Kegbelly, Penarth fried chicken pop-up review

Since Mrs G and I are supposed to be training for a big hike later this year, my current favourite category of restaurant is “places we can stomp to for something tasty to eat before meandering home at a leisurely pace”.

So, anywhere in Penarth, is pretty much ideal. And our previous endeavours have taken us to Tom’s Smashed Burgers at Crafty Devil Cellar.

This time around, on a sunny Sunday, it was the turn of Kegbelly’s pop-up on Penarth seafront.

After all, on a sunny day, things don’t get much nicer than a pint of beer, a plate of fried stuff and a view out to sea.

Kegbelly, a collaboration between Cardiff craft brewery Flowerhorn and street food vendor Mr Croquewich, has a permanent home in the Cardiff suburb of Whitchurch. Their Penarth pop-opened on the Esplanade at the start of April 2026 and is scheduled to run for six months until the end of September.

Alongside outside bench seating, Kegbelly have kitted out the interior with their distinctive neon pink and anarchic cartoon artwork. Its offbeat feel is a nice contrast to the traditionalism I normally associate with Penarth.

On the booze front, there’s a range of Flowerhorn’s craft beers on tap as well as alcoholic slushies, wine and spirits. We kicked off with very gluggable pints of Flowerhorn’s Yawn mosaic pale ale (£6.30) and I then moved onto enjoyably crispy Hofbrau German lager (£6.50).

When it comes to scran, on offer is a range of Mr Croquewich’s classics including grilled cheese sandwiches, parmesan fried chicken burgers, and hot dogs.

Once we’d placed our order at the bar, there wasn’t long to wait for food.

First-up were five pieces of golden crumbed, parmesan dusted, buttermilk marinated chicken thigh (£12.50) that were commendably crisp and juicy. Whilst they weren’t the biggest pieces of meat, you still got a heck of a lot of bang for your buck.

Included in the price were two accompanying pots of sauce. We chose garlic and soy rich Korean barbecue sauce and creamy and smoky baconnaise, which were excellent accompaniments for the fried chicken.

A good-sized portion of house fries (£4.50) were well herbed and salted.

We also ordered a Glamorgan grilled cheese sandwich (£8.50), one of the OGs from Mr Croquewich’s Riverside market days. Bronzed sourdough with a crispy caramelised cheese crust oozed out the edges with a mix of sweet leeks, creamy bechamel, cheddar, mozzarella and a warming thrum of Dijon mustard.

One of our mates ordered the Italian Job (£9), and as they struggled to finish it, I snaffled half myself. I thought this was even better than the Glamorgan. This time around, the crisp cheese-skirted sourdough was laden with melted cheese, tangy nuggets of goats cheese, sweet sunblush tomatoes, and fragrant basil pesto.

In the absence of any homemade desserts, I made do with a tasty tub of Sidoli's salted caramel ice cream. At least it felt very fitting enjoying an ice cream by the seaside. 

We had a great afternoon drinking craft beer and guzzling delicious street food at Kegbelly’s Penarth pop-up. If you’re looking for somewhere to spend a sunny afternoon by the seaside then I can highly recommend a visit. Whilst I understand the seasonal nature of seafront trade, I hope business booms and they stick around longer than September - it’s certainly an asset to the local area.

The details:

Address -  Kegbelly, 5 The Esplanade, Penarth Seafront, CF64 3AS 

Web - https://www.instagram.com/kegbellypenarth/

Manteca, Shoreditch, London restaurant review 2026

Such is the never-ending carousel of newly hyped restaurant openings in London that it's very rare that we revisit anywhere.

But, on our last trip to the Big Smoke, it was Mrs G’s turn to pick where we were going for lunch and Manteca was the decision.

To be fair, Manteca has relocated from Soho to Shoreditch since we last had a brilliant meal there back in 2020. So, it almost counts as a new restaurant.

Co-owned by chef Chris Leach and restaurateur David Carter (who’s also behind the immense Oma and SmokeStak), this nose-to-tail Italian restaurant serves a menu of in-house salumi, hand-rolled pasta and sharing plates of fish and meat.

With an upstairs dining space centred around a bustling open kitchen and a downstairs room that’s dominated by a contemporary art installation-like charcuterie hanging chamber, they’ve really managed to squeeze in the covers. So, I can see how they’ve been able to secure a Michelin Bib Gourmand for “exceptional food at great value”. But, it’s still fascinating to compare the inflation in prices since our last visit in 2020, when our crab cacio pepe cost us £8.50. This time around it was almost twice the price at £16.

I stuck to Manteca’s wines on tap, working on the theory that I’d get more bang for your buck. I kicked off with a complex and slightly funky Garganega and Trebbiano blend (£6.50), followed by an excellent juicy Stellenbosch, made in collaboration with Manteca and Craven Wines. Mrs G smashed back a couple of glasses of light and citrusty Verdicchio di Matelica (£8.50).

Focaccia (£5) was a statement of intent. Super crusty with a light and bubbly crumb, it was the lovechild of a focaccia and a sourdough. Pooled on the plate was a just so amount of grassy olive oil.

Porchetta tonnato (£9) was so far up my street it was through the front door and curled up in my bed. Thin slices of fatty fennel-spiced pork were drenched in a creamy tuna mayonnaise and dotted with pops of zingy caper.

A stuffed olive (£4.50) was no such thing, but it was arguably better off for its false advertising. A mix of rich sausage meat and diced vibrant olives were coated in the crispest of crumbs. A squeeze of lemon was a necessity to balance all that fried richness.

I think we might have been slightly forgotten at this point as it took a good while for our final starter to show up and other tables who arrived well after us began to see their dishes pile up. Thankfully, when a plate of asparagus (£12) finally pitched up, it was worth the wait.

Served cold, the tender and charred shoots were sat on a bed of rich and poky aioli and topped with an intensely savoury and spiced salami XO sauce. If all veg dishes tasted this good, then there wouldn’t been any need to encourage people to eat their greens.

Pasta dishes were just as memorable as our last visit.

Dinky almost gnocchi-like textured shells of malloreddus pasta (£15) were served with a thick, meaty and herby leghorn chicken ragu that was richer and more intense than any other poultry dish I’ve encountered.

Slippery tonnarelli (£16) with a lovely bite were coated in a decadently peppery and savoury cacio e pepe sauce whose intensity was dialled up to 11 by the addition of earthy brown crab.

I’d envisaged that the pasta dishes were going to be the highlight of our meal but little did I know how remarkable our meat course was going to be.

Two steaks of beautifully pink and well-crusted hogget steak were gorgeously tender and huge in flavour. If that wasn’t enough meat for £35, then an accompanying juicy and dense fennel twanged sausage was the icing on the cake.

The dish was brought together by leaves of wilted wild garlic and a first-rate glossy lamb sauce, which was the kind of thing you normally only get a few drops of in a fine dining gaff. Here it would have been rude to let this nectar go to waste. So, when I asked for a spoon, the waiter was on the same wavelength as me and very kindly brought some small chunks of bread to assist in my endeavours.

On the side, a zingily dressed cabbage slaw (£7.50) was enlivened with nutty grains of farrow and shavings of savoury pecorino. It was just what was needed to balance the rich meat.

Stuffed, I couldn’t even muster the appetite for a single piece of beef fat fudge for dessert.

We had a remarkably good lunch at Manteca and I commend Mrs G for insisting on a return visit instead of opting for one of London’s latest hype joints.

As an addendum, whilst were busy enjoying lunch we remarked how similar Manteca’s food and vibe is to Cardiff’s Ember. So, if you can’t make it down to the Big Smoke then Dave Killick's excellent restaurant in Pontcanna is most definitely worth visiting for their homemade salumi, pasta and sharing plates of meat and fish.

The Details:

Address - Manteca, 49-51 Curtain Road, London, EC2A 3PT

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

Telephone - 020 7139 5172