Picton and Co, Cardiff Bay restaurant review

Dinner and a show – it’s a great way to spend an evening.

After all, it’s basically a classier version of what we do every night anyway – guzzle some food and then slob out on the sofa for a few hours before bed.

When it comes to places to see live theatre and comedy, there aren’t many finer venues in the UK than Wales Millennium Centre. And with the new arena set to open in 2028, there’ll be no shortage of places to see a show in Cardiff Bay.

But, the area’s shortage of great independent restaurants makes the dinner part of the night a bit of a challenge. Whilst the Sultan, Yakitori #1, and Tiger Yard are all very good options, I think the Bay has been missing somewhere with a bit of style for pre-theatre dining.

Picton and Co, an all-day deli-café-restaurant, previously looked like it might have fit the bill. But, the last time we saw a show, back in 2024, they didn’t start serving dinner until 6pm. So, it would have been a bit of a rush to get our bums on seats in time for curtain up.

Thankfully, they’ve since got their act together, and now serve dinner from 5pm, meaning there’s plenty of time for a bite to eat. So, we decided to check it out before a Saturday night trip to see James Acaster.

Picton and Co is owned by veteran Cardiff hairdresser Ken Picton, and he clearly knows more about style than just wet perms and mullets. The bright and modern venue, with a big central bar as a focal point, has a great vibe.

Whilst Picton and Co’s daytime menu leans towards brunch dishes, focaccia sandwiches, and Japanese rice bowls, their evening menu offers eclectic small plates with influences drawn from across the globe. Duck leg bao, Moroccan lamb chops and smoked octopus pintxos were a few of the dishes that didn’t make it onto our final order.

Much like our last visit, we kicked off the meal with a couple of cocktails. This time around, they were made by multi award-winning mixologist Jamie Lock, who you may well recognise from Cardiff venues like Penny Royal, Heaneys and Dead Canary.

A Chutney Collins (£11) and Dirty Margarita (£13) were both seriously drinkable yet delivered layers of complexity and palate warming chilli heat. The former combined vodka, manzanilla, mango, pickled chilli and ginger whilst the latter saw a classic margarita zhushed up with olive brine and pickled chilli.

We followed them up with a boozy yet classy Manhattan (£14) and a Pear-shaped Sour (£12), with plenty of fragrant citrus and floral notes.

Picton and Co’s dishes are billed as plates rather than small plates and I can see why. We ordered five dishes between the two of us and were absolutely stuffed.

A mound of meaty AF oyster mushrooms (£14) were coated in the crispest of crumbs and drenched in a savoury and spicy gochujang sauce. Freshness came from a garnish of coriander, heat tempered pickled red chillies and spring onion.

Whilst Cardiff has its fair share of excellent carrot dishes, Picton and Co's carrot ceviche (£10) can hold its own among the best. Sweet and charred edged carrot slices had a nice bite and were lifted by the freshness of lime. The clincher was a pool of intensely umami and nutty hazelnut butter that added a wallop of flavour with every mouthful.

There was tons going on with smoked jeyuk pork belly dish (£20), but it worked. The slab of char crusted meat, which an excellent flesh to fat ratio, was accompanied by sweet and sharp apple puree, charred apple, and a background thrum of spice. Taleggio cheese sauce was perhaps one ingredient too many but I rather enjoyed the creamy and funky note it brought to the plate.

Smoked patatas bravas (£10) were an elite version of the Spanish classic. Colossal, ruggedly crisp and tender bronzed spuds had a beguiling smoky note and were served with pools of honking alioli and sweet pepper ketchup and a drizzle of sticky honey.

Finally, grilled buffalo chicken (£16) was a huge-flavoured hot mess. Despite looking like Jackson Pollock had thrown the ingredients at the plate, they were all natural bedfellows - charred yet tender chicken thighs, poky and sharp buffalo sauce, shards of crisp chicken, funky blue cheese nuggets and sweet yet cleansing charred apricot.

Despite being stuffed there was no way I was going to pass on the s’mores parfait (£9). It very much lived up to its billing. Not too sweet frozen chocolate parfait was coated in squidgy toasted meringue and topped with glossy hot chocolate sauce with a nice bitterness. Piles of buttery biscuit crumb completed the excellent riff on the American campfire classic.

We had an excellent meal at Picton and Co with its whopping flavoured flame-licked food, creative cocktails and friendly service. It’s a classy Cardiff Bay indie and a belter of a venue for a pre-show meal. In fact, we enjoyed it so much that we’d happily make a trip to the Bay just to eat there, even when we’re not seeing a show.

The Details:

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

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

Telephone - 029 2066 2080

Vicino, Pontcanna, tapas and cocktail bar review

All hail the picky bits.

I’m a big fan of Spanish and Italian bar culture where you can enjoy a couple of drinks accompanied by some tapas or cicchetti.

It’s a very civilised way of getting sozzled and a fine way to enjoy lots of little different things to eat as you meander between bars.

Which brings me to Vicino, the new Mediterranean tapas, wine and cocktail bar from the team behind Sonder. Meaning ‘neighbour’ in Italian, it’s unsurprisingly located across the road from its vibey Pontcanton mothership, a restaurant which has taken the city by storm since opening twelve months ago.

Billed as “somewhere small bites turn into big nights”, the cosy venue was already buzzing in the middle of the afternoon of their first Saturday in business.

Vicino offers a big selection of cocktails and wines by the glass as well as a few beers and ciders. Mrs G got stuck straight into the Veuve Cliquot champagne (£13) whilst I tried a couple of their long drinks. A grown up yet refreshing Garibaldi (£12) was the standout, combining Campari, blood orange and basil. A slightly less complex Levriero (£12), made with grappa, white port and grapefruit, was still lovely.

Vicino’s food menu is a collection of mostly cold nibbles, charcuterie and sandwiches. It’s a lot less involved than the food on offer at Sonder and most definitely the kind of thing you can pick at over a few drinks.

The first thing to turn up was a slice of tortilla (£5) and it was the first dish that had caught my eye on the menu too.

The combination of golden eggs, caramelised onion sweetness, a dusting of salty cheese and poky aioli was very good. But, I thought there was a bit too much bite in the spuds so that it didn’t quite cohere into a soft textured whole. Mrs G of course disagreed and enjoyed the texture contrast.

Tuna tartare crostini (£7.50) were my favourite of the dishes we ate. Crisp and fatty golden toasts were topped with a meaty dice of raw tuna and avocado that were seasoned with the zing of lime and fresh coriander. I could have smashed a dozen of them.

Home fried earthy crisps (£5) were delicious dredged through a light and creamy dip with a good funk of salty and smoky blue cheese. A salsa of tomato, olives, peppers and onion brought freshness to the plate.

A sweet and flavoursome salad of heritage tomatoes (£5) were well dressed with good quality olive oil and vinegar.

From the sandwich and toastie section of the menu, we ordered a couple to share.

A pressed grilled cheese and leek sandwich (£7) was laden with oozy dairy and soft, sweet allium. It didn’t necessarily need the pot of sweet and umami burn onion ketchup on the side, but I gladly forked it straight into my gob.

Even better was a light and airy focaccia sandwich (£9) that was stacked with creamy stracciatella, salty cured prosciutto and grassy olive oil.

 

Vicino is another vibrant addition to Pontcanton’s hospitality scene and the team behind Sonder have hit the mark once again with their follow-up. We had a lovely time grazing and boozing over lunch but it’s most certainly the kind of place you don’t need to go for a meal. You could just as easily pop in for a drink and a snack, then see where the rest of the evening takes you, which might happen to be across the road to Sonder.

The Details:

Address - Vicino, 72a Llandaff Rd, Pontcanna, Cardiff CF11 9NL

Web - https://www.instagram.com/vicino.cardiff/

Nighthawks wine bar and Mad Dog brewery tap, Cardiff review

When I saw that both Nighthawks wine bar and the Mad Dog brewery taproom, located just about 50 metres apart from each other in Cardiff city centre, were both serving delicious looking toasted cheese sandwiches, the opportunity for a pun-tastic blog post theme seemed too good an opportunity to miss.

So, I present to you a tale of two toasties.

First up, is Nighthawks. Located on a glass-fronted corner entrance to the Castle Arcade, this wine bar’s name must surely take inspiration from the famous Edward Hopper painting. 

With an interesting selection of 14 wines by the glass (I won’t pretend to know what I’m talking about), each option is accompanied by an evocative description which helps a lot when choosing what to order. If wine isn’t your bag then there’s also Welsh Mountain Cider and beers from Wiper & True and Brooklyn.

Working our way through a couple of glasses each, I enjoyed a Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc (£6.95) with plenty of citrus and gooseberry, and a really excellent Puglian negroamaro (£6.95) with heaps of raisins and soft tannins. Mrs G was a big fan of both a natural granacha blanca (£6.95) and a Uruguayan petit manseng (£8.95) which lived up to its apple pie crust billing.

With a menu of elevated snacks, which include posh paprika crisps with sour cream and fish roe; anchovies with garlic oil; and cheese and charcuterie boards, their toasted cheese sandwich is very much the eye-catcher. It certainly lived up to its billing.

Top drawer crisped and buttery Pettigrew sourdough (£7.50) cosseted a thick ooze of creamy mozzarella, tangy cheddar, Rutland red and lubricating white wine bechamel sauce. Pieces of spring onion provided a hit of allium whilst a pot of thick and fruity tomato chutney had just the right amount of acidity and the addition of nigella seeds provided unmistakably naan bread like seasoning.

With one excellent toastie under our belts, Mad Dog Brewery had a lot to live up to. 

Having relocated from Monmouthshire to a spot opposite the castle earlier this year, I was interested to read that one of the owners had experience of working in the kitchen of the three Michelin-starred Fat Duck.

So, the signs were more than promising and it translated into a delicious sounding menu of small plates and sandwiches, with dishes including padron peppers with sumac yoghurt, duck croquettes with mustard mayo, and buttermilk fried chicken with chilli mayo.

With beers on offer including the brewery’s own marmalade IPA and a guest amber ale from Crafty Devil, Mrs G and I both enjoyed a light, crisp and juicy Hair of the Dog American pale ale - it’s the kind of beer I could happily have a few pints of.

Once again, top drawer crisp toasted sourdough bread provided the foundation for the sandwich (£9).

This time, it was loaded with a looser creamy cheddar cheese sauce, which provided a lovely coating for a fine dice of soft and sweet leeks. It was a deliciously filthy and rich toastie but I think the Nighthawks toastie edged it due to its ooziness.

We supplemented our sandwich with a portion of mushroom fritters (£5) - a fine dice of seriously savoury mushrooms were bound together by bechamel (I think) and coated in a extremely crisp panko crumb, which was perhaps just one shade of brown too dark. An accompanying bowl of delicately sweet and savoury miso mayo completed the delicious snack.

We had excellent toasted sandwiches at both Nighthawks and Mad Dog so it’s a story with a happy ending. I'll certainly be going back to both places to explore more of the snacks and booze on their menus.

The Details:
Nighthawks

Address - 47-49, Castle Arcade, Cardiff CF10 1BW

Web - https://www.instagram.com/nighthawkscardiff/?hl=en

Mad Dog Brewery

Address - 17-19 Castle St, Cardiff CF10 1BS

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

Telephone - 07500 225616

Bacareto, Venetian bar and restaurant, Cardiff city centre

There's almost nowhere in Cardiff which oozes effortless cool like the recently opened Bacareto.

Based on Church Street on the former site of a gambling shop and the New China restaurant, the venue has been taken over by the team from Spit and Sawdust skate park and overhauled into a Venetian bar, cafe and restaurant. They also share the building with the new headquarters for Cardiff Skate Club.

The refurbishment has been done beautifully with a sweeping wood-panelled bar, terrazzo tiling, canary yellow banquette seating, roof terrace and wall-mounted planters.

If that wasn’t lush enough, they've also got the hugely-talented Grady Atkins, at the helm of the kitchen serving a menu of Venetian small plates (cicchetti) downstairs as well as a menu of more substantial rustic Italian cooking upstairs.

I visited with the downstairs bar with mates after a clutch of craft beers at Bubs a few doors down. Bacareto’s booze menu is impressive in its own right - a fully Italian wine list includes house red served in traditional 100ml ombre glasses, craft beers include Lost and Grounded helles and Bristol Beer Factory’s milk stout, and a spritz menu has eight different options.

I knocked back a really good citrus and bergamot fragranced Italicus spritz (£5.50) as well as a classic bitter Campari spritz (£5.50).

Cicchetti are ordered at the bar so you can work your way through a load as you order your drinks. They’re brought on sharing plates as and when they’re ready.

Bacala (£2.70) saw brown bread loaded with addictively soft-textured, savoury and slightly fishy mashed salt pollock.

A cube of summery watermelon (£1.50) was topped with a leaf of fragrant fresh mint and a piece of firm and salty vegan Trimma cheese, which bore an uncannily good likeness to feta.

A retro devilled egg (£1) was dialled up to 11 on the flavour scale, the yolk seasoned with a big thump of mustard and topped with a pile of salty anchovies. It perhaps would have benefited from being reigned in slightly but it certainly had me reaching for my drink.

Nutty rye bread (£3) was topped with a creamy funk of gorgonzola, sweet honey and crunchy hazelnuts. This simple yet killer flavour combination was my pick of the night.

A crisp arancino (£3), fresh out of the fryer, was loaded with distinct grained risotto and a creamy salty ooze of taleggio. This was quality deep-fried booze food.

Across the table, friends enjoyed slices of soft brown bread loaded with delicate salami (£2.50) and various dried tomatoes of different intensities and sweetness.

Finally a massive wodge of creamy melted and stringy buffalo mozzarella (£3) was coated in a crisp herb crumb. Mozzarella sticks can get in the sea compared to this.

For dessert, two scoops of pistachio gelato (£3) were milky, smooth and well-flavoured with their billed ingredient.

Bacareto is exactly the kind of place I could spend many an evening - they serve lovely bites to eat and booze in a cool setting and it’s great value to boot. I’ll certainly be back soon to explore their upstairs menu.

The Details:

Address - Bacareto, 13 Church St, Cardiff CF10 1BG

Web - https://www.bacareto.co.uk/

Email - hello@bacareto.co.uk

Uisce, Pontcanna, Cardiff restaurant review 2021

Ah man, it’s great to be back in the saddle.

After over four months of restaurant closures, I’ve been itching to get back to eating out.

Whilst the boom in at home restaurant kits has been a real source of joy, there’s nothing quite like taking a load off in a restaurant and putting your dinner in the capable hands of hospitality professionals.

So, where better for our first meal back out than Tommy Heaney’s Uisce, his cracker of a small plates restaurant in Pontcanna?

Their outside seating area wraps around the entire front of the restaurant alongside their impressive tent. So there’s plenty of room for outdoor diners looking to make the most of any fleeting glimpses of sunshine.

Golden orbed croquetas (£4) were filled with silky bechamel.

Crisp crusted and tangy crumbed sourdough (£3.50) was served with Heaney’s signature Marmite butter with a big whallop of umami and dairy creaminess. The mound of butter had doubled in size since our last visit so we of course had to order some more bread to go with it.

Meaty slivers of raw bass (£9) were bathed in a summery dressing of cleansing orange, quality oil and warming stem ginger. A version of this dish was a highlight of our Heaney’s lockdown meal kit.

Barbecued lamb was treated with reverence (£14). Blushing pink and gorgeously tender with a lick of smoke and crisp well-rendered fat, it was joined by the glossiest of sauces, verdant cavolo nero, potent wild garlic salsa verde and the tempering creaminess of goats curd.

Wye Valley asparagus (£8) had also been licked with the flames of a BBQ. It’s accompaniments of salty, smoky, creamy cods roe and the crunch of hazelnut were bang on.

Uisce’s crumpet (£10) has changed topping with every visit. This time their crisp yet squidgy crumpet was topped with yielding pork belly slices dressed with XO butter sauce thrumming with savoury shellfish. Coriander leaves and a squeeze of lime added levity and a south east asian twang.

Desserts were refined riffs on two of my favourite puds - profiteroles and lemon meringue pie.

A choux bun (£8) was filled with a rich chocolate cremeux and topped with lighter hazelnut mousse. Contrast was provided by a sharp citrusy gel and the crunch of hazelnut but the star of the show was a compelling banana miso which was intensely fruity, salty and a little savoury - I just wanted a lot more of it.

Creamy and citrusy lemon posset (£8) was topped with a buttery crumbly shortbread and peaks of Italian meringue. The masterstroke was a basil puree which provided an aromatic herbal hit to balance the sweetness.

We had a belting meal at Uisce, as expected. Everything was on point from the slick and friendly service, to the delicious wines by the glass (we had Austrian and Argentinian Gruner Veltliners) and technically accomplished small plates which seem to get better with every visit. It’s great to be eating out at restaurants again.

The Details

Telephone - 029 2034 1264

Web - https://heaneyscardiff.co.uk/uisce.php 

Address - Uisce by Heaney's, 4 Romilly Crescent, Pontcanna CF11 9NR