Update - 23/02/2014 - Woods Brasserie has now closed down
On Monday evening a group of us visited Woods
Brasserie to celebrate the birthday of Rhys 'the bottomless pit’.
This was my first experience of the Knife
& Fork Food group. Woods Brasserie, the oldest member of the family, has younger siblings
in the form of The Old Swan Inn in Llantwit Major, The new Conway in Pontcanna
and The new Pilot in Penarth.
The exterior of the grand stone building
gives way to a large, contemporary bar area and a long, glass fronted dining
space. It’s all rather sophisticated. And, judging by the crowd we shared the dining
room with on Monday evening, it's a popular ‘date night’ destination.
Half the group, including myself, ordered
off the table d’hote menu (3 courses for £20, available all day) whilst
the other half chose from the a la carte.
To start I had an excellent confit duck
leg. The crisp skin and moist, rich flesh were balanced nicely by a refreshing citrus
and crunchy fennel salad.
Rhys ordered roasted pigeon breast, pumpkin
& pernod puree and caramelised brazil nut (£9.50). Whilst this pretty looking
plate of food was packed full of interesting flavours, the dainty dish was not of ‘bottomless pit’ proportions. For the steep price, a
second breast of meat wouldn't have gone amiss.
Morg enjoyed his epic sized bowl of carrot
and fennel soup (£4).
For main I had fennel roasted pork
loin, buttered spinach, white onion puree and crackling. An excellent, just
pink, piece of pork was accompanied by a heavy hitting meat jus. However, the
dish was let down by the other components – the spinach and white onion puree appeared
in blink & you’ll miss them quantities. The crackling on the other hand was a complete
no show. I only realised this when I got home and reread the menu – kind of funny
when it’s the primary reason I ordered the dish!
A plate of highly decent thick cut chips
added some welcome bulk to my main (£3)
There were no complaints with the portion
size of Rhys’ main course. A generous quantity of unctuous, slow braised ox cheek (£16) was accompanied by smooth mash, buttered kale and an intense, star anise twanged
meaty sauce. This was an excellent dish.
Morg also enjoyed his fish & chips (£11)
served with pea & mint puree and tartar sauce.
To round off the meal I opted for warm ginger sponge and rum & raisin ice cream. This was a very good pud but it was
at risk of being spoilt by a scattering of brutally strong rum soaked raisins .
Unfortunately, Rhys’ chocolate fudge pudding (£5) was
the nadir of the meal. This dry and bog standard chocolate sponge was
less enjoyable than numerous supermarket chocolate cakes I consumed over 2 years of work ‘Friday cake club’. It’s a shame because Rhys had memories of a damn fine chocolate pudding from another recent visit to Woods.
So, all in all our evening at Woods was a mixed bag.
Whilst the service was friendly, there was a lengthy wait between mains and dessert. However, this can partly be excused by the fact the pared back serving team were caught off guard on an uncharacteristically busy Monday evening.
Furthermore, there's some top notch cooking going at Wood’s and the 3 courses for £20 menu is generally good value. It’s just a shame the food was punctuated by a few bum notes
and some erratic portion sizing.
The details:
Address - Woods Brasserie, Pilotage Building, Stuart Street, Cardiff, CF10 5BW
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