Heaney's, Pontcanna, Cardiff restaurant review 2024

It only feels like yesterday since we last visited Heaney’s for dinner during our post-pandemic reunion tour of Cardiff’s best restaurants in 2021.

Sure, we’ve been for a fabulous Sunday roast since, but it was high time we checked out their tasting menu to see what the kitchen is capable of when it’s at full throttle.

I’m pleased to say that the cooking at Heaney’s is better than ever and its certainly at the level of many Michelin-starred restaurants we’ve been to.

Their technically precise food was pitch perfect across the board with a strong emphasis on fish, smoky barbecue notes and Asian ingredients.

Whilst there’s a very good value set lunch on offer at Heaney’s (seven courses for £35), we went for the full-blown 8 course tasting menu (10 courses for £80).

On the day we visited it was the Ellis Barrie guest chef night later on, so we were slightly apprehensive that the kitchen would be more focused on prepping for dinner service than lunch. We really shouldn’t have worried at all.

Snacks set the tempo. As neither Mrs G or I eat raw oysters, we requested a cooked alternative (£4 supplement) on the fly, and it was an absolute corker. Panko crumbed with a dollop of comforting katsu curry sauce and crispy seaweed, it had all the comfort of the Waga’s classic with an extra level of refinement. Apparently, they’re a mainstay of the menu at Uisce so we’ll be heading there for a plateful sharpish.

An aged comté cheese and onion tart saw the most delicate of pastry cases filled with sweet-caramelised onions, a light cheese foam and flurry of aged comté cheese.

Dainty mushroom macarons were sandwiched with decadent chicken liver parfait and the sweet sharpness sanbaizu jelly.

Heaney’s sourdough with Marmite butter needed no introduction. The soft crumbed bread with its toasty caramelised crust and the creamy umami rich dairy are pretty much a dream combination.

Our first proper dish was my pick of the meal. If Tommy ever opens a sushi bar then I’ll be first in the queue. Sushi rice topped with cubes of oily chalk stream trout sashimi was elevated by soy, citrusy yuzu, crunchy puffed rice and a clever dash of coil oil, which imbued the whole dish with a barbecued smokiness.

Another delicate tart was filled with barbecued green and white asparagus. Accompanied by creamy smoked ricotta, a vivid wild garlic sauce and crispy chicken crumb, it was another cracking combination of flavours and textures.

Lightly cooked scallop slices, twanged with meaty beef fat in which they were cooked, were sat on blobs of intense smoked cod roe that were contrasted by tangy rhubarb and a light yet flavour-packed scallop and ginger dashi.

Another standout of the meal was a fillet of Cornish bass with the crispest of skin, accompanied by Jersey Royals and sweet-savoury teriyaki shitake mushrooms. What really made the dish sing was an iberico pork velouté – I mean what’s not to love about a porky and creamy sauce.

BBQ Welsh lamb was the only meat dish of the meal but what a dish it was – a big hunk of blushing pink smoky loin was joined by a fat rich slab of crispy belly. Purple sprouting broccoli, compressed pear, a sweet and sharp pear and wine vinegar puree, and the glossiest of sauces all complemented the meat beautifully.

A riff on rhubarb and custard was a belter of a palate cleanser. To be fair, you can put rhubarb on pretty much any dish and I’ll be very happy indeed. I think there was a light yoghurty custard, tart cubes of poached rhubarb, a fruity Sauternes ice cream, and a fragrant blood orange granita.

For dessert, a bar of silky dark chocolate delice had a good level of bitterness. Sweet banana puree with the savoury twang of miso, earthy Jerusalem artichoke ice cream with crisp artichoke skin crisps, coffee cream, and a crunchy biscuit disc all provided pops of contrast and complexity.

Post meal treats were an ice cream filled riff on a Ferrero Rocher and a thick salted caramel filled chocolate.

We had a brilliant meal at Heaney’s and it’s somewhere I’d always be happy to recommend without hesitation. At the top end of the market, Cardiff has never had such strong options, but it’s great to see the team at Heaney’s constantly pushing on.

The Details:

Address - Heaneys, 6-10 Romilly Cres, Pontcanna, Cardiff CF11 9NR

Web - https://www.heaneyscardiff.co.uk/

Telephone - 029 2034 1264

Cosy Corner Lounge, Porthcawl restaurant review

Porthcawl’s Cosy Corner Lounge is an independent restaurant and bar that sounds like it should be part of the 250 strong Loungers chain, with its name an uncanny cross between the Cosy Club and Juno/Ocho/Fino Lounge (delete as appropriate). 

In fact, during our Saturday lunchtime visit to Cosy Corner, a couple of groups who were clearly expecting something more run of the mill like the above establishments, came in, sat down, looked at the menu, got up and left. 

It was very much a case of their loss as Cosy Corner is far better than any chain restaurant or bar that we’ve ever visited.

With its combination of wooden beams and industrial metal fittings, Cosy Corner has a warm and relaxed nautical vibe. In keeping with the maritime feel, their star attraction is the sea view, which we admired on a characteristically grey 2024 day in Wales. On a sunny day, I bet it would be lush to sit outside on their terrace and watch the world go by. 

Cosy Corner Lounge’s lunch and dinner menu consists of Asian influenced small plates, which are thankfully more like medium plates in portion size. Influences range from across China and Japan to Korea and Cambodia, with dishes including tempura soft shell crab with Japanese pepper sauce (£10), satay chicken curry with jasmine rice (£14.50), and Chinese lettuce wraps (£9.50). Traditionalists will be happy to see that the menu pivots towards roast dinners on Sundays.

An equal amount of thought has also clearly gone into Cosy Corner’s cocktail menu, which features creative concoctions like a Yuzu 75, Coconut & Szechuan Mai Tai, and Thai Spiced Pineapple Daiquiri.

As we were about to set off for a decent hike after lunch, neither of us wanted to get on the booze. However, both alcohol-free cocktails we tried were excellent. A Yuzu Shandy (£5) delivered on its promise of crisp alcohol-free lager twanged with a fragrant hit of citrus whilst an Elderflower Mule (£5) combined the warmth of ginger beer with fruity apple and fragrant elderflower.

With its seaside location, it’s great to see that fish cookery is a real strength at Cosy Corner.

We were advised to order the Portchawl caught seabass (£14.50), which had been brought ashore just over the road, and it was a fine recommendation. The thick fillet of fish was beautifully flaky yet hyper-crisp of skin and accompanied by a rich and silky chilli and tomato sauce and crisp and cleansing kimchi with the most delicate of funks.

A meaty octopus tentacle (£13) with a crisp, lightly charred exterior was coated in a well-spiced marinade. Chilli ponzu dipping sauce, served in a pot on the side, delivered a big savoury note of soy and fragrant citrus.

Cosy Corner’s meat dishes were very good too. A trio of boulder-like beef croquetas (£9.50) were stuffed with cubes of tender slow-cooked beef that were held together with a meaty gravy cum bechamel. They were dotted with blobs of gochujang alioli which added a lick of spice.

Mammoth nuggets of Korean crispy chicken (£11.50) were exceptionally juicy and coated in a light crisp batter which was drenched in a sweet, savoury, sour and spicy, and sesame-twanged gochujang-based sauce.

A bowl of golden triple-cooked chips (£4), which were all rugged gnarly edges and fluffy interiors, were accompanied by a flavour-packed alioli which had been spiked with Cosy Corner’s homemade Indonesian sambal. The chips also came in very handy for mopping up all the delicious sauces on our other dishes.

Rather stuffed by this point, we ordered a single dessert to share. A knickerbocker glory glass of the creamiest yuzu posset (£8.50) was cut with just the right amount of sharp citrus whilst a frisbee of crumbly and buttery shortbread was the ideal pairing.

If Cosy Corner was on our corner we'd certainly be regulars. We're both big fans of their huge-flavoured small plates, creative cocktails and friendly service, and it's definitely worth a trip down the coast to Porthcawl to check it out. 

The Details:

Address - Cosy Corner Lounge, 33 Esplanade, Porthcawl CF36 3YR

Web - http://cosycornerlounge.co.uk/

Telephone - 01656 503245