to sample a coffee at the time so vowed to come back the week after when i did.

The wait wasn’t long (thank god) and I was presented with my 2nd favourite, skillfully decorated, steamed and golden nectar in a cup. Mwsh wanted a bit of added flavour to hers but I liked that they were complete purists and don’t stock syrups it’s just coffee, milk and sugar if you’re that way inclined which I did add my customary half a teaspoon of brown sugar.

canna-deli-flat-white-pontcanna-cardiff

3. Cana Deli – Pontcanna

I don’t know if it was the rocket fuelled swift pint I’d just slurped across the road at Pipes open bar before walking over or the relief in comfort the warm cup had on my numbing fingers as we opted to sit outside due to the lack of available seating inside at the time but I did do an overly loud mmmm. Of which, I thought was in my head but turned out my mouth wasn’t connected to my brain properly and blurted it out much to the received satisfaction of the waitress.

The hidden gem of a coffee shop was nestled between two buildings with a little courtyard with 3 businesses adjoining, decorated in wood, which was a nice contrast to the rest of the buildings in the street.

We were a bit peckish as it was just after midday and hadn’t had much of a breakfast for a Saturday so opted for a Cheese board, charcuterie board and a sausage roll to go with the flat white, which were also delicous and highly recommended as an accompanyment or on their own.

I liked the big wooden table’s outside as it gave us ample space to sit and stack the sharing tables out and our drinks instead of some of the dainty little tables and chairs that look like they wouldn’t support a bag of sugar let alone the mountain of nibbles and drinks we ordered there.

The flat white was very smooth and indulgent and big inviting heart shaped milk heart inticing the warm golden sugar sweetened cup into my cold hands bringing life back into them from the temperature outside.

artigiano-flat-white-coffee-cardiff

4. Artigiano – The Hayes

I’d been here just once before around January but was still on my “Coffee Squash” at the time but loved the fact you could order a good coffee or a craft ale and food with even the mention of music and entertainment in the evening this sounded like a one stop shop.

I opted for a grown up coffee this time as my Cardiff’s best coffee quest was in full swing and couldn’t deviate from my mission and ordered a flat white.

The decorative, expertly crafted milk shaped top was the best I’ve had so far I was very impressed. The coffee, somewhat stronger and more pungent that the first three but pleasant, warm and richly satisfying at the same time.

quantum-flat-white-coffee-cardiff-bay

5. Quantum – Cardiff Bay

I’d heard of most of the other coffee shops in my list previously but this one had escaped my attention and only happened to stumble on it by accident walking from the bay one Sunday afternoon.

It wasn’t entirely obvious what the building was from the outsie, it was only becuase Mwsh had previously been a fan of the coffee there and mentioned it might be worth sampling a flat white to see how it compared against the others in the list recently.

The made the most of the industrial look with exposed brick, plywood and concrete with the usual funky lights that are all the rage. They had a mahooosive roaster/grinder in the corner, which was pretty cool too although I’m not sure if it was used for it’s intended purpose or just a piece of furniture.

The flat white was good, it lost a bit of it’s presentation on top but was wasn’t quite on par with the 4 spots above it so comes in at a number 5 slot.

Other Coffee shops sampled that didn’t quite make the cut of top 5 best flat whites in Cardiff

As I’m not a daily drinker of coffee when I do have one I want it to be something worth remembering and enjoy every mouthful of rich, warm bold and delicious coffee.

So for me a coffee isn’t just about the flavour it’s much more than that it’s the whole experience from the flavour, proportions of freshly ground treacle esque espresso matched against perfectly steamed , silky smooth milk, the presentation, the surroundings, the service and the love that’s gone into making cup of coffee. For those reasons that’s why on my first experience of the traders below didn’t score higher than they have.

waterloo-tea-house-flat-white-coffee-in-cardiff

Waterloo Tea Garden

Waterloo Tea – Ok so they are more renowned for their tea’s but thought they sell cake and do coffee so might be a winning combo. I ordered a spinach and pistachio cake to go with it although that turned out to be the saving grace of the visit as the coffee was just an OK. It wasn’t a bad coffee I just had high expectations from a tea house.

The other thing I wasn’t too impressed with was the actual coffee shop it didn’t look very inviting. Ok so most of the new places look a bit more rugged with the industrial look but i’d much rather that than something that resembled a council library from 10 years ago.

Everything was clean and tidy it just so I wouldn’t say they need to work on that I just wasn’t feeling the look and feel in there and after sitting on a few tables inside we took a pew outside in the arcade on a sofa so I didn’t get depressed in the surroundings of inside whilst trying to enjoy my coffee.

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Penylan Pantry

I do feel a bit quilty about placing these at a number 7 and probably due to our own fault on the visit, which was a horrible day to be out an about. It was a Friday afternoon, terrential rain and not sure if the whole of Roath had descended on the place for shelter from the rain but it was heaving. We stood around for a short while at no fault of their own it was just busy and as we had unsuccessfully tried to dine for lunch at Pettigrew Bakery 15 minutes before as we thought it had inside seating and lunch menu items and fancied a sit down drink to warm up.

We had the table cleared and were seated with minimum fuss after a few minutes of standing by the counter, which worked in their favour as my vision became quickly focused on the sharing boards but what to have the meat or the cheese as we had just shared a scotch egg and pasty at Pettigrew.

Anyway cheese it was with a flat white to wash it down with but what was presented to me was the most dissapointed flat white to date although the cheese was awesome mind. I realise they were busy and working flat out keeping everyone served and the girl behind the kitchen had smoke coming from her chopping board she was working so fast but for me the flat white is equally about the presentation as it is the taste and it came in a small (which isn’t bad when it comes to a flat white) clear glass and had just been poured. No love, no presentation, no fancy milky Picasso on top just coffee poured into a glass. The coffee didn’t taste bad but my love for what sat in front of me didn’t fill me with any excitement what so ever.

Coffee Barker – St Mary’s Street, Cardiff

For such a prominent mens fashion establishment in South Wales over the past 20+ years to turn it’s back on it’s heritage to pursue a totally new venture was a bold decision. I think 90% of guys in and around Cardiff had bought one of the rock inspired sequin tops such as kiss and AC-DC from Barkers when they were all the rage about 10 years ago or the highly popular Two Stoned brand shirts they had in every colour you could think of stacked on the rails.

The coffee shop originally set out as an addition to the clothes shop probably so the girlfriends and wives didn’t have to endure hubby doing the catwalk in a choice of 10 two stoned check shirts and could sip aimlessly thinking about their 3 visit that day to Topshop. It soon grew and grew, devouring every last inch of what was left of Barkers the clothes shop and took centre stage and the sole bread winner of the Barkers family business  but I’d not ventured that end of town for a while so not had a chance to sample the coffee or cake or waffles, or ice cream or hot chocolate!!

As I’m writing this I’ve only just realised that Sunday seems to equal coffee day and the main day I get to conquer a new coffee trader in Cardiff but probably something to do with me not working in Cardiff during the week and coffee shops closes well before I finish work in Newport. So a Sunday it was we were passing and the sun was out so we decided on a pit stop to remedy a much needed dose of caffeine from our trek around town and sit outside to make the most of the last few days of summer sun.

We grabbed a table outside trying to find a table that had the smallest mountain of dirty, sticky plates and cups. Not sure if they were just exhausted from the colossal amount of trade they had the day before with the Roald Dahl celebrations taking place a stones throw away from the cafe but they took about 20 minutes to eventually decide to take our order inside as there seemed no urgency amongst those serving and no real reason for the extended wait.

Fair enough if they had been busy clearing the ever increasing collection of cups and trays outside but they didn’t even do that we had to site amongst the mess left from the previous few hours of trade. Then comes the coffee, which looked very miserable. This wasn’t what I was expecting from someone who had basically taken over castle arcade with the every increasing extending of the coffee shop but I was left bitterly disappointed. It looked like the flat white had been made with no offence to Nescafe granules there was no creative mark of approval on top with the milky creations I’d become accustomed to. It was that sad looking I didn’t even go to the effort of going into my pocket to take a picture for Instagram, which isn’t like me of late I can tell you! Not only was the place a tip outside, waited ages for no reason, coffee just looked like it had been thrown in the cup but the coffee was very bitter in comparison to all the other places I’d sampled on the list.

The place always seems busy when passing but for whatever reason I don’t know if they were just having an off day but I won’t be going back in any rush that’s for sure and wouldn’t put my name to somewhere like that after my dreadful experience and recommend it to any friends or family.

 

Coffee Co – Cardiff Bay

I was really looking forward to this place after being left disappointed a few weeks back when I took a you guessed it a Sunday afternoon stroll for my weekly dose of a flat white but it was closed for refurbishment and extension by the looks of it going from one shipping container to another two bolted on to the side meaning they have additional seating inside in preparation for the predicable shitty Welsh weather.

I’d be tagged in a post on Instagram two weeks ago so I was aware the place had now opened back up so set off Sunday just gone at 4.30 knowing the place shut at 5 so it was a bit of a power walk from town to just in front of the Doctor Who Experience down the bay. We got there with about 10 minutes to spare and the walk had built up a slight eagerness to sample on of the savoury pastries with the spotlights fixated on them just in front of the counter but they had quite rightly ran out of mash and gravy being all but closed in a few minutes so opted for the chicken and chorizo pasty.

Two flat whites were ordered with the pasty coming first after a quick blast in the microwave so was only right to have a little nibble whilst the “flat white” was in my mind being blasted with boiling oxygenated milk on the coffee maker and steam nozzle.

“You’re flat whites are ready” came the voice behind the counter so picked them up not really looking and parking them on the bench outside with the amazing view of the sunset over Cardiff Bay. I looked down to the oversized cardboard cups, no arty creation of the milk on top this was just a latte this weren’t a flat white even though we paid for the more expensive option of a flat white. No time to complain the shutters were going down. Maybe they just ran out of the smaller cups a flat white is usually poured in but what we were left with was an overly milky cup of coffee not what I’d busted a bead of sweat to pour down my eager throat and for that reason they are disqualified from the flat white tour as I didn’t actually get what I ordered in my eyes. It was ok if I was after a latte but I wasn’t. I’ll still probably be back to sample a pie mind but might opt for something I know should be stronger next time if they do any IPA’s as the “flat white” can have miss next time.

Independent coffee shops worth a look in Cardiff and discounts with Wriggle

There’s a few coffee places I hadn’t heard of and definitely on my list of places to sample that I came across on the newly launched Wriggle Cardiff website/app that is a daily deals site but only showcases independant traders.

Sign up on the Wriggle Cardiff site or app for a look around but use the discount code AUHPSS for £3 off your first order meaning you can probably get a free coffee on your first purchase. To use the wriggle discount code sign up, log in and go to refer a friend and redeem a code or add it at the basket just before paying for your deal.

Coffee Shops recently and regularly on Wriggle

 Discount code  AUHPSS for £3 off for £3 off your order at Wriggle

Since the clocks went back last week it’s been absolutely baltic here in lil old Wales and no better time is there to get the winter spices bubbling away in some real medicine to warm the cockles.

It was bonfire night on Saturday so I thought there’s no better occasion to get the first batch of mulled cider on the stove for a walk into Cardiff to watch the fireworks by the castle. There are loads of recipes online for mulled cider but I’ve concocted what I think is the best one I’ve sampled yet, well it is made by yours truly so I’m not at all biased! Oh and mine contains a little bit of extra chest warming capabilities in my special ingredient…spiced rum.

Mulled cider and spiced rum recipe (enough for at least 4 glasses)

  • 1 litre of your favourite cider – I used 2 x cans of Thatchers Gold
  • 250ml of good quality apple juice or more if you want a less potent mix
  • 75ml of spiced rum or like me I used 50ml Sailor Jerry’s plus 25ml cider brandy
  • 4 star anise
  • 4 sticks of cinnamon
  • 1 apple sliced in half then into smaller slithers
  • Stick a single clove into about 6 of the slices of apple
  • 1/4 of an orange sliced
  • 5 all spice berries if you can find them or half a teaspoon of sound all spice
  • 2 teaspoons of brown sugar

 

How to make the mulled cider and spiced rum

Put all the ingredients into a saucepan, give it a stir and put on a low to medium heat to gently heat the mixture. The idea is not to boil the alcohol that would just be a waste and we don’t want that now do we?

Have a spoon to hand to check it by tasting it every couple of minutes but should take about 10 minutes depending on the power of your hob.

Once you’re happy with the temperature making sure it doesn’t melt anyones lips off, use a ladle and pour into 4 glass mason jars and try to get some of the star anise, cinnamon stick and fruit into each one to allow the flavours to continue to impart some of their wintery magic into each glass.

Tip: If you’ve got a slow cooker I did a batch last Christmas day putting everything in the slow cooker on high about an hour before our Christmas dinner was served and had it with our food for an extra Christmassy treat. 

So what is the Wriggle Deal?

Yesterday’s Wriggle Cardiff deal was a discount voucher for Time & Beef in Cardiff offering 1 x burger, 1 x cheese, 1 x topping, 1 sauce and 1 fries for just £7.95 instead of £12.95 on the most expensive options in the burger.

When is the Wriggle deal and discount available at Time & Beef in Cardiff?

I purchased mine yesterday evening on the way to Time & Beef as the window of opportunity to use the discount voucher was 6pm – 7.30pm but i’ve seen today that the voucher is also available on Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd November 2016 but do keep checking as I’m sure it will be a regular if it proves popular, which i’m pretty sure it will be.

Do you fancy getting and even bigger discount at Time & Beef?

Wriggle Discount code : AUHPSS

Head over to the Wriggle Cardiff website or app and sign up as a new member then select referral in the left hand menu. Click the redeem a code in the top right of the page and enter the Wriggle discount code AUHPSS to get a further £3 off your order and getting you the Time & Beef deal for just £4.95.

time-and-beef-menu-and-tiny-rebel-pint

About the visit to Time & Beef

This one has been a long time coming and i’ve wanted to try Time & Beef since I first saw a picture shared on Facebook back sometime in the Summer but just haven’t had chance to try it till last night. Having a deal show up on the Wriggle Cardiff app giving a discount at Time & Beef swayed me a bit to especially as I had a meeting in Holiday Inn at 7:45pm and I had 1 hour 45 to kill as I got in to Cardiff at 6pm. Out came the new iphone 7 that I’d bitten the bullet and bought on the weekend (and still trying to get my head around after being an android geek for 8 years!) and tapped the address into google maps from the Holiday Inn and it’s just 0.6 miles and a nice 12 minute stroll up to Canton to work up an appetite for what local legend has it the coveted title of “Best burger in Cardiff”.

I wasn’t entirely sure where it was until I got close but realised it’s just across the road from another favourite of mine in Canton Kimchi the Korean BBQ Restaurant. Well it’s the only other place I’ve eaten in Canton so far apart from Miss Millies but I haven’t even had one of those for years and there are quite a few good eateries popping up and been going for some time worth giving a go.

As I was in between finishing work and my next appointment this was one of the rare occasions I was dinning alone and was a bit aprehensive about looking like a loner in the corner tucking into my food but luckily it wasn’t too busy and had ample seating on the stools and table up the front of the restaurant. I liked the decor with the rough and ready industrial vibe going on that’s all the rage right now with lot’s of reclaimed wood, benches making the most of scaffholding beams and some funky dangly lighting i’d taken a shine too in Ikea recently.

I did notice a set of decks taking a permanent fixture close to the door, which weren’t being used at the time but looks like they’ve got some music and beef orgy going on at some point during the week.

I’d had a quick browse at the menu on the website before hand but i’m so indecisive I hadn’t quite decided especially as they employ the build your own method of choosing food and they claim to offer a 40k+ different combinations with all the options you get to choose from.

The Buns

One thing I did like was the option to choose your own bread roll and with the choices on offer delivered fresh each day from

artisan bread maker Alex Gooch, who i’d noticed the week before stocks in Waitrose in Pontrennau. There’s a choice of 4 rolls with the standard gourmet burger option the brioche, a 7 seed potato bun and vegan options the potato bun or mixed grain brown bun.

The Burgers

They don’t just cater for the carnivorous vultures there’s a choice of beef, chicken breast, welsh lamb, citrus white fish or 4 bean with feta & beet crisp.

The Cheeses

We all love a slice of plastic cheese bubling, dripping and singeing our arm hairs as it drips down your arm when we cook our own burgers at a summer BBQ but you’ve cot choices galore when it comes to cheeses too with:

Mozzarella, cheddar, halloumi, feta, brie or stilton to adhorn your impending meaty masterpiece.

The toppings

Toppings come in two tiers the meat priced at £1.50 per item and the veggies adding £1 per item added to your bun mountain.

Meat options are: pulled pork, chorizo and bacon

Vegetable options: grilled chilli, warmed pineapple, roasted peppers, guacamole, gherkins, fried egg, sauteed mushrooms, beer battered onion rings, crispy onions, mixed salad, jalapenos, house slaw, house potato chips

The Sauces

The crowning glory of any burger and something that can make or break even the most masterfully prepared burger is the sauce. It can just give it the edge if it compliments the contents over other burgers on offer at other restaurants and luckily there’s a few tasty options to choose from including:

BBQ, mayo, garlic mayo, mustard, mint, raita, horseradish, salsa, sour cream, sweet chilli, brown or tomato sauce.

time-and-beef-burger-cardiff-with-wriggle-discount

What did I go for?

After what felt like 4 hours of deliberating I finally come down to a combo of potato bun for a change as I’m a bit sick to death of brioche buns the past week, halloumi as I’ve liked that a few times on my burgers at home, beef patty as I wanted to compare against the other 2 contenders Got Beef and The Grazing Shed, pulled pork for an extra protein hit plus i’ve been smashing the free bacon from Cure and Simple lately, opted for an extra topping of guacamole on top of what the Wriggle deal included but thought i’d push the boat out for a quid then for an added bit of heat the chiptole sauce.

So what did I call my creation?

The guys and Time & Beef add a bit of fun to the burger building process and ask you to name your monster burger with mine being the Holy Fecking Moley for obvious reasons.

So what’s the verdict?

It wouldn’t be hard as my burger had arrived before I sat down at Grazing Shed on Saturday but took a bit longer to come than from them but after the rubber esque block of miserable beef they served up to me I’d come to the conclusion you can’t rush perfection. Having said that it didn’t take that long about 15 mins as everything is cooked to order unlike the one I had Saturday and there were a couple of people who were waiting before I made my order.

The staff were really friendly and made sure I had everything I needed before I wrapped my gums around the food from stabbing devices, sauces and napkins which was definitely needed due to the size of the burger and length of my flavour savours keeping my face warm at present.

The knife was a good option to cut the patty and bun into two as there was no way that was fitting into my mouth and would of lost half the contents had I attempted it in one. The bun was a generous size to hold it all in and to keep it’s structure with the wet ingredients inside.

The beef patty was the most most and juicy I’d ever tasted although the hunk of pulled pork on top acted to self baste the burger with each bite and the halloumi added a bit of saltiness but kept its shape unlike more softer cheeses like chedar normally do but that does give a sexy pic with it oozing down the sides on squeezing the burger.

There was a good dollop of guac to accompany the other toppings and not too much that I had half of it over my face and down my arms. The skin on fries tossed in garlic and herbs was a nice addition too and similar to that offered at Hogwurst although the enamel tray they put them in meant they could swim in the herby butter came with lovely wad of cheese on top too. The portion offies wasn’t very big although paired with the potato bun I had more than enough carbs to contend with as it was and didn’t take me over the edge in terms of bloatedness.

I wasn’t feeling overly hungry on my walk there and was trying to stick to the Wriggle deal to not spend a fortune with just a £1 for the extra topping of guac and £4 for the pint fo Tiny Rebel Cwtch but my next visit I’ll be going all out with a monster of a burger believe me!

I did get halfway through my burger by the time I’d realised there wasn’t much heat coming from the burger and was a bit sweet in comparison to what i’d ordered so I think they had forgot to add the chiptole and was just the sauce coming from the pulled pork but I enjoyed it never the less. One other thing I don’t think it came with any salad/onions/tomatoes/gherkins as standard these would of been added extras for a cost and at £1 per item gherkins and some lettuce would set you back £2 on top.

tiny-rebel-cwtch-welsh-beer

So would I come back?

Yes I will be going back and I would definitely recommend the place as it currently sits at the top of my Best Burger in Cardiff table to date but I would suggest an ongoing burger special for those who like me like to go to a burger restaurant and have the experts (those cooking the burger) put together a killer combo of ingredients or something not actually on the list of toppings and sauces. That’s one of the reasons I’ve not taken to 5 guys as I thought they took the easy option giving the customer all the hard work of putting flavours and combo’s together but not everyone is good at doing that on the spot and I do like the restaurant to be creative and put something seasonal or current together for a change.

One other thing I know I had a wriggle deal and got 1 x burger, 1 topping, 1 sauce and 1 fries for £7.95 if you were going there any other time and if you wanted to create a mammoth burger the price does creep up quite quickly if you wanted 3 or 4 toppings you would be looking at around £17 for a burger and chips yet Got Beef who do put combos together for you to pick such as the Heisenburger with the blue crystal meth esque onions that comes with around 4 toppings with fries would be around £12, which if you’re two parents with 2 or 3 kids you won’t be getting much change out of £100.

Don’t forget to use the Wriggle discount code AUHPSS once you’ve singed up on the Wriggle website or app to get a further £3 off your order including the already discounted Time & Beef burger and fries deal.

Toffee Apple Ingredients

100g golden caster sugar
100g granulated sugar
4 tsp golden syrup (i only had the chocolate one)
2 tsp white wine vinegar ( could use cider vinegar too)
100ml water
25g butter
Black food colouring (or any other favourite colour)

toffee apple ingredients

Instructions

Fill the sink or a larger bowl with cold water which will be used later on to cool the pan if it gets too hot or to stop it burning when it reaches the optimum temperature.

Using the you’re planning to cook the toffee place the apples in and pour boiling water over them for a few seconds but no longer as they will discolour too much. The reason for this is to remove the waxy coating so that the toffee sticks and doesn’t just run off.

Put the hob on medium / high pour all ingredients into a pan and try to mix in when the butter starts to melt but then just leave it bubble. The odd swirl to make sure the syrup is cooking through evenly and doesn’t burn in clumps.

Use a sugar thermometer or i used a meat digital one as the glass sugar one i had steams up and I couldn’t see the temperature. You want to get the toffee up over 145C called the hard crack stage, which is when the toffee gives that all important crack when you bite into it otherwise it will stay a soft toffee.

This will take a good 10 minutes bubbling away just keep with it and the thermometer as it can jump up when you’re not expecting it but be sure to keep an eye on the colour and for any signs or burning, which you can usually smell too.

Drop the pan into the waiting bucket of cold water for 2 or 3 seconds at which point you will hear some sizzling but don’t keep it too long as it will cool too quickly for you to use.

Use whatever apple stabbing device you have to hand whether that’s a skewer, lolly stick, fork if you’re out or serial killer 12″ knife if you’re getting into the real halloween spirit (jokes!). Press firmly into the apples then depending on how big a pan you use you might have to tilt it, stick the apple in and swirl around giving a nice even coat one by one.

Drop the apples covered in the molten sugar heaven onto a tray lined in parchment paper so it doesn’t stick.

If the toffee starts to harden put it on the hob again to soften before continuing.

Depending on what you want to decorate the apples with and if you’re going classic then just let it cool. I melted down half a bar of lindt milk chocolate, let it cool to thicken then drizzled over the top.

Tuck in!!

toffee apple cooling

Possible Toffee apple toppings to spice things up a bit

Smashed Biscoff biscuits
Mine Marshmallows
Smashed maltesers
Broken pretzels
Crushed cookies
Broken brownie pieces
Crushed peanuts or any nuts for that matter
Melted chocolate ( remember to leave the toffee cool before adding this and you can go drizzles or dunk the whole thing in)
Sprinkles
Sugar glitter
Popping Candy
M & M’s
Reeses Candy Pieces

New on the daily deal discount scene if you haven’t heard about it yet is Wriggle. It popped up on my Facebook a week or two ago so i thought i’d have a nosey around on the site and signed up and to be fair i’ve been pretty impressed with the deals on offer so far in Cardiff since I signed up.

Instead of the usual chains and garbage you have to rummage through on some other well known daily deals sites they’ve hand picked some really good local favourites of mine with discounts from Crafty Devils Brewing Company, Chez Francis, Spit and Sawdust, Pizza Pronto, Dusty Knuckle Pizza’s and Lab22 cocktail bar to name but a few.

The first few deals that came through on Wriggle Cardiff happened to be lunch time deals but as I don’t live or work in Cardiff at the moment I (with tear in my eye) had to wait a whole 24 hours to see what deal they were pushing.

I waited too long to take advantage of the discount at Chez Francis with a 3 course meal and wine for just £11.50 so i’ve made it my mission to check first thing in the morning since then and bagged myself a 3 course cocktail taster at Lab22 on Chippy Lane in Cardiff for just £12.50 instead of the usual £25 but using the wriggle discount code AUHPSS I got £3 off so had 3 expertly crafted cocktails with side nibbles for just £9.50!! Absolute bargain.

espresso martini with lab22 discount voucher from with wriggle cardiff

I was hooked already and was gutted with tonights offer of 5 x 1/3 pints at Crafty Devil Brewing Companies bar and bottle shop with bar snacks for just £5 as I was up nanny Carole’s for Tuesday night supper up the pub! Bearing in mind I had 4 x 1/3 and a pint in Brewdog for £20.50 on Saturday night this was a real steal if you ask me.

All was not lost though as I’ve booked in for a £3 pizza and drink at Pitch on Mill Lane tomorrow night. I would of even pushed the boat out for a double header with pizza again from Award winning Dusty Knucle Pizza for just £2 on Thursday night, which is just up the road from the Crafty Brewing Company in Canton but I’d I’ve been eagerly awaiting the Gin Fest that night down the bay. I’m hoping to sample some new botanically infused white liquor and hopefully stock up on some 1724 tonic water whilst i’m there too as I’m running low from my recent trip to get some in Harvey Nichs in Bristol.

So why is Wriggle different to other daily deals sites?

The difference between Wriggle and other daily deals like Groupon and Livingsocial is that when you buy from them you have roughly 3 months from purchase to use it but with Wriggle they advertise the deal for a specific day in the next coming week and between the window of opportunity like 5pm-9pm for example and you have to use the deal then and only then. They also don’t seem to have the somewhat infinite amount of vouchers available like some other sites but then that’s probably down to the size of the traders and because it’s only available for exchange between a few hours on a specific day but that’s what makes it better in my eyes.

I’ve lost count how many times i’ve bought a daily deals voucher with no idea when i’m going to use it in the next few months whereas with Wriggle there’s a sense of urgency and I like the knowledge in knowing I’m going to use it and sample some great local food and drink in a day or two and makes you move your ass to sort it out asap.

I’m not sure if the deals are going to feature some of the local favourite independent traders in the future as heavily as it has done in the launch and for such amazing prices but let’s hope they don’t take the easy option and poison the site with chain after chain like some other daily deal sites.

Sign up to Wriggle Cardiff and discount code

You can sign up for Wriggle Cardiff here but have also launched in other large cities in the UK too to take advantage of but make sure you use the Wriggle discount code AUHPSS to get money off your first deal.

I was a big fan of last year’s inaugural Street Food Circus pop up in Cardiff city centre and when I heard rumours of an even bigger shindig at Sophia Garden’s I was even more excited. I’d been to a few food fests this year or festivals with a bit a food section but I was missing the street food scene as I’d not even visited Depot this year yet.

The Street Food Circus 2016 residency that at Sophia Garden’s kicked off on Thursday 18th August and is parking it’s ass there till 25th September right next to the new (ridiculously situated!) National Express station and a short walk from Cardiff Castle.

I wasn’t planning on attending the opening weekend as I had a calendar full of events that weekend but had my arm twisted to pop down for some hangover food on the Sunday. I wasn’t quite feeling it but thought the fresh air and stodge might shake some life into me so didn’t have to be asked twice.

The weather was a bit crap to be honest and nearly put my welly’s on had it not been a good half hour walk from my current location so that on top of the pneumatic drill going off full pelt in my head didn’t put me in the best moods there but i soldiered on scouting out the stalls when i first got there. There were a few familiar faces and instantly realised Hangfire Smokehouse weren’t in attendance and learned they will only be attending Friday and Saturday’s for the duration of the Street Food Circus residency.

I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted and nothing was really jumping out at me not even my festival staple wood fired pizza as none of golden, crisped dough toppings were whafting their tantalising scents in my direction in fact they sounded a bit boring.

It then started to rain and found a bit of shelter in the Asian section called Singha Street in the top left hand corner and it’s there were started to explore what was on offer as they sounded a bit more appealing.

Tukka Tuk by Purple Popadom

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Kerala spiced fried chicken, fries and thousand island sauce – £8

If the crowds were anything to go by this was the sheer winner in the popularity stakes and it wasn’t hard to see why as the menu sounded awesome. Just what I needed a bit of fried chicken with a decent whack of spice to give the perfect crunch, fries coated in indian spices and a huge dollop of homemade thousand island, which I wiped up every morsel with the fries then my fingers when I ran out.

The Kerala spiced chicken thighs and fries was the most expensive item on the menu at £8 but the portion was pretty good compared to others i’ve had recently. I was so lucky too as I managed to nab the last basket of chicken, which I think would of sent me over the edge and brought a little tear to my eye that day with the current state of my spaghetti brain.

Little Bao Peep

Red Pulled Pork, Wasabi Mayo, Pickled Cucumber, Peanut & Oreo Powder – £5

I’m usually a big fan of the little clouds of steamed buns generously stuffed with asian spiced meat and pickles and devoured a few from Hokkie last year till it nosedived under and from a recent trip to Camden Street Food Market where I had the best bao i’ve not only seen but tasted too.

The option on the menu on the day just wasn’t sitting right with my current state of affairs and just couldn’t understand the logic. I’m all up for innovation and thinking outside the box but who the hell puts oreos in a chinese? Little Bao Peep as it goes and was so glad I didn’t waste my hard earned 5 of the queens gold coins as I tried a little bite and nearly spat it out it just didn’t work for me. I’d had one of their boa’s at one of last year’s Depot Saturday’s and enjoyed what they stuffed into the little white pockets of dough so I know they can do some really tasty food but for me this was a step too far and would of been ok without the oreo dust.

Patagonia / Jol’s Food

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Patagonia Cheese Steak 48 hour brisket, onions, mushrooms, mozzarella and stilton – £8

Ok before I write this section I’d like to start by saying Jol’s has been one of my favourite food vendors at every street food event i’ve been to and seen him always innovative and pushing out new exciting dishes. Jamie had both his instantly recognisable Jol’s blue food van and his new venture Patagonia at last years Street Food Circus with Patagonia even being shortlisted for the best street food vendor awards after the appearance there. I sampled both with the scallops and humous dish from Jol’s being my fav of the season and the steak and chimichurri ticking a few of my boxes as I’ve made my own chimichurri a few times. I thought it was a good steak roll but a few of my mates from Crossfit who tried it weren’t very impressed saying it was cold and just a bit of a let down, to which I was very surprised.

I’ve been keen to try Jamie’s newest venture well one of them Jol’s restaurant in his hometown Merthyr Tydfil for some time but not managed to sample it yet and also noticed he’s also doing the catering at the Redhouse the newly renovated town hall that’s now an arts and creative centre when I went to the food festival up there a month back.

It seems there’s lot going on for Jol’s at the moment and might be the reason the standards slipped a bit on my first experience of the ever growing brand this year. I wanted to just try the £5 grazing plate option of deep fried beef shin and cheese but they were all out so opted for the Patagonia Cheese Steak 48 hour brisket. At £8 and knowing that brisket is the cheapest cut of beef you can get I was looking forward to a decent stuffed roll to chomp my lips around but this is where i was wrong. Not sure if it was because Jol’s head honcho wasn’t gracing the hotplate that day but the miserable and lonely two chunks of beef squished in hidden amongst the tomatoey based mushrooms and onions left me incesed. Over reaction? Not if you knew how much I love my food and especially as this sorry looking plate was coming from my favourite food vendor and for the amount of beef I got for my £8 it would no doubt surpass the price per kilo of some of Japan’s finest wagyu steak.

There was nothing exciting else on the menu not the Jol’s i’d grown to love and hunt down in festivals. The only option coming from Jol’s side of the food cart was the Pad fries ( pad thai made with fries instead of noodles, which i’d sampled the year before.

After deciding to give the Street Food Circus another go the week after the menu was the same with nothing other than the pad fries from Jols and the 3 steak roll options still available as Patagonia as they serve from the same food kiosk. I did notice though that the portion of the miserable steak roll i’d been served the week before was slightly better this time and might of been because Jamie was serving up the food this time. I do hope they put something a bit more exciting on the Jol’s menu next time as although I was disappointed with my Steak roll from Patagonia I know the quality of food they can churn out and would love for them to be the top of my fav list again this year.

Science Cream

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Liquid nitrogen chocolate ice cream – £5

I’d tried the salted caramel nitrogen ice cream from them back at the Depot last year and i’d a similar flavoured one at Camden too albeit with the cardamon dust, pistachio and burnt white chocolate but I fancied something different and opted for the chocolate option. It was ok really, tasted of chocolate so can’t go far wrong but it did mention white chocolate in the sauce so was hoping for a bit of contrast between the milk/dark chocolate but it was milk chocolate on milk chocolate but did have a little nugget of burnt white chocolate.

The hit of sugar did do me some good and can’t say anything bad about the ice cream but it wasn’t anything special.
I wasn’t happy with my first visit but thought it might of been mainly due to the hangover from hell so decided to return minus the thumping headache and impending fear of projectile vomiting of unsuspecting diners at Street Food Circus and went back the week after.

I was hoping for a few new faces and stalls the week after but there seemed to be the same minus a couple after no doubt selling out after a bumper bank holiday as it was the bank holiday Monday and getting fresh supplies was probably an issue.

I did a lap again and once again Tukka Tuk the star of the show the week before was the most popular with some crazy queues meandering through the crowds but I wanted to try something different.

Early Bird Bakery

Review of the mini dough bites with chocolate sauce at Street Food Circus in Cardiff

“Malt-ilda” mini doughnut bites with espresso sugar, malt chocolate sauce, honeycomb and fudge pieces – £5

Not one to do things the right was I opted for dessert (one of two) first and a good selection. I hadn’t been down to Porthcawl for a bag of pipping hot doughnuts from the fair for years but something was telling me they might just be up there with Porthcawl’s finest…and then some! Freshly fried, golden sugar laden pieces of dough slathered with warm, malt chocolate sauce and squidgy chocolate fudge pieces were presented to this grinning cheshire cat.

I was a bit disappointed in the portion size with only 3 doughnuts seeing how them emphasised they were mini doughnuts too and one stindgy little piece of honeycomb that I didn’t get to even try as I was sharing and that had been half inched before I even saw it. Ok they couldn’t fit anymore in the tub but that’s not the point get a bigger pot in future or drop the price. £5 for 3 doughnuts would be steep by Krispy Kreme standards so i’d suggest the price about £3.50 even though they were good they weren’t worth the £5 especially when you’re sharing so 4 to a portion would be a bit more value for money.

I was torn between the chocolate and the “Golden ticket” with cinnamon sugar, baked apples, salted caramel and candied walnuts but not a great fan of walnuts and with the price i didn’t want pick bits out.

Dirty Bird Chicken

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3 pieces buttermilk chicken pieces (nuggets more like!) £6.50 + fried halloumi bites £4

Ok so I’d been an avid supported of Dirty Bird when they first came onto the scene taking the media by storm with their tongue in cheek branding and marketing. I’d first put the golden nuggets in and around my mouth around 2 years ago when the weekly street food market took up shop in St Mary’s street on a Sunday afternoon for a month back in 2014.

Again Sunday being the day of rest (and the day of recovery from the night before) my friend and I sought to rid out bodies of this savage hangover and wasn’t quite ready for a grease fest at KFC so fancied some home style, freshly made chicken and stumbled upon Dirty Bird and went back for more for 3 weeks on the trot and was no better feeling that chomping on some fried chicken with a can of lemon Sanpellegrino, sprawled out on the grass outside Cardiff Castle with the sound and site of chinhooks spiralling hypnotically overhead during the G8 summit that was going on and had the roads at a standstill at the time.

I hadn’t had any chicken from Dirty Bird since then and not because I didn’t like it but I just like to keep trying something different but stuck for things to eat again at this years Street Food Circus I thought i’d return to a trust favourite but oh how wrong was I!

I opted for the 3 pieces of chicken with slaw and dirty sauce over the posh box as I’d tried the whole smothered in truffle oil and parmesan with the posh fries but wasn’t sure it would work with the chicken alone. I wasn’t queuing up for it so put a portion of halloumi bites on top of my order whilst I got the rum cask ciders in and was gobsmacked with presented with what my £10.50 had bought me. Bearing in mine  could of had a bargain bucket with about 6 pieces of agreeable sized portions of chicken and 4 bags of fries at KFC and had change for the same amount i’d spent on my 3 chicken wing esque piss takes! When I order 3 pieces of chicken I want to be chomping on a decent spicy crusted hunk of meat especially when £13 got me 2.5kg of boneless chicken thighs a whole 30 pieces in Costco the day before.

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I’ve never been so disgusted with a plate of food in my life for the portion size anyway. The halloumi bites portion size wasn’t too bad in comparison and luckily gave me some of the much needed protein I was expecting but the 3 pieces I’d got given for £6.50 was embarrassing and probably would of had more meat content in a children’s happy meal chicken nugget option no lie.

I’d been a big fan of these guys but after the piss take of a portion of 3 chickens I was given I will never buy from them again until they re-assess the quality control and they haven’t got Stevie Wonder handing out dishes.

Science Cream

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Hazelnut liquid nitrogen ice cream – £5

Ok I know I said I like trying different things but these guys know how to make ice cream and I wanted them to pull it back after last weeks okish chocolate option and they didn’t fail to deliver with the Forrero Rocher inspired hazelnut ice cream freshly frozen in front of my eyes in 20 seconds,with a generous helping of chocolate sauce and dusting of freshly smashed hazelnuts for the piece de resistance of the dish.

I didn’t want each spoonful to end letting it melt on my tongue swirling it around my mouth to suck every last microscopic sense of flavour out onto my taste receptors.

So i’ve tried all the flavours on the menu for now so I might just have to give them a visit at the actual shop to sample the full menu and see what the crazy sugar scientists concoct for me on the day.

I don’t know what took me so long to make a booking after hearing the best BBQ food duo this side of the Atlantic were opening shop in the newly restored pump house in none other than Barybados.

Many a summer I spent heading down to windswept promenade of the Island that isn’t actually an Island on the train with my speedos in towe with my mum and the rest of the clampets seeing all of my immediate female family members couldn’t drive. Kitted out in blue jelly sandals, i love barry island sun visor, fanny pack overflowing with copper, floss in one hand, steely eyed and hammering the coins in the 2p gamblers! A bag of chips, pebble dashed with gritty sand from the engulfing torrent weathered rock and then playing Russian roulette with your 8 year old life on the Log flume hoping the structure and slider would hold till you crashed into the pittiful pool below.

Sam and Shauna the girls behind the Hangfire brand that has now grown to cult status around the South Wales food scene and street food festivals have chosen Barry to be the first of their hopefully many BBQ joints. After a stint smoking their meat and selling along with their homemade rubs and sauces at an old butchers in Llantwit Major they are bringing their awesome grilled feasts to the masses to much anticipation amongst fans including myself who has followed them from pop ups at The Canadian, The Pillot and The Landsdowne that’s not including the Depot and Streetfood Circus spots.

I did leave it a bit late to book a seat at the eagerly awaited launch and managed to get in a few weeks later at the end of March and decided to take my little sister to open her eyes to some real grub instead of the chains she’s become acostomed to.

The Food

I was a bit disapointed my sister isn’t following in my footsteps with my relentless apetite for food as I wanted to sample a few of the starters to share but opted for the crispy pork rinds and frickles as I was going it alone on the starters.

Good crunch and very flavoursome were the pork crackling pieces. The portion wasn’t overly generous but then I knew what was coming and I had the deep fried pickled veg to chow down on before mains. The frickles were good although attempting a whole portion was near impossible and would suit a group to just pick on with a beer as opposed to a starter for one person. I was done after 2 or 3 but they were a lot more generous in portions on this plate and was sorry I had to leave a mound to waste.

Being a bit nomad following most of the pop up’s Hangfire had done over the past couple of years I’d slowly worked my way through a few of the centre pieces on the menu but One I hadn’t tried was the fried chicken, waffles and gravy so I opted for that for a change. My sister was going to go for a childs portion but I told her under no circumstances will you be ordering anything small on this visit and I would happily take a doggy bag home so it was the whole rack of ribs for her.

The size of the chicken portions were huge to be fair to them but I was a bit dissapointed in what lay before me in terms of taste, texture and general feel of the dish. The chicken drumsticks due to sheer size, probably twice as big as what I was used to from KFC must of taken some blistering in hot oil to cook right through and this was evident by the dryness of the meat. The breadcrumb exterior also fried to within an inch of it’s life was brittle in comparison to your usual fried chicken and with one bite most of it shattered and lay scattered in glasslike shards on my plate leaving me with bare chicken and dry chicken at that.

The waffle were quite thin but a pleasant contrast to the brittleness of the chicken breadcrumb. The gravy was moreish if only I had more than a double shot measure of the stuff to try and coat and moisten the chicken with. I can probably count the number of times i’ve left food on my plate on one hand and this was one of them. I wasn’t full I just couldn’t stomach the dry, brittle coated breadcrumb exterior of the chicken piece left in the bowl.

My sisters plate on the other hand did not dissapoint. I’d never seen a plate of ribs so big and after I gave her a little shake on the shoulder to wake her out of her stunned expression she tackled it bewilderinly not knowing where to start.

The rib meat was so tender no knife was needed to debone the rib a gentle pull left the ruby red and charred bark exposed to chomp on. She made a good effort but at 12 years old she was never going to finish it so I helped her finish the one half and grinned to myself knowing the other half was heading in a tupperware box to work with me in the morning.

Neither of us were too keen on the desserts on offer so I finished my neck oil craft beer, payed up and we left to sit in the car for 5 minutes huffing and puffing before I could move enough to maneouvre out of the car park from all the meat i’d consumed.

The verdict

A nice litte selection of nibbles to start with for people who hadn’t sampled what the Hangfire girls have to offer and would be good to order quite a few to share amongst a group it was just my own fault I came in towe with a 12 year old girl with a small appetite.

The chicken was a bit of a let down. I have no doubt the quality of the meat they sourced is the best you could get your grubby hands on but the size, which wouldn’t be an issue in say a casserole or slow cooking but for frying it was too big and led to a dry sorry pile of meat. The breadcrumb coating might also have been a bit more palatable had it not been scorched in oil for so long.

The ribs though were perfect. Expertly seasoned in dry rub and left to smother it in your own measure of homemade bbq sauce of choice at your table, my sister will find it hard finding another plate of ribs to rival it at such a young age.