Unexpected lunch at Bar44 Cowbridge - food blog, restaurant review

On our way to Southerndown for an amazing coastal walk with my Mum and wife in tow (I am a lucky lucky man, they actually like each other) I tweeted asking for a suggestion for lunch and Bar 44 in Cowbridge came back. Initially we were heading to The Pelican in Her Piety but I've been wanting to try Bar44 for some time now as I love tapas, having been to Granada and Cordoba in recent years. Granada was a fantastic trip and the fact they give you free tapas with your first drink in most bars makes it even better.

Bar44 is located above Tesco express on Cowbridge high street, which is rather unfortunate, but has obviously overcome this on street presence as they have recently opened in Penarth.

As we were driving, alcohol was off the menu, which is a shame as the cocktail menu appeared to have a comprehensive list of classics, as well as their own interesting concoctions. We started off with just some simple bread and oil (£3.50). The olive oil is some of the tastiest I have ever tried and the addition of rock salt made it even more moreish. Soon to follow came seven dishes between three of us, as we chose off the menu del dia, which gives you a bargain 3 dishes for £10 or 6 for £18. Alternatively, you can choose off their normal menu or even the specials.

The chorizo in cider (£4.25) was just lovely. Thin slices of tender paprika pork sausage covered in reduced cider and oil - yum.

Lamb meatballs in tomato sauce were tasty but not quite as good as I've had elsewhere.

Fresh anchovies (Boquerones) in vinegar not oil (£4.25) allowed them to remain soft and milder in flavour and damn tasty. We love them but not everybody likes cold fish!

The classic Manchego cheese (£4) had a firm buttery texture and creamy sheep's milk tang to it and came with quince jelly and lightly toasted olive bread.

The pimento padrons were a request of my mum, not something I would have chosen. Apparently her favourite when on holiday in Spain. These are mini green peppers that have been pan fried and sprinkled with rock salt. Not my favourite but I did seem to eat quite a lot of them.

The cecina croquetas were stunning; crispy on the outside with a smoky air dried beef and creamy cheese filling. Some of the best we've ever come across and my wife's favourite; I was only allowed one!

Our last tapas dish came half way through ,the hake in San Miguel batter and saffron aioli. Unfortunately we devoured it before I could take a photo. Highly recommended as the batter was wonderfully light and crispy, the hake meaty and succulent, the saffron aioli delicately flavoured and not overpowered with garlic. Delicious!

Believe it or not we had desserts for lunch as well, much deserved I thought after a two hour walk. The Almond and Lemon cake served with lemon syrup and creme fraiche (£2.95) reminded me of eating marzipan a little but was delicately flavoured and definitely "a good bake". The deep fried mint leaf garnish was completely beyond me. Looked foul and should never have been allowed on the plate. The only real let down of the whole experience. For some reason it really annoyed me, more than it would do normally.

The cinnamon dusted churros with Pedro Ximenez (an amazing sweet dark dessert sherry) chocolate sauce (£3.95) were definitely the best I have ever come across. The doughnut batter was incredibly light and just melted in the mouth. I would personally have preferred a dark chocolate sauce as it would have contrasted wonderfully to the sweetness of the churros.

The service was polite and friendly although initially we weren't sure whether we were meant to order from the bar or our table, they did come and do table service. The rather poor stairway entrance to Bar 44 could do with a spruce up as could their toilets, as they let down what was a thoroughly good experience. If I hadn't known about them before I wouldn't be tempted to walk up that staircase to find out. Our bill came to £42.90 which included three coffees (£4.50) and a tea (£1.50). I felt that this was absolutely amazing value for the quality of the food and ingredients that we were served, and look forward to trying Bar44 in Penarth in the future.

Address: Bar 44, 44 High St, Cowbridge, CF71 7AG

Tel: 01446 776488

Website: www.bar44.co.uk

Closed on Monday nights

The New Conway, Pontcanna, food blog and restaurant review

The New Conway has established itself very well over the last four years as a good local gastro pub in Pontcanna and has certainly filled the void that is gastropub dining in Cardiff as a whole. So well done to its owners the Knife & Fork Ltd who also own Woods Brasserie (Cardiff Bay), The New Pilot (Penarth) and The Old Swan (Llantwit Major). I could probably list on one hand those pubs that truly live up to the title of gastropub in Cardiff, which is a shame considering the number of pubs we have. That's probably down to Brain's hold over the pubs in Cardiff, who I admit do good beer but on the whole do run of the mill food, although I understand that they are trying to change this at the moment as they have finally recognised that serving up bog standard pie and chips is no longer good enough across a diverse range of pubs in a multitude of socio-economic areas. Anyway I will be entertaining myself at a Brain's establishment in the near future to see how they are getting on!

Back to the New Conway. Its set in in the heart of Pontcanna for those of you who don't know it and in my experience normally hits the mark when it comes to the food. It is the only pub in Cardiff to gain an entry into the Michelin Pub Guide so they are definitely getting it right. After working a long stretch of night shifts I really couldn't muster the effort to get in the car and schlek across town to eat so decided on walking around the corner instead. I'm always a little hesitant to eat at the New Conway as sometimes I struggle to find something I want to eat and have sometimes been disappointed with my choices in the past. I put this down to the fact that they run a small kitchen with locally sourced ingredients and only prepare a limited amount of food for a small dining area and are always trying to experiment. So yes that is a good thing! Tremayne Haines, the Head Chef, can sometimes be a victim of his own experimentation, but on the whole produces great food at a good price.

The pub itself is small. The dining area is simple and modern, but at the same time cosy and warm just like a good pub should be. There is no table service so one orders everything at the bar and you choose what you are going to eat from a blackboard on the wall, slightly annoying but forgivable unless the bar is busy in, which case its really annoying. The New Conway rarely seems to have enough staff on to make your visit feel smooth and the manager (Phil Newbould) always seems to be running around, in a professional and hospitable manner. I do feel that he is a shining example of a hospitable and knowledgeable host and the New Conway are lucky to have him. No I don't know him, but have merely observed him ply his trade.

It took my wife and I a while to choose from the menu as it always does, the dishes never really jump out at me and I do have to think about what I want, that's probably a good thing though. We didn't try anything particularly adventurous but we wanted good ingredients, cooked well and ultimately provided comfort food, and I'm happy to say that is exactly what was delivered. Being exhausted we decided on no starter but dessert was definitely happening.

I chose the Calves Liver (£12.50) with bacon, onions, mashed potato and red wine jus. The calves liver was cooked to perfection, firm on the outside and a juicy medium rare on the inside - delicious and certainly put a smile on my face. In fact for me the whole dish was pretty much perfect and I don't say that very often. I can't remember the last time I ate mashed potato that was perfectly seasoned and suitably mashed. The butter, the seasoning and the smoothness of the mash just left me beaming and very much in food heaven; we don't really eat mash at home - not allowed the butter or the calories for that matter! I try to leave that for eating out. The calves liver came with two rashers of perfectly crisped streaky bacon, flavourful lardons, onions and red wine jus and a couple of pieces of kale. My only small criticism would be that I would have wanted more veg and really just seemed a poor token gesture. It would have been better altogether just to have left them off the plate and the bartenders recommend a side order of veg, which we had ordered. Just as well it turned out, lovely fresh vegetables perfectly cooked.

My wife went for their  special of the day BBQ pork ribs and chips (£9.00). Oh yes! They were fabulous. On arrival at the table my wife and I just smiled and said"Wow! They look great". We were hungry, and a pile of ribs smothered in BBQ sauce with chunky chips just looked like happiness on a plate. Fortunately they tasted as good as they looked. Plenty of ribs, good meat (although they could have been more tender) and spicy BBQ sauce, yum yum yum! The chips were good quality thick chunky and heavy and really hit the spot. My wife being the garlic fiend that she is ordered some aioli (garlic mayonnaise) to go with the chips and I have to say that for us it was rather lacking in garlic so for me was little disappointing, there again my wife pointed out that we do like more garlic than most. If a recipe asks for two bulbs we normally double it at least!



The manager brought us extra napkins and a finger bowl for the ribs, which were definitely needed and a nice touch. As I said before the manager was running around the pub flitting from bar service to food delivery and really could have done with one more member of staff for a smoother experience. We did have to wait about 25 minutes for our food and the kitchen buzzed the floor staff three times before they were able to get off the bar to get our food and it was a similar story for other diners. Good food is worth waiting for, but not because they don't have enough staff on. This is usually down to the owners who  limit the payroll on a weekly basis in order to make sure they make enough money. On the other hand maybe they were just a little busier than expected on a Wednesday night. If they could just be a little more prompt it would make the experience more enjoyable, their again table service would then make the whole experience a more expensive one as well! You get what you pay for.

Anyway on to dessert. We shared a dessert as we were starting to flag a little. Sticky toffee pudding  (£5.00) with dates and vanilla ice cream is fantastic, when its made properly, and we were not disappointed. The dessert was well presented, although I initially thought to myself, I want more sauce I was wrong! This dessert was so well balanced, soft light sponge littered with pieces of date, not too rich, was sublime. The toffee sauce again wasn't overly sweet and the vanilla ice cream matched the sticky toffee pudding so well that it lasted about two minutes. I couldn't help myself and my wife sensibly marked out her half before I completely devoured it. I have been known to finish a dessert within minutes; I don't share desserts very well, she blinks and its gone!



I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this visit to the New Conway and its probably the best meal that I have had there. The total bill came to £36.80 and included two pints of beer(£6.80). I left a tip of 10% as the staff and manager worked hard to ensure everybody was being looked after. Well worthy of its entry into the Michelin Pub Guide.

The New Conway
58 Conway Rd
Pontcanna
Cardiff
CF11 9NW

02920 224373

Opening Times: Sun 12pm-10.30pm, Mon-Thurs 12pm-11pm, Fri & Sat 12pm-12am

Web: http://knifeandforkfood.co.uk/conway