Yakitori #1 and Picton & Co, Cardiff Bay restaurant review

What is the meaning of life? Can we expect life after death? Does God exist? Are there any decent independent restaurants in Cardiff Bay?

These are all some of life’s biggest questions and the latter has cropped up time and time again since I've started this blog.

One place that I’m always quick to recommend in the Bay is Yakitori #1, an independent Japanese restaurant that’s been a longstanding fixture for over a decade.

Despite having only been to Yakitori #1 a couple of times since I last reviewed it over ten years ago, I’ve continued to hear good things from people whose opinion I trust.

This time around, we visited early on a Saturday evening before a trip to Wales Millennium Centre, and it was great to see the understated dining room packed with people enjoying stir-fried noodles, sushi platers, katsu curries, and bowls of ramen. With swift and efficient service, we were in and out within an hour, making it an ideal pre-theatre option.

During dinner, I knocked back a couple of bottles of crisp and malty Sapporo lager (£4.75) whilst our friend who wasn’t drinking tucked away a few glasses of Yuzu Mitzu (£3.95), a super refreshing mix of yuzu and honey.

Vegetable tempura (£7.50) was made up of a toothsome combination of aubergine, pepper, sweet potato, and mushroom in an airy and grease-free batter. It was accompanied by a light and savoury tentsuyu dipping sauce.

A Yakitori #1 nigiri special (£20.50) hit the mark on all accounts with its well-seasoned, unclaggy and room temperature rice. Meaty salmon, tuna and yellowtail, sweet prawns, and sweet-savoury inari tofu were all delicious. We ordered another portion of the inari tofu (£4.60) as it’s always Mrs G’s favourite.

A bowl of plump and fatty salmon sashimi (£9.95) was served in thick tranches over crushed ice.

Unagi maki rolls (£13.95) were topped with barbecued teriyaki eel with its addictively sweet, savoury, fatty and smoky properties.

As expected, we had a lovely meal at Yakitori #1. Before dinner we also had excellent pre-dinner drinks at the recently opened Picton & Co, which is also located in the Bay.

Alongside their chi-chi delicatessen and restaurant, they serve a belting range of cocktails which are mixed by an alumnus of the acclaimed Lab 22.

My favourites were a glasslike take on a White Russian (£11.50), made with coffee distillate, cream soda, and vanilla. 

A pitch perfect whisky sour (£11.50) was cleverly scented with bay leaf and a spritzy take on a pina colada (£11.50) was super refreshing on a muggy evening. All the other cocktails we ordered were great too.

Picton & Co's dinner menu of small and sharing plates also sounds very good, but it's worth noting that they're not served till 6 pm, so sadly it's not viable as a pre-theatre option.

If you’re the kind of person who lies awake at night wondering whether there are any good independent hospitality businesses in Cardiff Bay, then sleep soundly because Yakitori #1 and Picton & Co are the answers to your worries.

The Details:

Yakitori #1
Address - 10 Mermaid Quay, Cardiff CF10 5BZ

Web - https://www.yakitori1.co.uk/

Telephone - 029 2049 5050

Picton & Co
Address - Unit 9, Mermaid Quay, Cardiff CF10 5BZ

Web - https://www.pictonandco.com/

Telephone - 029 2066 2080

St Vincent, Newcastle Quayside restaurant and wine bar review

After a series of impressive meals at the Broad Chare on Newcastle Quayside, we thought it would be a wise move to work our way through the rest of the restaurants in Terry Laybourne’s 21 Hospitality group.

One of the OGs of Newcastle’s restaurant scene, Terry held a Michelin star for nine years at his first restaurant 21 Queen Street (now the more informal 21) and currently has six establishments in the city, including Porterhouse Butcher & Grill and Saltwater Fish Company.

We settled on St Vincent, a vibey yet relaxed French and Italian inspired restaurant and wine bar, which happens to be located next door to the Broad Chare. 

As well as their a la carte, St Vincent serves a cracking value Saturday set lunch and early bird menu, which offers three courses for £27.50. 

Wines by the glass were excellent, including Tatty G champagne (£16), a sparkling red Bonarda dell'Oltrepò (£9.50) that tasted of dark fruit gummies, a highly gluggable La Cuvée des Copains Rhone red (£9.50), and an orange Gruner Veltliner (£8) with buckets of floral fragrance.

We kicked off with a couple of snacks. A plump baked oyster (£5.50) was topped with crispy breadcrumbs and drenched in butter which sang with parsley and garlic.

A golden orbed arancino (£5.50) was filled with molten stracciatella cheese and honked of porcini mushroom. It was crowned with a bouffant quiff of summer truffle and parmesan.

Onto starters, and a beauty of a salad combined sweet earthy beets, crunchy marcona almonds, a dusting of parmesan, and a dollop of light horseradish crème fraiche with a gentle nose-tickling kick.

A handsome slice of terrine had a delicate gaminess and was flecked with nuggets of mouth-melting fat and the crunch of pistachio and hazelnut. Its accompaniments were all bob-on – toasted sourdough, punchy cornichons, wholegrain mustard and a lightly dressed salad.

Mains were even better. A meaty fillet of hake was served Venetian style (apparently that doesn’t mean it’s overly touristy and at risk of flooding) with a mound of raisins, crunchy pine nuts and onions in a dressing which perfectly balanced salt, fat, sugar and acidity.

My hanger steak was perhaps the finest I’ve ever eaten. In fact, it was far superior to many ribeyes and sirloins I’ve ordered in restaurants. Clearly well-aged, it had an excellent beefiness, was cooked to a gorgeous pink, and was extremely tender too. Slow-cooked sweet garlic, hyper-crisp fluffy-centred roasties, and a parmesan adorned salad were all corking accompaniments.

A tangle of zucchini fritti (£7) were served on the pedestal they deserved. Lightly battered, and soft textured, they were delicious dragged through a pot of mayonnaise.

For dessert, Mrs G enjoyed a fine affogato.

A slice of Basque cheesecake looked like it was going to be a touch dense but it was in fact gorgeously light, smooth and silky with a nice tang and toasty burnt exterior.

We had an absolutely brilliant meal at St Vincent. Whilst the Broad Chare always seems to feature in the Top 50 Gastropubs and holds a Bib Gourmand, St Vincent strangely doesn’t appear to have any accolades. It certainly deserves bags of them and it should be high up your list of places to visit in Newcastle.

The Details:  

Address - St Vincent, 29 Broad Chare, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 3DQ

Web - https://stvincentnewcastle.co.uk/

Telephone - 0191 232 1331

Long Friday, West Jesmond, Newcastle restaurant review

It’s probably fair to say that I don’t I have the same taste in stuff as the typical premier league footballer.

For a start, I’m more likely to be found wearing a Decathlon raincoat, binoculars and walking shoes than a Stone Island jacket, AirPods and Off-White trainers.

And, under no circumstances would I consider booking out an entire branch of Nando’s for a Christmas celebration.

However, perhaps I’m being a bit quick to judge, as Newcastle United and England starlet Lewis Hall is clearly a man of extremely good taste when it comes to restaurants.

Because, when we visited Long Friday in West Jesmond for dinner over Easter weekend, Lewis and his mates were also tucking into a post-match meal after Newcastle’s miraculous 4-3 comeback against West Ham.

Owned by food writer Anna Hedworth, Long Friday opened in 2021 and is the younger sibling to Ouseburn’s Cook House. Described by former Sunday Times restaurant critic Marina O’Loughlin as a “a restaurant that puts you on the sunny side of the street”, Long Friday has a hip yet relaxed vibe.

Long Friday’s menu consists of eclectically influenced small plates, which much like Porthcawl’s Cosy Corner, could more accurately be described as medium plates. When it comes to portion size, I’ve never been disappointed at a Northeast restaurant.

Alongside their medium plates, Long Friday has a belter of a booze list. There are creative cocktails, including a cherry mezcal old fashioned and EVOO martini, beers from Wylam brewery, and a big selection of wines by the glass with a focus on the natural.

During the meal, I enjoyed a fresh and sharp rhubarb spritz (£10), a can of Wylam Lush hoppy pale ale (£7), an easy drinking hazy Tule Bianco Cattarrato (£5.50), and a complex Dhron Hofberger 2006 Auslese Riesling (£6.50).

Superb soft and airy crumbed Northern Rye focaccia (£4) was drizzled with grassy olive oil. We’d walked past their Ouseburn bakery earlier that day and seen queues down the street – I can see why.

Excellent salami (£9), from Berwick upon Tweed’s Hammond Charcuterie, was made with a mix of wild pheasant and free-range pork fat. Spiked with green and Szechuan peppercorn, it left a lovely tingle on the palate.

A hake fillet (£12) was dressed in butter with a lovely poke and spice of kimchi. It perhaps would have benefited from crisper skin and some garnish, but it was a beautifully meaty and well-seasoned piece of fish.

The first standout dish of the meal was a whopping pair of pink lamb chops with mouth melting fat (£12) that were dressed with a vibrantly herby and meaty lamb fat chimichurri that really packed a punch.

Crusty, knobbly, caramelised pieces of earthy roast celeriac (£10) were topped with a coarse mushroom XO, which had a really good savouriness but not quite the complexity of its seafood equivalent.

Bavette steak (£11) was tender with a nice beefiness, whilst a delicately punchy wild garlic butter sauce and crisp breadcrumbs provided extra layers of crunch and seasoning. Eleven quid for a well-sized steak was a fine example of the generosity on show at Long Friday.

Smashed pink fir potatoes (£8), which sat on a bed of savoury miso twanged mayo, delivered on the gnarly crunch which I hoped for.

A bowl of cacio e pepe beans (£9) was the cleverest dish of the meal and one which we’ve already emulated at home with great results. Soft white beans luxuriated in a thick, savoury and creamy parmesan and black pepper enriched sauce. Fried breadcrumbs once again provided welcome texture contrast.

For dessert, a pile of warm, golden light and squidgy ricotta doughnuts (£8) were cannily sat in a pool of thick caramel fragranced with candied peel and a light whiff of rosemary. It’s a dessert which could have tasted like a roast dinner, but it was exceptionally well balanced.

Rather rustic looking sharp rhubarb jelly (£8) was perched on top of creamy panna cotta that was delicately scented with cardamom and served alongside the shortest of buttery buckwheat hobnobs.

We had a superb meal at Long Friday with its inventive medium plates, delicious booze and friendly, relaxed atmosphere. I really should try and tap up Lewis Hall to find out the rest of his Newcastle restaurant recommendations.

The Details:

Address - Long Friday, 46 Brentwood Ave, West Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 3DH

Web - https://longfriday.co.uk/

Telephone - 0191 281 5626