Fire Island, Cardiff Barbecue review, food blog

Update - Fire Island has now closed down

Cardiff is currently experiencing the biggest glut of new restaurant openings in a long time.  Over the last few months we’ve had Double Super Happy, Chapel 1877, Viva Brazil, La Cuina, Hide ‘N’ Sea, The Lansdowne, Cosy Club, Bill’s, La Cha Cha and Bar 44 Penarth.  

However, the arrival which has had me salivating with anticipation more than one of Pavlov’s dogs is Fire Island. Their description, “Craft beer, cocktails, wood smoked BBQ & Grill”, sums up the reasons.

Barbecue has been one of the major UK food trends of 2012. However, it’s something I know chuff all about. And, more than any cooking style it inspires a geeky fanaticism - obscenely long cook times, mystery rubs, secret sauces, and exotic wood mixes are all part its complexity. So, if I drop any BBQ faux pas, I can only apologise.

Fire Island is located in the former Glamorgan County Council Staff Club on Westgate Street. They’ve done a cracking job with the renovation and the New York warehouse feel is right on point.

So too is the house beer, Tiny Rebel BeatBox American Pale Ale. And, it’s an exclusive to Fire Island

Fire Island’s launch menu is reassuringly short, with a clear focus on BBQ. We were told, it’s going to get bigger and will include desserts. I hope it doesn’t get too much bigger as it reads pretty well already. In spite of this, the addition of desserts will avoid the necessity of a post-lunch cream tea in future…

With Rhys “the bottomless pit” as my dining companion, we thought it would be ill-mannered not to order 2 mains each; the danger of this being our food was nearly delivered to a nearby table of 4.

According to our friendly waitress, Fire Island has both a hot & a cold smoker and they make their sauces from scratch. Neither she nor I can shed any more light on Fire Island’s barbecue process.

The ribs were good. A dark smoky crust surrounded the firm & moist flesh of both half racks of baby back pork ribs (£7.50) and pork spare ribs (£8.00). The slather of sticky, sweet and tangy barbecue sauce also had us reaching for a forest’s worth of wet wipes. However, a portion of 4 ribs for £8 felt a little light.

Pulled pork (£7) was also delicious. Tender, lightly smoked shreds of pork were coated in some more barbecue style sauce. The generic crispy white roll did its contents a disservice.

Pretty much everything else can be described as a work in progress. Accompanying coleslaw and potato salad were light on flavour and seasoning.

Soft sweet potato wedges (£2.50) served with a dollop sour cream were highly troughable but needed a good crisping up and a shake of salt.

The biggest disappointment was saved for beef brisket slow cooked in Beatbox A.P.A (£8). It looked and tasted a bit school dinner; the slow cooking process imparting neither flavour nor tenderness.

So, how to sum our experience at Fire Island? Whilst lunch was hit and miss, the headline act (the ribs) were rather good. In fact, the prospect of a whole rack and a pint of Tiny Rebel is pretty tempting. It’s just the other details that need to get sorted as this new restaurant beds in.

The details:

Address - Corner of Westgate and Quay Street

The Kings Arms, Pentyrch, Restaurant Review

As soon as 1^st December arrives, as far as I’m concerned, the month long festivities of Fatmas officially begin. The ritual consumption of mince pies, trimmings, chocolate, gravy, cake and meat lasts for 31 days and 31 nights.

In order to kick off the festive season in style, Mrs G and I visited the Kings Arms, Pentyrch to sample their Christmas menu.

I can’t think of a better exemplar of a country pub than the Kings Arms. Rather awesome Otley Ales are on tap, service is warm and friendly, the pub is divided into intimate rooms where you can cosy up by the fireside, and traffic permitting it’s only a fifteen minute drive from our house in Cardiff.

I began the meal by maintaining my 100% cracker win record for the last 5 years (if you want the secret drop me an email).

I then moved onto some gargantuan arancini. A crisp exterior gave way to a cheesy, herby but slightly dense risotto. A fiery red chilli crème fraiche and watercress salad provided an excellent counterpoint.

Mrs G opted for a very well balanced sweet potato, squash and coconut soup. It was earthy, creamy, peppery and sweet in equal measure.

For the main Fatmas event, Mrs G and I both opted for a roast dinner with all the trimmings. Mrs G ordered Welsh turkey breast whilst I had silverside of Breconshire beef. Both the aesthetically pleasing, epic-sized dishes were good but not without fault.

Whilst both meats were very were well flavoured, my beef was served well done and was consequently a touch on the dry side. Meaty sage and onion stuffing, crisp Yorkshire pudding, sweet red cabbage, new potatoes and buttered romanesco cauliflower were all major plusses. However, the shortcomings were slightly bland yet enjoyably thick gravy, un-crisp roast potatoes and overdone carrots.

Mrs G finished the meal with an excellent lemon and lime tartlet. Superb crisp pastry contained a runny, fragrant citrus curd. Whilst the clotted cream was a welcome addition, a chocolate coulis threatened to unbalance the dish.

For dessert I ordered a chestnut and whisky cheesecake, subtly flavoured with just the right amount of booze and nuts. Accompanying crystallised ginger added some Winter warmth. The very good pudding was let down by an all too familiar soggy biscuit bottom.

As far as Christmas menus go, the Kings Arms’ offering of £22.50 for 3 courses is rather good value. Furthermore, whilst the mandatory turkey with trimmings and Christmas pudding are all present and correct, there are a few less obvious dishes available which steer the menu away from clichéd chicken liver chocolate parfait bombe territory. 

Food was kindly provided free of charge by The Kings Arms

The details:
Address - Kings Arms, Church Road, Pentyrch, Cardiff, CF15 9QF
Telephone - 02920 890202
Web - http://www.kingsarmspentyrch.co.uk