Fire & Flank, Tiger Yard, Cardiff review

Steak doesn't seem like the best idea when it comes to street food.

Typically requiring ‘à la minute’ preparation, there's nowhere to hide with how precisely it’s cooked or how well rested it is. 

With orders to churn through at a rate of knots, the last thing you’d want to do is serve something overcooked and resembling a piece of shoe leather. Or something so badly rested that it exsanguinates all over the rest of the dish. 

So, it's a testament to the ingenuity of the team at Cardiff's Fire & Flank that they've adopted a technique which means that they can consistently knock out beautifully cooked steaks time and time again. 

Initially cooked sous vide in a 57˚C water bath, Fire & Flank’s flank steaks are then finished on a griddle (or with a blow torch depending on health and safety rules). The result is a steak with a beautifully pink interior and a golden, caramelised crust. 

Despite setting-up shop in 2021, I only tried Fire & Flank for the first time earlier this year. However, I've been craving their steak and mash ever since. 

Fire & Flank currently resides at Cardiff Bay’s Tiger Yard as well as Kong’s Bar in Cardiff City centre; although the latter seems so lightly publicised that I keep on forgetting it exists, much like the fact that Kong’s has one of the best craft beer selections in town. 

Both times I’ve tried Fire & Flank have been at Tiger Yard in Cardiff Bay, a rather nice street food venue with a mixed bag of vendors. Fire & Flank is undoubtedly the standout of their residents.

Winner of the best main course at the British Street Food Awards in 2021, Fire & Flank’s steak with cheesy garlic mashed potato (£12) is a corker of a dish. Thick slices of their blushing pink, deeply beefy and well-crusted steak are served on a giant mound of smooth, garlicky, butter slicked, and cheese twanged mashed potato. It’s everything you want mashed potato to be, but it so rarely is. The dish’s richness is somewhat offset by a vibrant chimichurri that’s packed with fresh herbs, a zip of acidity and hint of chilli. 

Their steak and chips (£12) are just as good. This time a plentiful portion of their steak and chimichurri is piled on top of crisp paprika dusted fries. What’s particularly compelling is the mingling of beef juices and chimichurri oil with the chips, lending them a spicy beefy note. Some how they manage to remain crisp at the same time. 

However, Fire & Flank don’t just know how to cook a steak. Their burgers are excellent as well. 

Their Flank Burger (£12) is a proper five napkin job. A pair of seriously juicy and gnarly edged smashed ex-dairy beef patties have a real rich beefiness and savoury umami hit. Topped with oozy American cheese, a smoky house burger sauce, and more slices of that excellent flank steak, it’s only held together by the grace of all the juices which soak into the glistening brioche bun. 

I don’t normally write reviews of individual street food traders, but it’s worth singling out Fire & Flank for what they’re doing. They serve one of the best steak and chips in Cardiff for £12 and one of the city’s finest burgers too. Whether it’s Tiger Yard, Kong’s or wherever they end up next, Fire & Flank are most certainly worth seeking out. 

The Details:

Address - Fire & Flank, Tiger Yard, Plot A Porth Teigr Way, Cardiff CF10 4GA
Web - https://www.fireandflank.com/
Email - hello@fire@flank.com

Parsons, Covent Garden, London fish restaurant review

With so many restaurants that I want to try in London, it tends to feel like a dereliction of duty to visit somewhere that hasn’t recently received a glowing review from a national restaurant critic or that doesn’t currently appear in the National Restaurant Awards top 100 restaurants.

But, with a specific brief for somewhere open for a late lunch following an inevitable train delay from Cardiff to London, we decided on Parsons in Covent Garden.

Having received critical acclaim when it opened in 2017, it's been on my never ending list of places to visit for a long time. In 2024, the hype train has very much moved on. 

Open all day from lunch till dinner, this cosy 30 cover fish restaurant was pretty much empty when we arrived at 2pm. But it gradually filled up with other diners who were clearly looking for an even later lunch than us.

Owned by the same team as the wine-focused 10 Cases restaurant and bar, which is situated over the road, Parsons serves reasonably priced, unfussy fish cookery alongside an interesting wine list that’s divided into coastal and classic wines.

Over the course of the meal, we tucked away excellent glasses of Canard-Duchêne Léonie champagne ((£14), a smashable Zahel Gruner Veltiner blend (£8.50) and a wonderfully complex Adam Hofberg Spätlese Riesling (£9.40).

We ordered a couple of snacks to share instead of starters as we were going all out on main course.

Crisp seaweed cracker shards (£6.50) were delightful dredged through smooth and creamy whipped cod’s roe turbocharged with smoke and salt.

Hot rice cakes (£8) were addictively crisp around edges like the crusty bottom of a paella. Topped with sweet white crab meat given an Asian twang thanks to the addition of coriander, citrus and chilli, it was a top-drawer snack.

I’ve been hankering after a whole turbot ever since the fabulous one we had at Asador 44 back in 2017. Parsons' version (£78) was just as good. The pert, sweet and meaty flesh teased off the bone easily, had delicately crisp skin on one side, and was seasoned nicely with a scattering of salty samphire.

What really took the dish to the next level was an accompanying saucepan of luxurious mussel beurre blanc with a big hit of savoury shellfish. Salty pearls of avruga caviar bobbed in its depths.

It was delightful poured over the fish and a belting accompaniment for a whopping bowl of textbook golden fries (£5.50).

A vibrant green bean, tomato and radish salad (£8.50) was dressed with a well-judged vinaigrette and the crunch of hazelnut.

Dessert also bossed it. A beautifully thin and crisp warm tart (£8.50) was filled with soft and sweet almond frangipane studded with fragrant cherries. Topped with a good blob of vanilla scented chantilly cream, it was right up my street.

We had a delicious lunch at Parsons. It goes to show there’s treasures to be found in London’s restaurant scene if you get off the hype train.

The Details:

Address - Parsons, 39 Endell Street, London WC2H 9BA

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

Telephone - 020 3422 0221