Tŷ Melin, Cardiff bakery delivery review

Cardiff has a new bakery with serious pedigree.

Tŷ Melin is owned by Lance Gardner and Angharad Conway whose CVs read like an A-list of some of Britain’s best bakeries.

Lance started his training under Richard Bertinet in Bath before heading up Harts Bakery in Bristol and Harrods Bakery in London. He’s also taught at Bread Ahead in Borough Market (the place which kicked off the trend for luxury doughnuts).

Wales-born Angharad started her career with Rick Stein before working for Hobbs House Bakery in the Cotswolds, in France as a pastry chef in a 4* hotel and has helped set up a number of UK artisan bakeries.

Most recently the couple ran Pavilion Bakery in Hackney before moving to Cardiff to set up Tŷ Melin Bakery in Splott.

Tŷ Melin sell exclusively through a once weekly delivery and have already outgrown their small manufacturing unit. They plan to find a bigger space in Cardiff where they can offer counter takeaways as well as continue to focus on deliveries across the city.

With a minimum spend of £15 including £3 delivery, we ordered a selection of goods on a Saturday and received a stylishly bundled socially-distanced delivery the following Friday. 

A beautifully bronzed beast of a sourdough (£3.50) was thin and crisp of crust with a light and airy crumb with a delicate tang.

It was lovely toasted and made into pan con tomate accompanied by Curado Bar olives and serrano ham.

A snow dusted craggy almond croissant (£2.80) was well-laminated and stuffed with a not too sweet, fragrant almond paste. With sugar syrup soaked into the bottom, it gave the pastry a compelling baklava effect.

Egg rich challah (£3.50) was soft and sweet of crumb. Best toasted in my book, I enjoyed it slathered with butter and Marmite. 

A whopper of a chocolate chip cookie (£2) was more chocolate chip than cookie. Crisp and squidgy it was jam-packed with rich chocolate pieces.

A cinnamon bun (£2.50) was all crisp whorls of croissant style pastry with a light and soft interior interlaced with seriously addictive sugar cinnamon mix. We warmed it up in the oven the day after it was delivered and it was still a first class piece of patisserie.

Lastly, a mountainous meringue was crisp on the outside and cloud-like fluff on the inside. White chocolate chips, some caramelised some not, added extra fun to proceedings. 

We were seriously impressed by everything we ate from Tŷ Melin. With this new opening, Cardiff has bagged itself another first-class bakery.

Update - 15/08/2020

Tŷ Melin have subsequently launched their signature croissant bomb™ (it’s got a trademark so you know it must be proper).

With a changing roster of flavours, they’re seriously bloody good. So good in fact, Tŷ Melin now offer weekly nationwide deliveries of them. 

A crisp sugary exterior with a good bit of chew surrounds light laminated pastry layers stuffed to the brim with filling. On paper it sounds like a cronut but they’re a lot lighter with more crunch. 

A thick vanilla-fragranced custard variety (£3.50) was superb.

Even better was a lemon meringue one (£3.50). Stuffed with tart and fragrant lemon curd and topped with a quiff of fluffy meringue, it was a compelling proposition.

If you didn’t already have reason enough to set your alarm for 9am on Saturday for a Tŷ Melin order, this should persuade you.

The Details:

Email - tymelinbakery@gmail.com

Web - https://www.tymelinbakery.com/

Telephone - 07714896367

Waroeng Nona and Sueperlicious Bakery, Indo-Malay street food delivery Cardiff

Waroeng Nona launched in Cardiff last weekend.

This Indonesian and Malaysian food delivery business is named after a Waroeng, a small family owned Indonesian restaurant or cafe. Nona is the name of the owner. So, Waroeng Nona.

Nona (Sindy) Spiesz moved to Cardiff from Indonesia in 2012 and has since worked as a chef in restaurants, hotels and street food stalls.

With Waroeng Nona she’s aiming to share her passion for Indo-Malay cooking using local produce.

Now, I’m incredibly ignorant when it comes to Indonesian cuisine and an ignorant enthusiast with regards to Malaysian cuisine. So, the arrival of Waroeng Nona gave me the opportunity to learn something new by eating lots of food; my kind of education.

An additional bonus is that Waroeng Nona are collaborating with Sueperlicious Bakery, a Cardiff-based Malaysian bakery who regularly appear at Riverside Market. So, you get two food vendors for the price of one - Indo-Malay street food and Malaysian sweet treats.

Much like other lockdown delivery companies, you pre-order via a form during the week (before 3pm on a Wednesday) with deliveries taking place on Fridays through to Sunday. There are three choices for starter, main and dessert and the option of a feast allowing you to choose any two of each course for £28. 

We opted for the latter and so managed to put two thirds of the menu through its paces. First, it’s worth noting how everything tastes properly homemade - from the use of whole spices which can be found scattered throughout the dishes to meat which tastes as though it’s been cooked with its sauce rather than added at the last minute. 

Golden, crisp and flaky Malaysian curry puffs were filled with a comforting, slightly sweet and well-spiced potato curry. I’m a big fan of curry puffs and these were crackers. 

Indonesian lumpia semarang resembled spring rolls but were stuffed with a lemongrass fragranced mix of minced beef, carrot and potato. The pastry didn’t stay quite as crisp on its journey as the curry puffs but they were still delicious. 

They were accompanied by a mix of lightly pickled crunchy vegetables and a dinky pot of tangy but not too sweet tamarind dip.

Both mains needed a quick blast in the microwave to bring them back up to temperature. But, I can’t fault the delivery time as our meal arrived bang on the start of our specified one hour delivery slot.

For main, Mama Jane’s chicken rendang was lush. Complex and earthy spiced with a compelling coconut twang, the well-reduced sauce was littered with tender dark flesh and potatoes with a bit of bite. 

Firecracker meatballs (bakso balado) also had a lovely depth of flavour - the coarse tomato-based sauce had a really nice level of chilli heat and the aroma of lemongrass and coriander. Beef and chicken meatballs were well-flavoured and tender but had a homogenous texture which may not be everyones’ cup of tea.

Two portions of fluffy rice were the ideal vehicle for the curries. 

Both of Suerperlicious’ vibrant pandan green desserts were pretty as a picture and well-fragranced with the sweet and floral tropical leaf.

The star of the two puds was a squidgy and chewy pandan blondie which was dotted with chunks of white chocolate and an ooze of indulgently salty caramel.

A crème brûlée tartlet saw silky coconut, citrus and pandan custard topped with a thin layer of caramelised sugar stuffed into a crisp shortcrust pastry case. It was lovely but would work even better as a bigger tart to increase the ratio of custard to pastry. 

We really enjoyed our dinner from Waroeng Nona and Sueperlicious Bakery. It's a well-priced delivery option which is distinctly different. If you’re craving spice-laden street food and lovely patisserie then it’s well worth an order.

The Details:

Web - 

https://www.facebook.com/cardiffhawker/

https://www.facebook.com/Sueperliciousbakery

Email - 

hello@sueperliciousbakery.co.uk

nonawaroeng@gmail.com