Jay Rayner once said… no, he’s definitely not the subject of the title. As the UK’s eminent restaurant critic, he often cited Cardiff as a place not to go to if you were in search of a fine dining experience.
Now, on the other hand, if you’re in search of chips, chains, and generally loading up for the alcoholic blowout… well, look no further!
But… he used to have one exception to the rule…
Located down in an old bank vault…
Well, who needs windows when the focus of your attention is on the vision of beauty laid out in front of you? Particularly when a great RiojaReserva is ready to whet your whistle… accompanied by a BlackPepperGnocchiwithTrufflesand Mushroom Sauce?
Forget looking out on the street… concentrate on that delicate suite of flavours that are performing a friendly assault on your taste buds. Sip some water, my friend, and clear your palate for further seduction.
Got the crabs? Never quite like the way this Italian influenced delight on the far side of that table will tickle places you didn’t expect to be disturbed. The Squid Ink & Brown Crab Ravioli is guaranteed to satisfy everything you’ve brought along for tantalising…
But wait… what’s that at the forefront of the picture? A pig that looks so much better in death than it ever did in life! Why, this is one porcine that lived a life determined to provide ultimate pleasure for its human recipient (and we’re not talking former UK Prime Ministers here!). 😉
Roastporkbelly, pig cheek, crackling that simply cracks with delight, and the ultimate in all-meat sausage action… quite the climactic experience. A dish to leave you snorting… maybe!
Until we speak again, The PottedPig provides that rare moment of tasting a few items on a short menu, but leaving you instantly wanting to try every other dish… just in case you’ve missed another of the ultimate experiences of joy.
Culinary Cardiff continues to challenge a historic reputation. A city with a taste for fast food and standard chain restaurants. It’s even widely recognised as the home of the street dedicated to ‘the chip’!
Other posts on this blog search for and support the many independent gastronomic delights the city has to offer. Now, it’s time to add the next entry… a place where Wales meets Spain. Step up Asador 44.
Quay Street may once have been the location where all manner of wines and foods could be offloaded directly from boats on the River Taff. That’s long ago, before a world-renowned rugby stadium was built on reclaimed land following a man-made rerouting of the river.
Nowadays, Quay Street is frequently close to water when the Cardiff weather is characteristically acquatic (i.e. often!). But good wines and foods can definitely still be found on this old thoroughfare by the discerning few who forsake the corporate pleasures of nearby St Mary Street.
A largely Spanish dominated wine list provided a wide selection (and price range) of the welcome Rioja grape, but the gaze was immediately arrested by the option of a ‘Paranormal’ Rioja. Would this be some kind of spiritual drinking experience? Perhaps it was an elaborate hoax giving the impression that there was wine in the bottle and we needed to use our powers of extrasensory perception while drinking from an empty glass. Well, I can report that it was a real and very ‘earthy’ version of a Rioja, somewhat lighter than the usual experience of this grape… but not that light that it became a supernatural experience!
As for the food, starters of grilled mackerel and grilled asparagus dishes were presented in the fashionable fine dining style… a possible means of drawing attention to the manufacture of the plate through acres of uninterrupted porcelain. However, both were mouth-wateringly good, and contrary to appearances contributed to a satisfying sense of fulfilment.
Neither of us were particularly drawn to what would be more Welsh-influenced plates of sirloin or rump steak. So, it’s a joint decision to go for the Welsh beef slow cooked and served up in a Spanish style… with beef infused rice and salsa verde. With a defined texture the meat performed that most satisfying of tricks by simply falling apart at the merest touch of the eating irons. Oh, and that Welsh influence with a Spanish twist also emerged through a tasty side of Olive Oil Chips… just dipping them in the beef was a taste not even Caroline Street can conjure up for its regular punters.
Until we speak again, England and France can continue their centuries old rivalry, but for Wales and Spain a fusion of love has been nicely set up at Asador 44!
Don’t be put off by a glimpse of the menu’s of the future… yes, technology is even invading the sensual pleasures of fine dining. No opportunities for a casual glance at a physical menu while passing by here… trust your instincts, sit down, and a digital menu will be provided. If you don’t like what you see simply get up and walk away… the staff won’t be offended, but you will have missed out on a wonderful treat!
For punters of an advanced age, when the waiter offers you a tablet its the menu… not to be mistaken for the cocktail you may be taking a few times a day under the care of your medical team!
But first, getting there… the location is Sorrento in southern Italy, and the final mode of travel is on foot through narrow tourist shopping alleyways. From the central square of Piazza Tasso take the narrow pedestrian Via San Cesario through to the even narrower Via Fuoro.
This destination requires that you ignore several other gastronomic temptations along the way. Just remember that patience rewards the brave as you arrive at the unpresupposing Fuoro 51… a restaurant and wine bar simply named by its number and the street!
An outside table is highly recommended for added people watching, though if you’re seeing people in your glass, you may have had one too many of the delicious local red wines…
Carpaccio sounds like something Italian car mechanics might do. In reality, it was invented in Venice in the 1960s as a way of presenting food very thinly sliced and raw. Put any preconceived food phobias to one side (you’re not in Japan after all!), and treat yourself to two of the most incredible apertisers…
The venisoncarpaccio is marinated in a spice mix, then smoked for added flavour, and served with purple fig sorbet, kefir, blueberries, and walnuts. This would definitely be part of my death-row final meal! By the way, that meal would have so many of my lifetime favourite courses I’ll be keeled over long before it was completed.
Then, in the interests of balance (specifically for BBC viewers), there is a mouthwatering swordfishcarpaccio, smoked, and served with toasted almonds, raspberry, and hibiscus. It’s my newfound belief that swordfish are queueing up off the Sorrento coast to be auditioned for this type of performance.
I need to make the statement of the obvious at this point… takeyourtime, you’ve entered into culinary heaven. But, when you’re ready for the main course, having spent hours distracted and meandering around that tablet, the animal kingdom provided a couple of simply delicious representatives in the form of a wildboarpasta dish, and a slow cooked vealcheek with the most delicate versions of mash. A shared side of roastedMediterraneanvegetables added more colour to the glorious palette of our table…
Until we speak again, it appears that hibiscus is not just that rare flavour you might find in tea! Vegetarians and vegans do come up with some interesting ideas… for enhancing proper food!
Done Pompei already? Or maybe looking for something equally entrancing but more compact and less overwhelmed by tourists? The shadow of Vesuvius casts you a choice… even if none were offered to so many local residents in AD 79!
The town of Erculano hosts the beautifully excavated Herculaneum. Experts have identified the different fates of Pompei and Herculaneum residents during the same disaster. The former were hit by ash and rocks while the latter were incinerated by molten mud slides. This matters because it underpins the different qualities of what’s preserved between the two sites.
At Pompei, you have a larger town with a sense of public spaces and private lives. Whereas Herculaneum is distinctively exhibiting a smaller, more intimate sense of private residence. On arriving at the site, you have the benefit of elevation to take in the panoramic view…
Getting down into the excavated ruins you initially experience very much the street view of the former bustling port…
But then there is the distinct detail that provides that home view of private lives lived in the shadow of what would become a short-lived terror…
But finally, there is the emotional view, what also distinguishes Herculaneum from Pompei… hundreds of preserved skeletons at the lowest level of the site portray a vision of the horror, as many residents attempted to shelter at the port side stores from the advancing mud that would engulf and ultimately preserve their remains…
Until we speak again, was that a perfectly preserved cat, or simply the chilled out undercarriage view?
Now, I’m sure there was a toilet around here somewhere!
Like many humans, fish present me with something of a personal dilemma… sometimes they can look so damn good, but alas, in the end, you just have to follow the lead of cats… and eat them. But, before you do, it helps to pay people who know how to present them for eating. This was certainly the least of our problems on a recent trip to southern Italy.
Take Naples, for example. It may well have been a city totally consumed by its recent football success as Italian champions for the first time since the Maradona infused party of 1990.
But not even that could diminish the opportunity for several acquatic species to leap onto our plates in search of a fulfilling end of life! Even if it was a wobbly table in a back street port district car park. Fried calamari, octopus, grilled calamari, fully tooled-up squid, and more docile looking swordfish were simply leaping off the menu to accompany the local white wine.
Taking a boat trip across the Bay of Naples around the Amalfi coast in order to maybe witness dinner in its more usual and natural habitat proved a futile challenge. Ultimately, the coastline is far too distracting.
In the end, it seems the best place to see these fellas is on a plate a few hundred metres above sea level. Ravello provided the ideal place to sample some more octopus. The location also provides breathtaking views out across a coast that could well be the starting point of your dinner’s own journey.
Meanwhile, a boat trip back around the peninsula to Sorrento offers plenty of man-made structures from which you may wish to indulge in dangling your ‘string on a stick’ trap for catching the more stupid of local fish.
While the adventurous were finding ways to source their own sustenance, we preferred to respect the more interesting and apertising welcome offered by a trinity of tuna, grilledcalamari, and swordfishpasta…
Until we speak again, carnivores need not worry. Should you drift on by the amazing coastline of southernItaly, you will be catered for with the same vigour and probably a collective sigh of relief from the local fish population!
OAP… bollocks. Even Juno would have recognised that the recent letter indicating eligibility for a State Pension was sent to the wrong address. In her estimation, her servant might be an idiot, but surely not an old idiot!
But, hold on… this getting old malarkey maybe isn’t so bad after all! It all depends on where you get to do it, I guess. You may have the misfortune to be in a damp sleeping bag spread out on the gravel floor of a farm out building, with a tractor tyre for a pillow. Hang on… that was a previous European tour in the destitute years of teenage invincibility after a never-ending Austrian thunderstorm somewhere near Saltzburg. Whoever said that was a welcoming country to visit?
Now that the seventh decade has reached its own middle age years, it’s time to welcome an unwelcome milestone with a bit more style! A villa apartment with a fabulous view will do…
Particularly if they make their own wine and olive oil!
Then, all that’s needed is a restaurant with great food and a table with one of the best views in the world…
Until we speak again, Ravello high above the Amalfi coast in SouthernItaly is as good as any place to set the tone for the older years.
Ah, this is more like it… so a couple of cats went to Bath!
At times, the sheer volume of tourist visitors to this internationally recognised city of historic and cultural heritage can be overwhelming. So, pick your timing for a visit carefully. Instructive street signage combined with an unusual welcome from a top-hatted bird might just help set a favourable tone!
But I’m sure what you, and millions of others, came for was undoubtedly a glimpse of the Royal Crescent. Always good to spend a few moments dreaming of what is and what can never be, I guess!
But climbing that hill while taking in a large dose of culture and history will surely require some sustenance. Maybe a chance to stretch the finances to indulge those fantasies of wealth. Well, fear not, award winning nosh is close to hand, not to ignore the tempting wine selection hidden behind the restaurant name… Corkage comes with great prior reviews, so let’s give it a look…
Amongst a wide range of liquid temptations, an enticing invitation from Puglia takes centre stage. With a little nudge from the wine waiter the more expensive vintage is ordered, in a nod to the opulent surroundings of this whole trip.
But the question is what to have with it? Maybe ‘spiced sweet potatoes with pickled red onion, lime and sumac yoghurt’ sounds a mystifying enough temptation. Then again, ‘frogslegs pan fried with grilled baby gem, lemon breadcrumbs and satay sauce’ would at least demonstrate the British openness to all things European, in the ongoing shambles of Brexitland. Then again, ‘colley fillet with wild rice, pan choi, tarragon hollandaise and chilli oil’ keeps swimming into vision. But the wine choice is red, so perhaps that ‘lamb rump with smoked mashed potato, roast parsnip and coffee jus’ is what’s really standing up to be counted here. But, wait a minute, ‘rabbit ragu with tagliatelle and mustard’ also comes hopping into view.
Decisions, decisions… with a further range of other tempting options putting up their hands for attention across a small but extraordinary menu. Then it comes to you… there is that most wondrous of phrases in the English language… ‘All of the above‘! And just then, you’re helpfully reminded that this restaurant does a small plates approach to dining. Not to be confused with tapas, no, not that small. Something that perfectly solves the ‘all of the above’ dilemma…
Such perfectly proportioned finery may even permit space to encourage surprise and more than a little admiration from a certain US based dessert aficionado. Why not bring on the burnt Basque cheesecake with mulled wine plums, garçon! After all, I’ve given in to more of these dessert temptations during this spring season than I have across the previous decade. However, I don’t think anything more than the world’s smallest spoonful of that chocolate affair, even with its rhubarb ganache, miso cream and crispy caramel, will pass these lips though.
Such a fine and delicate dining experience demands a post-meal walk; which is beautifully accommodated by this place of history and intrigue…
A comfortable place to rest is the next item on the itinerary, preferably with a seductive location for breakfast. Got that covered as well, as long as you’re not spooked by a strange equine companion closely observing you…
Until we speak again, perhaps there is a near perfect cappuccino to be found more easily than a recent US quest! Step forward Cortado, near Pulteney Bridge… and chill (return and repeat)!
Born on a bayou, emerging out of a swamp, frequently in the eye of a hurricane, situated between the mighty Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, largely lying at or below the natural water table, wondering when the levees will break… (there are quite a few ideas for songs here already!). But, why would anyone visit, let alone live, in a place like New Orleans?
The French came here and lay the foundations for a Quarter. The Spanish came here and added to the architectural diversity. Creoles and Cajuns emerged here bringing their separate and unique influences on the diversity of Louisiana cuisine, amongst many other characteristics. Africans were brought here and contributed so much to a culture of celebration, emanating from Congo Square (now part of Armstrong Park). And, the British came here looking to expand an empire only to be defeated by the combination of a local bureaucrat and a pirate (Andrew Jackson and Jean Lafitte)!
Jazz music was born here, and exported to the rest of America and beyond as a young Louis Armstrong followed in the footsteps of his early mentors. It continues to thrive through virtuosity in the Preservation Hall, the clubs and bars throughout the city, and street musicians and marches.
The range of cuisine alone, from diners to fine dining, takes up many accompanying posts on this blog. From shrimp & grits to turtle soup, from crawfish etouffee to seafood gumbo, from boudin sausage to beignets… leave your mental recipe book behind because this is a whole new language!
How do you capture the essence of such a complex city of people, history, architecture, food, and music? And I haven’t even started on the quaint old streetcars on St Charles Avenue, Steamboat Nachez on the Mississippi, or the voodoo influences and iconic above-ground cemeteries, that include the tombs of notables such as Marie Laveau (the Witch Queen of New Orleans).
Well, I guess I need to sit down and think about that over a tipple of something special. The French Quarter just happens to be the home of the cocktail, with Sazerac being established in a pharmacy by Antoine Peychaud in 1838 on Royal Street. If I were to distil the essence of New Orleans perhaps that’s it right there in a glass! Just make sure you have an expert like my good friend Tom Seay (follower of this blog) to perform the ritual of creating your drink!
Until we speak again, New Orleans is a melting pot of influences, ideas, atmosphere and experiences, of cultures, a complex range of local cuisines, the birthplace of great musical traditions. Depending on your personal tastes and who you are it’s a friendly and welcoming place. You can take it or leave it, because essentially…
New Orleans has always been a down and dirty in your face kinda place. Debauchery, moral corruption, and a sense of danger have been at the heart of the experience for nigh on 300 years. The food, the music, the people, the culture. It’s a marmite sort of place; you either love it or you don’t, there’s no in-between.
Then, there’s Gumbo… the official Louisiana State cuisine, which essentially refers to a stew. There isn’t just one kind of gumbo… it’s what you make of the experience. Likewise, New Orleans is what you want to make of the experience… but generally, it’s an open celebration of life.
For me, on a 5th visit, it’s looking for more of the new whilst hoping some of the best of the old is still there (post-Covid)! Maybe that’s why this visit can best be summed up as chocolatealligatorsinsearchofagoodcappuccino. Read on… it still probably won’t make any sense, like New Orleans… who knows? This determined looking guy had more than chocolate on his mind!
Finding a good cappuccino in the US, well… needles and haystacks come to mind. Cafe Beignet is an institution with new locations open across the city. They say certain things really should be tried before you die… then again, trying certain things may hasten on the demise. Believe me, the search for a good cappuccino doesn’t start here! And, as the powdered sugary topping of a deep fried coating of a tasteless gloop… this does take some beating. However, in the CafeBeignet v CafeduMonde debate (does such a challenge really trouble the world?), the latter plumbs even greater depths, in my opinion!
Surely, I could rely on my good friends at WhoDatCoffeeCafe…over in the Marigny district of the city, way off the usual tourist radar. They’ve always been my go-to place for a relatively good cappuccino, and the humorous welcome bodes well. Unfortunately for me, now they want to spoil the experience by insisting on plastic cups! What’s that about? The Rueben sandwich certainly demanded a better side.
Perhaps technology will provide the answer. Googling best cappuccino brings up the interesting sounding StreetcarCafe on St Charles Avenue. The promise did manage to beat the standard fayre so ubiquitous of anywheresville, but that’s a low bar. Then again, the experience did offer an opportunity to sample that strange (to us foreigners) breakfast of Biscuits & Gravy! Meanwhile, the search continues…
My erstwhile native US travel companion kept up her nearly 3-decades attempt to persuade me of the tempting and strangely sweet world of desserts… my resistance to which would be something Juno would be proud of. But, unbeknownst to me, this just maybe the gateway to good coffee… who’d have thought it?
On a planned stroll around the GardenDistrict, she witnessed what looked like a local chocolate emporium, and it just happened to come with a side of coffee making. Piety & Desire source and make their chocolate ingredients locally with loving detail. With such admirable principles, they also get their coffee from neighbouring fellow purveyors who happen to roast their own beans on site. Heaven, if it exists at all, can be found in strange and quiet quarters, and that delightful green piece of chocolate includes duck fat… but no alligator fat, apparently!!!
Fortified with chocolate… I mean a good cappuccino… I’m ready to take on a range of what this unbelievable city has to offer. I tried a few of those dreaded desserts (but the incriminating evidence that I actually enjoyed the experiences shall remain under wraps). In order to possibly satisfy my quirkier side, how about some art… galleried as only they can down in the Bywater district:
Alligators… chocolate or otherwise, on the Swamp Tour had a habit of showing as much interest in the floating can of people as we did of them:
Though, as the second photo suggests, some had already had their fill of cappuccino for the day… any later than 1.00 pm and rumour has it they don’t sleep as well at night!
Then again, peace and harmony along the Lafitte Greenway through Mid-City and Treme helps to burn off some of the inevitable calorie intake more usually associated with visiting almost anywhere in New Orleans:
Until we speak again, there was an obvious solution to any of us influenced enough by levels of alcohol consumption… at the tried and trusted AvenuePub on the wonderful St Charles Avenue… a Coffee Stout. The problem is that at 9.3 per cent, a few of these cause mobility issues… if you catch my drift. And, yes, please do catch my drift!
P.S. No alligators were hurt or injured in the making of this production! Chocolate, on the other hand, was consumed in a range of weird flavours!
Who said Cardiff was welcoming to visitors? Arriving at the Central railway station, these days, should you gaze in a particular direction, you might just get the city’s version of the middle finger salute! Though clearly it is coming from the brain, not the heart!
More likely, this is Brains Beers latter day middle finger salute to beer lovers.
It’s a shame really, because there was a time when the local Brains beers deserved the regular accolades and awards they received. Then came the end of the 20th century rush to corporate mediocrity. Whereby quality is sacrificed for quantity (of profits, that is).
The final site of the old brewery is about to become the centre of a new development… yet more of the planners fashion for identikit mixed use residential and commercial extravaganzas (if that’s the plural of an extravaganza?).
This will become the Central Quay, apparently… they’ve overplayed the number of quarters, with probably at least 5 in the central area of Cardiff. Whatever happened to simple mathematics in the corridors of municipal power these days? Anyway, it seems it’s time to move onto ‘quays’ instead… reuniting the city with its waterfront, so the blurb goes.
Until we speak again, feel free to raise a glass to waterfront reuniting, whatever that might entail. But, also to the demise of what was an award winning beer (albeit decades ago).
JUNO's VIEW 