The Lazy Leek, Cardiff vegan burger bar review

*The Lazy Leek has now closed* 

I can tell how good vegan food is when I don’t stop to think “this would taste even better with a bit of meat or cheese”.

This was exactly what happened whilst chowing down on a burger and fries from The Lazy Leek.

Located in Pontcanna’s King’s Yard, The Lazy Leek serves a compact range of vegan burgers and sides from their shack on Thursday to Sundays. 

If you pitch up on a Friday or Saturday you can have a damn tasty Pipes beer whilst you wait for your food to be prepared. I had a half of zingy lemon and lime Berliner whilst Mrs G had a hoppy Session IPA. 

There’s also plenty of outside seating; just make sure you wrap up warm.

As we were fairly late in the day, a few of the menu options had sold out. Therefore, we ordered everything that was left. 

First up it’s worth saying how good The Lazy Leek’s burger buns are. I’d expect nothing less from the award-winning Alex Gooch (who solely makes vegan bread I’ve just discovered). His demi-brioche rolls are slightly sweet, squidgy and yet perfectly robust - ideal for a burger.

An Italian Job (£7) would hold its own amongst Cardiff’s best beef burgers. A crisp crumbed patty was filled with a loosely textured cheesy risotto and uber-garlicky mushrooms. More gooey cheese, a punchy hazelnut and rocket pesto, lemon and basil aioli and refreshing tomatoes completed the ace combination. I had no idea vegan cheese could taste this good. 

 
A Nacho Libre (£7) was very good but not quite as good as the Italian Job. A coarse-textured bean patty was a touch on the crumbly side but it was lifted by a top drawer range of accompaniments; punchy hot sauce and pickled chillies, fresh pico de gallo with tomato and onion and the crunch of tortilla chips. 

 
Sides didn’t let the side down. Hand-cut triple cooked chips (£3) were more like skin-on wedges but I’m not quibbling. Brilliantly crisp and perfectly fluffy, they’re certainly in the top tier of Cardiff’s fried potato league. 

 
Dirty Fries (£6) were even better. A big box of the delicious wedges were topped with smokey barbecue sauce bathed fried mushrooms and melted coconut mozzarella (which had the required filthy American cheese vibe). Freshness was brought to the box by thinly sliced spring onions and a scattering of pickled red chillies. 

 
The Lazy Leek serve one of Cardiff's best burgers... they just happen to be vegan. 

The Details:

Address - The Lazy Leek, Kings Road Yard, 183A Kings Rd, Cardiff CF11 9DF

Web - https://www.lazyleek.co.uk/

Telephone - 029 2022 5270

Dusty Knuckle, Cardiff pizzeria review

*Dusty Knuckle has now relocated to Llanishen - review here*

Phill Lewis, the owner of Dusty Knuckle, is at the vanguard of Cardiff’s food scene.

As well as being one of the first street food vendors to make the transition to bricks and mortar in 2016, he organised this year’s brilliant Bite festival at Insole Court and is half of the cheekily named Ogmore Beach pop-up Two Anchors.

Despite having eaten Dusty Knuckle’s Neapolitan style pizza on a number of occasions from their street food stall, I’ve never got around to a sit down meal at their restaurant.

Located in a covered semi-outdoor area in Canton’s The Print Haus, it’s a beaut of a space - mishmashed furniture, a woodfired pizza oven and graffitied walls all give off good vibes.

The menu sees creative seasonal starters and pizza specials combine with classic pizzas and comfort food puds. On our visit their signature Blas y Mor pizza was out of stock but it’s a cracker of a combo of cockles, bacon, samphire and laverbread.

The booze selection is well-considered too. Draught beers are provided by nearby Pipes and there’s an interesting list of natural wines.

Mrs G had a half of Pipes California Pale Ale (£2.25) whilst the designated driver made do with a can of Soda Folk root beer (£1.80). She then moved onto a very neckable glass of Bergerie de la Bastide white wine (£4).

A super pretty heritage tomato salad (£6) combined sweet and juicy toms with creamy shreds of mozzarella, a drizzle of glossy olive oil, leaves of basil and the vinegary hit of caper.

The second starter was immense; in fact, I’m going to “attempt” it at home. Crusty toasted sourdough (£5.50) was dolloped with creamy mascarpone and served with a mound of salty, oily and savoury anchovies which hummed with garlic and parsley. The combination was killer.

Onto our pizzas, and they were both very tasty but let down slightly by fairly dense and doughy crusts. I’ve had better from Dusty Knuckle on previous occasions.

The thin base and flavour-packed tomato sauce on both pizzas were on the mark.

So too, was the gooey fior di latte cheese and leaves of basil on my Margherita (£8).

The beautifully creamy ball of burrata and dots of fiery spreadable sausage on Mrs G’s 'Nduja (£11) were lush too.

Dessert knocked it out of the park. A gloriously creamy, wobbly and vanilla-flecked panna cotta (£5) was topped with fragrant diced peaches and chopped pistachios.

We had a really tasty meal at Dusty Knuckle. It’s a stalwart of Cardiff’s independent restaurant scene for good reason.

The Details:

Address - Dusty Knuckle, 70 Llandaff Rd, Cardiff CF11 9NL
Web - http://www.dustyknuckle.co.uk/
Telephone - 07955 212075