When I was a chubby tweenager someone else
in my class bought exactly the same Caterpillar school bag as me. To say I was
hacked off was an understatement. I felt my unique sense of style had been violated
(only 1 million schoolchildren across the UK had the same bag). However, my
mum, who always knew the right thing to say, reassured me with the words “imitation
is the sincerest form of flattery”.
I’m sure Burger & Lobster in Mayfair,
one of the London restaurant success stories of 2012, don’t need any such
reassurance. For, a startlingly similar concept, a restaurant focusing on 3
dishes (burgers, steamed lobster & lobster rolls), has popped up in Cardiff
for one weekend only.
The cleverly named Hide ‘N’ Sea is the Celtic
Manor’s temporary Cardiff outpost. It’s located in the space where the short-lived
Mimosa, Pontcanna was previously and except for the addition of some Hide ‘N’
Sea branding, the venue hasn’t changed one jot.
It’s normal to let a restaurant bed in for
a while before reviewing it. However, considering Hide ‘N’ Sea is only open for
4 days, 1 day into service seems like ample time.
The first thing to mention is the
slick front of house running the show. Hide ‘N’ Sea feels like a long
established venue rather than a pop-up just finding its feet. Celtic Manor have
clearly parachuted in their A-team..
On the booze front, they're on form too. Mrs G had a couple of excellent cocktails from the interesting
list. Notable was a “The Bowrey” which comprised of a mix of champagne,
Dubonnet, gin and bitters. I stuck to a couple of awesome bottles of citrusy Tiny
Rebel Urban IPA.
This brings me to the main event, the
burgers & lobster, and it’s disappointingly where things became a bit more average.
As you could probably have predicted, neither Mrs G nor I could be faffed to
crack our own lobster. Instead, we ordered a burger (£15) and a lobster roll
(£20) to share.
From first impressions, both the heaving
boards of poshed up junk food looked the part…
Turning first to the lobster roll, I could
have eaten a bucket load of the sweet & tender lobster meat bathed in Marie
Rose sauce. In fact this was part of the problem - there wasn’t enough of the
stuff. Compared to the Burger & Lobster equivalent, which overflows with crustacean,
it felt a bit stingy. It wasn’t helped by the disproportionately large and
disappointingly dry brioche roll.
It was a role reversal on the burger front.
This time the fresh, slightly sweet brioche bun was on the money. However, the
well flavoured Welsh beef burger was served well done and was rather on the dry
side.
Both dishes were accompanied by huge pots of excellent, crisp fries. A gravy boat full of buttery Hollandaise-like sauce in the case of the lobster roll and a pot of incredible Big Mac-like secret sauce in the case of the burger made for excellent dips.
Dessert too was hit and miss.
The crisp pastry of my delicious Peek’n’Pie (£4.25) overflowed
with pecans and gooey caramel.
However, a fridge cold Holy Moly Mousse (£3.95) was a bit dense and hardly crackled with the promised popping candy.
I really wanted to love Hide ‘N’ Sea. It’s
the kind of restaurant I’d love to see in Cardiff on a permanent basis and we had a really fun evening. It’s just a shame that the restaurant’s namesakes didn't live up to expectations. With a few details ironed out, Hide ‘N’ Sea
could be brilliant. It’s unfortunate it’s not going to be around long enough
for a revisit.
The Details -
Address - Hide 'N' Sea 175 Kings Road, Pontcanna, CF11 9DF
Telephone - 01633 410 262
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