When the entirety of the crowd at the Depot began belting out the lyrics to High School Musical’s Breaking Free, our table was left scratching its heads. I also wondered why they couldn’t have played the more familiar theme tune for Byker Grove instead.
It probably explains why it’s taken me so long to visit the Depot for the first time. As I no longer go “out out”, the raucous scenes of merriment from Cardiff’s huge warehouse space have always made me crave a quiet night on the sofa watching Bargain Hunt repeats.
But, now we’re out of lockdown I’m never going to turn down an invite for a social event ever again. So, we found ourselves at the Depot for a Saturday night session (7.15pm - 11pm, £16.50 for a table of six) with Mrs G's work friends.
With the Depot’s warehouse space temporarily replaced with airy marquees to comply with COVID regulations, everything was seriously well-organised for maximum safety and minimum wait times. Drinks and food are ordered to the table via the easy to use Yoello, a Cardiff fintech rising star.
Pints of very drinkable Tiny Rebel Cali (£5.50) arrived in minutes whilst dishes from a strong line-up of rotating Cardiff street food traders took no longer than half an hour.
Pints of very drinkable Tiny Rebel Cali (£5.50) arrived in minutes whilst dishes from a strong line-up of rotating Cardiff street food traders took no longer than half an hour.
Mrs G and I put most of the traders through their paces and there wasn’t a dud to be found.
We were seriously impressed by the menu of pan Asian influenced bao buns from The Greedy Bear. A pair of Japanese chicken buns (£8.50) saw pillowy soft bao stuffed with crisp and rugged crumbed chicken thigh, harmonising pickles, creamy Kewpie mayo and ferocious red chillies.
There’s nowhere to hide with a pizza margherita (£6) and the Neapolitan-style example from Fwrnes didn’t disappoint. Leopard spotted and airy of crust with a thin and floppy base, it was topped with light and fruity tomato sauce, creamy mozzarella and aromatic basil.
Keralan Karavan always bring the spice to the party and their Bombay tikka taco (£7.50) was true to type. A caramelised cheese crusted crisp and flaky paratha was loaded with well spiced chicken tikka, pokey pickles, sweet and tangy chutneys and the crunch of Bombay mix. It was Mrs G’s pick of the night.
Frank’s no fuss hot dogs (£5) are an assemblage of quality ingredients - a deliciously smoky and snappy skinned Gloucester Old Spot frankfurter was stuffed into a soft and sweet brioche bun alongside ketchup, mustard and crispy onions.
Finally, a Meating Point chicken souvlaki wrap with halloumi (£7) saw a soft griddled pitta filled with chicken pieces, golden cheese, chips, red onion and a decent dollop of tzatziki.
We had a belter of a night out at the Depot. It’s hard to argue with the quality of street food on offer and how well everything is organised. I could certainly get used to more street food events where everything is ordered to your table via an app and you don’t spend half the evening queuing instead of socialising.
The Details:
Address - Depot Cardiff, Williams Way, Curran Embankment, Cardiff CF10 5DY
Telephone - 029 2022 0491
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