Flat Iron, Kings Cross, London restaurant review

Yes, I know Flat Iron is a chain with fifteen branches across London and three more across the UK that are either open or set to open soon.

And, I know that I don’t normally to review chains because they homogenise the identity of cities at the expense of interesting independents.

But, it would be disingenuous of me to say that I never visit chains.

Crispy Dosa, Honest Burger, Greggs and Din Tai Fung are all places that I’ve been to in the last few years.

Furthermore, Flat Iron isn’t just any chain, so I thought that it was worth writing about.

Firstly, it was founded by Charlie Carroll one of the co-owners of the Devonshire, the UK's most hyped pub. Whilst a table at the Devonshire is rather tricky to come by, it’s a lot more straightforward to visit a Flat Iron.

Secondly, unlike the encyclopaedic menus that many chains offer, Flat Iron have taken a single dish, the flat iron steak, and put it at the very core of their business model.

Their menu also eschews starters and desserts in favour of a compact selection of mains. It enables Flat Iron to turn tables very quickly and have a streamlined ingredient inventory, both of which must be important factors in the success of their model.

Knowing that we wanted something quick to eat before catching a Eurostar, I decided Flat Iron Kings Cross would fit the bill.

Arriving just before midday, there was already a gaggle of people waiting outside its doors to open. It’s a looker of a place with its exposed brickwork, wood-panelling and racing green paint; there’s apparent age and class belying its budget price point.

Despite the lack of starters on Flat Iron’s menu, as soon as we sat down a pot of warm, beef dripping scented popcorn arrived. It was still busy popping away in a machine behind us providing reassurance about just how fresh it was.

Whilst Flat Iron’s menu focuses on their headline dish (£15), there’s also a burger (£14), ribeye (£19) and wagyu steak of the day (£23). Furthermore, there’s a choice of seven different sides, all of which range from £3.50 to £4.50 and four different sauces for £1.50. I can’t think of many places where you can get a steak and sides for this kind of price, even in Cardiff.

From the concise wine selection, which is all available by the glass, we order a juicy Sangiovese (£9.50) and a smooth, red berry-packed malbec (£8.50).

Orders were taken within a few minutes of sitting down and our food arrived in approximately the amount of time it takes to cook and rest a flat iron to medium rare.

Presented on a cast iron and wooden slab with a miniature cleaver, it was a lovely looking bit of meat. With an excellent tenderness and good (if not the most deeply aged) flavour, it was a very tasty steak. It’s worth noting that Mrs G's steak was fattier and a bit smaller looking than mine.

On the sauce front, a silky bearnaise honked nicely of tarragon whilst peppercorn delivered a warming meaty hit.

Aubergine, mozzarella and tomato bake (£4.50) was a melanzane parmigiana by any other name and it was a hot mess of deliciousness with a good ooze of mozzarella and compelling crusty edges.

Creamed spinach (£4) did the job but was the least impressive of the sides.

Silky smooth mashed potato (£4.50) was brought together by a pool of garlic butter, a lick of bone marrow and crunchy batter puffs. It was decadent stuff.

Whilst there’s no dessert on Flat Iron’s menu, our bill was charmingly accompanied by cleaver tokens that we could exchange for a swirl of Tahitian vanilla soft serve. 

Served in a shatteringly crisp waffle cone and dusted with chocolate, the sweet and milky ice cream was a dead ringer for Joe's vanilla.

Stuffed yet relaxed, we were in and out of Flat Iron within just over thirty minutes, meaning there was no dash required to get to our train on time.

Flat Iron is certainly one of the best chains I’ve visited in a long while and an impressive business model to boot. With a branch set to arrive in Bristol later this year, I’d imagine there’ll be a Cardiff opening in the not too distant future. 

The Details:

Address - Flat Iron Kings Cross, 47-51 Caledonian Rd, London N1 9BU

Web - https://flatironsteak.co.uk/restaurant/kings-cross/

The Everest Bar and Eatery, Nepalese restaurant, Cardiff city centre review

From initial impressions, you might not guess that the Everest Bar and Eatery serves some of the best Nepalese food in Cardiff.

This no-frills establishment, which is located next door to Live Lounge in Cardiff city centre, offers a big range of 24 draft beers for all tastes, including Madri, Guinness, Tiny Rebel and Staropramen; a menu of pub classics like steak and chips and fry-ups; and three shots for £10.

There’s karaoke, spotlessly clean functional furniture, crystal chandeliers, and a 90s leaning soundtrack featuring Whitney Houston, Goo Goo Dolls and Tracy Chapman.

But there are a few giveaways about Everest’s Nepalese inclination.

The first, of course, lies in the name. The second tell is the understated wall murals showing the mountain’s snowcapped peak and climbers trooping up its side. Finally, there’s a photo on the wall of co-owner Dip Prasad Pun receiving a medal from Queen Elizabeth for his bravery whilst serving with the Gurkhas in the British army.

Everest is owned by siblings Dip Prasad Pun and Jhalak Pun, who originally hail from Nepal, and are both former Gurkhas. Jhalak, who we met behind the bar during our visit, casually informed me that he’d climbed Everest a while ago, as though it was the kind of thing you might do with a spare hour on a Saturday morning. Warm and friendly, and built like a real-life Jack Reacher, I think he could probably have bench-pressed me with one arm.

To drink, we ordered halves of their eponymous Everest lager (£2.50). Crisp and malty it was a lovely accompaniment for our spicy-packed lunch.

Everest’s compact menu of Nepalese cooking offers dishes like momo, Chatpate (a crunchy Nepalese salad of puffed rice, dry noodles and vegetables), set thalis, Nepali soup, and chow mein.

My sights were laser focused on the momo. Available in chicken, pork and vegetable varieties and served with either chutney or jhol, I opted for the latter option. 

It’s fair to say that they’re some of the best dumplings I’ve eaten in Cardiff. Ten beautifully steamed dumplings were delicately encased and filled with impeccably juicy minced chicken. Fragrant in their seasoning, I think they were most likely spiked with lemongrass and ginger. 

The decuplet of dumplings were sat in a whopping bowl of thick, creamy, nutty and slightly fiery sesame and tomato soup, also known as jhol. It was a proper winter warmer of a dish and a very good feed for £13. 

Mrs G very much enjoyed her mutton bhutuwa (£13.50). An offaly good mix of liver and kidneys were coated in an intense and earthy dry spice mix. A good squeeze of lemon provided zing whilst puffed rice offered contrasting crunch. A few of the bits of offal leaned towards the dry side so a couple of spoonfuls of jhol provided impromptu saucing.

Chicken fried rice (£9) was cooked with a delicate hand. The light and distinct grained rice had a beautiful wok smokiness, delicate spicing and was nicely flecked with tender chicken pieces and mixed vegetables.

We had a delicious lunch at Everest and their jhol momo is a Cardiff city centre cheap eat that’s definitely worth setting out on an expedition for.

The Details:

Address - The Everest Bar and Eatery, 8 The Friary, Cardiff CF10 3FA

Web - https://www.theeverestbareatery.com/

Telephone - 029 2297 0309

Barry Sidings Cafe, Pontypridd cafe review

It’s easy to see why some cafes in popular parks just phone it in. 

After all, with a captive audience out for a stroll, swing or pedalo, there’s always a plentiful supply of people to whom you can flog a sad panini or a dried-out scone. 

This is certainly not what Barry Sidings Cafe have decided to do.

Located between Pontypridd and Porth in Barry Sidings Countryside Park, their menu of burgers, loaded fries, and baked goods makes a big deal of the Welsh produce they use, name checking local butchers, bakers, candlestick makers, brewers, and coffee and tea suppliers, amongst others.

There’s also a distinctly non-corporate feel to the place, with its country and western soundtrack, acoustic guitar adorned walls and pallet panelling. 

With their massive outdoor seating area, plentiful cycle parking, and bike repair shop next door, they’re also clearly catering to the multitude of mountain bikers enjoying the local area. 

Despite there being a sizeable queue when we arrived on a sunny Saturday lunchtime after a yomp up Mynydd Gelliwion, our order was served within 25 minutes. 

A black coffee, from local roastery Big Dog, was impressively smooth.

A pair of burgers were both very tasty and showcased sturdy yet soft crumbed rolls from Ivey Patisserie in Church Village and double 4oz smashed patties from The Gourmet Butcher in Whitchurch.

Both patties had a good crusty caramelisation and a juicy pink interior. Considering the burgers each cost just over £11, they delivered plenty of bang for our buck. 

I had the bacon double cheeseburger (£11.25), topped with a good ooze of American cheese, crisp streaky bacon and the freshness of sliced lettuce and tomato. It had a high end Whopper vibe but perhaps would have been even better with some burger sauce to bring it all together. 

The clear winner was Mrs G’s Oklahoma burger (£11.50), with the double patties smashed into a pile of white onions and mustard to deliver a good hit of umami sweetness, mustardy warmth, and oozy cheesiness. It was altogether a naughtier and more intensely flavoured affair. 

From the selection of loaded fries on offer, we plumped for the Teriyaki chicken version (£9). The plentiful chicken had a good tenderness and the sticky sauce a tasty sweet savoury flavour. But both the fries and batter would have benefited from more crispness. And, I’m sure the advertised garlic chives and kohlrabi microgreens that were absent would have added an extra dimension. 

We had a very tasty lunch at Barry Sidings Café, with their burgers most definitely being the standout. If you’re out for a ride, walk or twitch in the local area, then it’s well worth a pit stop. 

The Details:

Address - Barry Sidings Cafe, Porth, Pontypridd CF37 2PE
Web - https://www.barrysidings.co.uk/

Other, Bedminster, Bristol restaurant review

I should have guessed from Other’s vivid blue and orange colour scheme that they’re no shrinking violets when it comes to flavour.

From the first mouthful to the last, everything packed a whopping punch. 

Located in the Bristol suburb of Bedminster, Other is the debut restaurant from Zak Hitchman and his partner Emma. Zak’s was previously head chef at the Michelin-starred Casamia before it closed in 2022 and prior to that he was sous chef at Ynyshir, one of the most acclaimed restaurants in the UK. Not a bad CV then. 

With Other, Zak has ditched the formality of lengthy tasting menus and moved towards a more laid-back cooking style.

Despite Other’s striking use of colour, it’s a surprisingly cosy spot. We sat at a long communal table that takes up half the restaurant but had plenty of room to stretch our elbows. 

Other’s name comes from its eclectic style of food, with influences from across Asia, America and Europe. The compact menu is divided up into small and larger plates and we ordered pretty much the whole lot to share between four of us. 

From the dinky wine list, we chose a couple of bottles of red to share and both were lovely - a red berry packed The Notes Gamay (£36) with light acidity and a richer Sabina Tempranillo (£28) with a hint of spice.

The first small plate to arrive was a first-rate riff on sesame prawn toast (£8), which saw chicken mince replacing crustacean that was then topped with fresh and cleansing slivers of lime-pickled cucumber. The kicker was a potent brown crab hot and sour mayo.

I'm always in the game for smoked meat, and Other's seven hour smoked hogget (£8) was up there with dishes from the best smokehouses I've visited. Meat and smoke intensity combined in stupidly tender nuggets of shredded meat that were crisped up nicely around the edges. Levity, acidity and chilli heat came from a corker of a roasted pineapple and ancho chilli jam.

Tempura grey mullet (£9.50) was my least favourite small plate, but it was still very good. Meaty pieces of fish were coated in an excellent light batter and topped with a potent punch of harissa and slithers of fragrant blood plum. Slices of raw miso scallop slightly jarred in texture and temperature for me. 

Onto the larger plates, and Other clearly knows how to cook a killer bit of meat.

Outrageously rich smoked beef cheeks (£22) had an excellent bark and beautifully tender, smoky flesh. Garnishes, which had been piled on top, all hit the mark too - a good squirt of citrus mustard, slices of sweet onion, and umami rich beer braised tomatoes. 

A corker of a crisp-skinned, juicy and well-rendered fat pork chop (£25) was topped with a crispy panko crumb and accompanied by a five spice fragranced char sui sauce and a crisp and fresh white cabbage salad.

Other’s veggie option (£17) looked like a plate of leaves at first glance, but it delivered just as much flavour as the meat dishes. Buttery soft slow-roasted aubergine pieces were the vehicle for a whopper of a red curry glaze, the freshness of mint and coriander, and the crunch of crispy onions and ginger. 

Finally, a fish special (£22) saw meaty and salty mackerel fillets (I wonder whether it might have been slightly cured) paired with golden beignet-like crab cakes and sweet and cleansing tomatoes. The clincher was a curry spiced butter sauce that was a cross between something you’d get from the chip chop and a fine dining French kitchen. 

Sides were all belters too. Ridiculously crisp deep fried layered confit potatoes (£7) were dusted with roast garlic salt and ancho chilli and accompanied by a pot of lightly honking aioli. I think this might be my favourite style of potato as it delivers the most crunch per mouthful. 

Sweet and soft roasted carrots (£8) were a mess of deliciousness muddled together with crispy chickpeas, salty nuggets of feta and a vibrant salsa verde.

Even a wedge of lettuce (£7) was zhushed up by the addition of everything bagel seasoning, lettuce pesto and a lemon dressing.

Other’s menu recommends ordering both desserts to combine together like some kind of dessert Megazord. I can see why. 

A sourdough doughnut (£5) was light and soft and sweet and salty with the complexity of brown butter and toasty charred edges from being finished on the barbecue.

A crème brûlée (£9) was a riot of flavour - the creamy custard combining with a sweet and fragrant blood plum jam, the zinginess of lime syrup, and a properly crisp and toasty burnt caramelised sugar layer. It was brilliant slathered over the warm doughnut. 

We had a belter of a meal at Other and Zak Hitchman’s mammoth flavoured cooking is some of the most exciting I’ve eaten this year. Next time you visit Bristol and you’re thinking about visiting another restaurant instead of Other, don’t bother. 

The Details:

Address - Other, 32 Cannon Street, Bedminster, Bristol BS3 1BN
Web - https://www.otherrestaurant.co.uk/
Telephone - 07503 144325

Oma, Borough Market, London, Michelin-starred restaurant review

Someone has taken a chill pill at the Michelin Guide.

I like to think I know the types of restaurants that are generally awarded a star by the tyre people. 

And Oma isn't it.

It's a brilliant restaurant that serves flavour-packed and fairly priced modern Greek cooking. And it's a lively and informal place with down to earth service and delicious house wines that cost just over a fiver a glass.

In summary, it's everything that so many Michelin-starred restaurants in the UK aren't. 

I’m sure there's a certain breed of restaurant snob who’ll visit Oma and be disappointed by the lack of a library-like atmosphere or the absence of dishes that have been tweezered to within an inch of their lives. 

But I digress. Oma has been top of my London list of places to visit for a while, ever since a good friend said it would be right up mine and Mrs G's street. Furthermore, it's owned by the immensely talented, David Carter, the man behind the brilliant Smokestak and Manteca.

Located upstairs from its sibling restaurant, Agora, on the edge of Borough Market, Oma was buzzing on the Sunday lunchtime we visited. The menu, whilst Greek-centred, is unlike those at any of the tavernas we visit whilst on holiday. Head chef Jorge Paredes has elevated classic Greek flavour combinations and thrown in a few global influences too with dishes like tuna ceviche with citrus ponzu (£16) and salt cod XO with labneh (£6). 

Despite having a sizeable 400 bin wine list, Oma’s house wines cost a mere £5.50 a glass.  Both their white and their red from Kokos Estate were excellent, a light yet aromatic Savatiano-Roditis blend and a berry laden blend of unnamed grapes.

Having bickered over what to pick from Oma’s extensive dip selection, we compromised and ordered two. They were both as delightful as each other. 

Silkily potent taramasalata (£6) was studded with cubes of pickled cucumber and nuggets of crisp and roasty carob biscuit.

Creamy labneh (£6) was pepped up with sweet and throat warming hot honey and crispy chickpeas.

Dipping tools were just as well-considered. A super light and squidgy bagel-shaped açma verde (£3.50) was lightly soaked in garlic butter. 

Wildfarmed laffa bread (£3.50) was pleasingly soft with a slight stretchiness.

Onto the small plates, and impeccably fresh and meaty seabass crudo (£13) was dressed with ladolemono, a punchy mix of lemon juice and olive oil, as well as crispy fronds of deep-fried leek.

Oma's signature dish is their spanakopita gratin (£15) and it's a properly naughty bit of comfort food. They've taken a classic dish and turned all the dials up to artery clogging levels. A tongue scorchingly hot pot of creamed spinach, studded with nuggets of salty feta, was delicious spooned over flaky and fatty paratha-esque malawach flatbreads. The effect was unmistakeably spanakopita like. 

We ordered two of Oma’s larger plates. A whopper of a squid skewer (£28) had a lovely lick of char and vibrancy from a green herb, za’atar and confit garlic dressing. Most of the bits of squid were commendably tender but a couple were verging slightly towards the chewy side.

We followed it up with their oxtail giouvetsi (£29), another big flavoured and indulgent bit of comfort food. A clay pot of meaty orzo oozed with melted cheese and was topped with stupidly tender bits of oxtail and a crisp bone marrow crumb. 

A fragrant and fresh fennel and herb salad (£6) was an essential order to balance the giouvetsi’s richness. The crisp and citrusy dressed vegetable was tumbled with handfuls of mint, parsley, basil and dill.

We had a superb lunch at Oma and it's another fabulous Borough Market restaurant alongside two of our other recent favourites, Rambutan and Kolae. As long as the Michelin Guide are feeling chillaxed, I reckon they should crack on and hand them a star each too. 

The Details:

Address - Oma, 3 Bedale Street, London SE1 9AL
Web - https://www.oma.london/
Telephone - 020 8129 6760