The Barn at Severn and Wye Smokery, Gloucestershire restaurant review

One of the major pitfalls I find with food blogging (and life in general) is over-analysing things.

Was that salad under-seasoned? Could that sauce have been a bit thicker? Did I just offend that person with my bad joke? Have we waited a bit too long for our starters?

Sometimes, I need to relax a little bit more and just enjoy the experience.

Which brings me to the Barn at Severn and Wye Smokery in Gloucestershire where we had a delicious lunch but I if wanted to I could find ways to nitpick.

Based in a converted barn close to the banks of the River Severn, it's the kind of destination which oozes luxury, with a downstairs food hall selling all manner of smoked fish, pates, pies and charcuterie.

Upstairs there’s a high-ceilinged restaurant, showcasing the wares of the smokehouse, which held a Royal Warrant to Queen Elizabeth and supplies high-end destinations such as Harrods and the Ritz

Dishes on the fish focused menu which caught my eye included traditional dishes like kedgeree and Mediterranean fish soup as well as more contemporary small plates such as crispy salmon skins, gherkin tempura, and grilled octopus with salsa verde.

We opted for a selection of the smaller dishes as well as a platter to share.

A crisp croquette of tender shreds of pork (£8.75) was enhanced by nuggets of comfortingly smokey eel and the punchy seasoning of mustard and capers. Accompanying mustard mayonnaise and a zippy gribiche sauce provided further balance to the richness.

Exemplary crispy squid (£8.50) was lacking its billed Szechuan pepper and chilli but it didn’t detract from their deliciousness. It was in part thanks to an addictively sweet and savoury teriyaki dip.

An absolutely whopping bowl of Brixham crab (£10.25) was seasoned beautifully with fresh dill and topped with cleansing slices of kohlrabi and shards of the shortest of brown crab biscuits, which broke apart with the lightest touch.

Silky and smokey taramasalata (£4) was dressed with a vibrant herb oil and salty pearls of salmon roe. Accompanying crackers were the ideal pairing but a few lacked a little bit of crispness.

A mixed platter (£16.50) comprised of a range of Severn & Wye’s smoked goods. Rich and creamy smoked salmon pate and a bowl of sweet and sharp balsamic onion chutney were the two standout components. Smoked salmon was good but not game changing whilst smoked duck was commendably tender but lacking a little in flavour. But it was still a delicious plate.

Overall we had a really tasty lunch at the Barn at Severn and Wye Smokery. It’s a gorgeous setting with friendly service and delicious fish cookery. Whilst there were a few minor quibbles with some of the dishes, in reality it didn't detract at all from the overall experience. 

The Details:

Address - Severn and Wye Smokery, Chaxhill, Westbury-on-Severn GL14 1QW

Web - http://www.severnandwye.co.uk/

Telephone - 01452 760191

Hadramowt, Roath, Cardiff Yemeni restaurant review

Go to Hadramowt on City Road and order the lamb mandi.

It’s a simple instruction I received from a well-informed Cardiffian on Twitter but honestly it's one of the best pieces of advice I've been given all year.  

Hadramowt serves a selection of traditional Yemeni dishes (lamb madghoot, lamb borma etc.) and grilled meats (lamb kofta, shish tawooq etc.) but really there’s only one dish which anyone seems to order.

On both occasions I've visited Hadramowt, almost everyone was tucking into a plate of lamb mandi. And i can see why.

For £11 it’s a multi-step affair and one which is equally about the accompaniments as it is about the lamb centrepiece.

Arriving at the table first is a bowl of gently spiced lamb broth with the odd nugget of soft lamb bobbing in its depths. It's a herald of what's to come. 

There’s also bowls of garlic and mint-twanged yoghurt and a fresh tomato and coriander sauce turbo-charged with chilli, both of which are purpose built for lamb.

Then the main event arrives and it’s an absolute behemoth. It’s the kind of meal which would set you up for the day and then some.

Atop a huge mound of fluffy-grained fragrant kaleidoscopic rice are pieces of impossibly tender bone-in lamb, which have clearly been cooked for hours and hours. There’s bits of rib, shin, chop and shoulder but they fall off their respective appendages with the merest nudge. 

It’s topped with crispy caramelised and charred onions, which add welcome crunch to the proceedings. Everything is delicately spiced without detracting from the flavour of each component. 

As if that wasn’t enough, last to arrive at the table is a bowl of a thick stew dotted with pieces of tender spud, onion and sweet tomato. It's got an Autumnal vibe to it and hits the mark as the days start to turn cooler. 

I could go back to Hadramowt and order some more dishes to tell you about but all I want to do is order their lamb mandi.

I recommend you go and do the same. 

The Details:

Address - Hadramowt, 42 City Rd, Cardiff CF24 3DL
Web - https://hadramowt.com/order-now
Telephone - 07367 070660

One O'Clock Gate, Dinas Powys restaurant review

The business model for One O’Clock Gate in Dinas Powys seems like such a good idea that I’m surprised it’s not more common in villages, towns and cities across the UK.

Take a rarely used function room in a golf / rugby / lawn bowls / cricket / snooker club and let it out to a fledgling food business, thus providing an additional revenue stream and improved food and drink offering for the venue whilst helping a new venture get off the ground when overheads are so high.

Located in Dinas Powys Golf Club, One O’Clock Gate (named after a well-known landmark on the golf course) started as a pop-up takeaway during the pandemic. On the back of its success, it transformed into a sit-in venue in April this year. I don’t know what the space looked like before but they’ve done a lovely job of creating a modern lounge-restaurant-bar space which is as suited for daytime brunching as it is for evening dinner and cocktails.

Whilst there’s smashed avocado and toast available in the mornings from Wednesday to Sunday, really it’s all about their daytime and evening menu of Asian-inspired burgers and small plates. Influences are drawn from Korea, China, Vietnam and Japan with miso caramel fried chicken, Hoisin BBQ beef burgers, edamame beans with togarashi salt, and banh mi all featuring.

The booze selection is a cut above the pedestrian, with local craft beers on offer from Crafty Devil and Tiny Rebel, whilst a creative selection of cocktails included a mango margarita (£8) with plenty of tropical fruit and citrus.

On the Saturday night we visited, the large dining space was packed meaning that it took a fair amount of time for our food to arrive. We didn’t mind as we were catching up with a group of mates but it’s worth bearing in mind if you’re planning on visiting during peak hours.

However, everything we ate was worth the wait.

A handsome Korean-style fried chicken burger (£11.95) was the clear winner of the two burgers. A sturdy yet soft toasted challah roll was filled with a hyper-crisp crumbed and exceptionally tender chicken thigh coated in a sweet, sticky and slightly spicy gochujang glaze. Toppings added layers of flavour from a fresh Asian slaw, to micro coriander and pink pickled onions.

A Teriyaki beef burger (£12.95) wasn’t short of flavour either. A thick and deeply meaty dry-aged beef patty had an excellent crust from its dalliance with a ferocious heat and it was dressed with a savoury and sweet Teriyaki glaze. Whilst the patty was served a still juicy well done, it would have been even better with a bit of pinkness. Tangy cheddar, slaw, pickles and Kewpie mayo completed the lovely burger.

An overflowing bowl of crisp fries (£2.95) were dusted with chilli salt with a good poke of spice.

Apple sesame slaw (£6.95) had heaps going on from its crisp batons of Fuji apple, red and white cabbage, carrot, beansprouts and coriander to a toasted sesame and lime dressing with plenty of zip and zing.

Honey sriracha cauliflower (£6.95) was another of the standouts of the meal. The meaty brassica pieces were coated in an impeccably crisp panko crumb and drenched with a sweet, sticky and spicy chilli glaze.

Onto dessert and sadly they’d sold out of an ube (Filipino purple yam) ice cream cookie sandwich. So, I had to make do with a chocolate brownie (£5.95) from Cardiff’s Cup & Cake Bakery. With a crusty exterior, gooey centre, and good hit of chocolate, it was accompanied by miso twanged caramel and thankfully not too sweet white chocolate ice cream.

An affogato (£4.50), made with decaff coffee on request, was also lovely served with that smooth-textured white chocolate ice cream.

One O’Clock Gate’s spice-packed street food, good selection of booze and friendly atmosphere makes it a great place to spend an evening. I hope some more sports clubs in and around Cardiff take a leaf out of their book and let exciting food businesses* take over their unused spaces.

 

*Since writing this blog post, Kapow Ribs have announced they're opening a restaurant in the clubhouse at Pencoed Rugby Club.

The Details:

Address - Dinas Powys Golf Club, Highwalls Rd, Dinas Powys CF64 4AJ

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

Telephone - 029 2051 4128

Brød, Danish bakery and coffee shop, Cardiff review

Cardiff’s craft bakery scene has changed hugely over the last few years. So much so that Brød, a Danish bakery and coffee shop which only opened in 2015, is now one of the veterans of the scene.

Owned by Betina Skovbro, who originally hails from Copenhagen (where her grandfather used to be a baker), Brod now has branches in both Pontcanna and Penarth. 

I’ve eaten plenty of their in-house baked snegls and spandauer over the years but somehow never stopped off for something more substantial to eat.

Brød’s focus is very much on the sweet stuff - their handsome window display is well-stacked with cream snegls, rhubarb and custard spandauer, rosenbrod, kobenhavner and chokolade bolle. 

Inside, a more compact selection of savouries includes cheese and marmite snegl, slabs of focaccia and pre-filled sandwiches. 

Having placed our order at the counter, our lunch was brought over in a matter of minutes. 

An iced Americano (£3.25) and an iced oat milk latte (£3.25) were both deliciously refreshing on a swelteringly hot day. 

An airy and olive oil rich piece of focaccia (£4.75) was well-filled with a classic combination of creamy mozzarella, punchy pesto, sweet sunblushed tomatoes and basil.

A light and crisp poppy seed bun (£4.50) was stuffed with slices of fine-textured Swedish style meatballs, fresh salad and a good lick of American style mustard. 

Both our sandwiches were very good but the sweet pastries were even better. 

A citron knudl (£3) combined a sweet and sticky crisp crust and a lovely squidgy interior. It had a lovely zing of lemon and delicate twang of cardamom.  

An æble snegl (£2.95) saw a light-crumbed iced bun topped with sweet and tangy apple compote as well as warming cinnamon and sticky icing. 

But, the standout was an overskåren (£2.95), a trio of treats in one. Crisp flaky pastry contained a seam of wobbly egg rich custard running down the middle and sticky icing and marzipan at one end and rich chocolate icing and cinnamon at the other.

I really like Brød. It’s a little slice of Copenhagen in the middle of Cardiff and a lovely spot for a quick bite to eat.

The details:

Address - Brød, 126 Wyndham Cres, Pontcanna, Cardiff CF11 9EG
Web - http://www.thedanishbakery.co.uk/
Telephone - 029 2025 1822

Matsudai Ramen, Grangetown, Cardiff restaurant review

It’s fair to say that James Chant’s Matsudai Ramen has had a meteoric rise since it first popped up in Cardiff in 2019.

Their big-flavoured bowls of Japanese noodle soup have garnered praise from national restaurant critics like Jay Rayner and Tom Parker Bowles and there have been ramen kit collabs with Youtube star Uncle Roger and MasterChef winner Tim Anderson.

Matsudai’s ramen kits provided me with more regular nourishment than any other home delivery during the pandemic but I was always hopeful that they'd eventually open a bricks and mortar restaurant.

Located in an old bank in the heart of Cardiff's Grangetown, Matsudai’s modern and vibey interior is centred around an open kitchen and ramen bar. I’m a big fan of counter top restaurants where a seat at the bar transforms a meal into a performance.

On our visit during a two month long “soft launch” period, Matsudai’s compact menu focused on three types of ramen - tantanmen, nikko shio (described on their menu as a clean and complex summer ramen) and shiru-nashi mazesoba - with vegetarian, vegan and dumplingified versions available too.

To go alongside the ramen, there’s a selection of small plates, desserts, cocktails, beers and rather lethal sounding boiler-makers.

Small plates arrived at the same time as our mains meaning it was all hands on deck to ensure everything was enjoyed at maximal freshness. Fortunately, I’ve never been one to dither when it comes to getting stuck into a meal.

The clear standout of the small dishes was a mountain of triple-fried oyster mushroom karaage (£8) with a hyper-crisp grease free crumb and impressively meaty texture. Accompanied by a bowl of dreamy Coronation-esque curry mayo, this vegetarian dish was an upgrade on the excellent chicken version which I ate at one of Matsudai’s pop-ups.

A beansprout salad (£5) provided welcome lightness compared to the rest of the dishes. Dressed simply with chilli oil, spring onion and sesame, it was very enjoyable but the crisp sprouts would arguably have benefited from an additional dimension of seasoning.

Salty and crisp nuggets of chicken skin (£2.50) scattered with seaweed salt certainly lived up to their bar snack billing. A bowl of these and an ice cold beer would make me a very happy man indeed.

Onto the main event and a soup-less shiru-nashi mazesoba (£12) combined thick wavy noodles with a lovely al dente bite; a deeply meaty chicken and lamb ragu with a good thrum of chilli; and a deliciously creamy and savoury sesame, soy sauce and soy milk base, which provided a lovely coating for the noodles.

Mrs G was advised to stir the bowl 30 times to ensure all the sauces and toppings (including egg yolk, sweet pickled cucumber, fresh red onion, fermented bamboo shoots and greens) had mixed together effectively.

My tantanmen (£13), a Japanese version of Sichuan’s fiery Dan Dan noodles, utilised many similar elements as the soup-less dish. A rich chicken broth (which didn’t seem quite as intense and chicken-y as their tori paitan) was bolstered by the addition of the spicy chicken and lamb ragu and a sesame-soy sauce tare. Combined with its various garnishes, including a fudgey-yolked egg and beansprouts, it was a deliciously spicy and decadent dish.

A pair of swirls of beautifully tender chashu pork belly (£2.50) provided excellent side-action. Frankly, if any menu has the option of additional pork belly then it’s something I’m not going to turn down.

Onto dessert and as we’d missed out on the last slice of banana chocolate cake, we shared a roasted green tea creme brûlée (£6). Despite its lack of a proper shatteringly crisp sugar top and its slightly unappetising greeny-brown colour, the thick and creamy roasted tea-twanged custard was lovely.

It’s always great to see a Cardiff success story and Matsudai Ramen is exactly that. There’s been a ramen shaped hole in Cardiff’s dining scene, and James Chant’s debut restaurant has more than filled it.

The Details:

Address - Matsudai Ramen, 183-185 Clare Rd, Cardiff CF11 6QS

Web - https://matsudai.co.uk/pages/restaurant-2

Telephone - 029 2022 6510