Times are tough for pretty much everybody at the moment, with the hospitality trade getting it both barrels. Costs are increasing (pretty remorsely, despite what the official figures may say) and income is being adversely affected by a lack of spending power from hard pressed punters.

An empty restaurant is a sad thing indeed and sadder when you think of the cost of staff, ingredients, energy etc. all having to be met with no income that serves to offset such cost.

As such, restaurant are having to be a bit more inventive in terms of their offerings to get the punters in, especially at those traditionally quiet times. Not being on a fixed income myself, as a self employed contractor/small business owner, I appreciate the stresses and strains of the quiet times, with the (rather than enjoying some well earned, but unpaid, leave) lingered fear that it won’t pick up (you then get ridiculously busy and wish it would all calm down a bit). Having things at least ticking over keeps the mind occupied, as well as the bank balance in the black.

This brings me to Nook in the Victoria Park burb of Cardiff. It is a place I have reviewed before, but I think it is good to revisit and re-review places, especially when they do something new.

A heart felt post, last month on Instagram (not really my favourite medium, food wise, as everything seems to be “Cooked to perfection, melt in the mouth, amaaaaaaazing and to die for!!! It is free, right?” – very odd to me the use of “to die for” with food, I mean what from botulism?) summed up the perilous state of affairs

with a lack of bookings and idiotic decisions from our (increasingly economically illiterate and appearing to be incapable of understanding that a higher percentage of less can gives you a smaller sum than a lower percentage of more) Lords and Masters (at various levels) in terms of lowering  business rates relief in the sector (in Wales) and keeping VAT for hospitality at (the frankly unsustainable) 20% rate (nationally).

Despite these trials and tribulations (and sister restaurant Kindle having called it a day), Nook are still fighting the good fight and trying stuff to bring in the punters.

One such offer is a rather fine sounding £10 for a bao and a glass of wine,

during the often slack time before gearing up for the 19.00 rush.

I actually think 17.30 is a pretty good time for swift glass of wine and I like to snack when I drink, so adding a bao to the equation can never be a bad thing.

The bao menu offers both veggie (Nook is one of the few placed where carnivore me is happy to take the non meat option) and meat.

After no little indecision I settled on going for two, with a view to having both the white and a red wines so as to take full advantage of the offer.

First up was the Korean fried chicken number.

Nice fluffy bao, with that pleasing touch of bao bounce to the texture, hugging a behemoth bit of fried (Korean style, presumably South rather than North, with the latter style probably currently dry unfried grass) chicken. Fair bit of heat here from both the cooking process (I burnt my mouth being greedy) and the raw chillies and gochujang imbued coating. Nice citrus freshness from the coriander, a bit of allium zing from the spring onions and a sweet nuttiness from the sesame seeds all added nicely to the mix.

Enjoyed this, with the only issue being the coating was a tad too thick. I would also add that it’s far from a beard friendly thing to eat.

The deal includes a glass of house white or red (the Macabeo, white, and tempranillo, red).

The white was a decent drop,  with a nice refreshing acidity and lingering citrus notes. Slightly overpowered, perhaps, by the spice and heat of the fried chicken bao (the gruner vetliner on the list may well have coped with both a bit better, I suspect, with gruner generally being my go to wine for spicey food).

Next up was a veggie bao, in the form of a satay king oyster mushroom.

Nice crisp (and gratifyingly thin) batter, with the mushroom having quite a meaty hit to it. Could have done with a bit more of the rather good satay sauce, if I was being picky. Still very moreish.

I opted for the house red (tempranillo) with this

Again a pleasing drop, with ripe, yet refreshing, red fruit. Little, if any, oak here (being, I would posit, a joven wine) and soft tannins, so it all worked quite well with the lesser spice level (as against the chicken number) of the satay mushroom bao.

As I am a pig, with a belly to maintain, I had a final bao (outside of the “with wine” offer, so £6) and it was rather fittingly in the form of the hoisin pork belly one.

Nice tender pork, with a good fat to lean ratio, a tangy sweetness from the hoisin and a touch of chilli heat. Crushed peanuts and spring onions added a welcome bit of textural contrast.

I think this, impulse bao, was my favourite of the three I tried 

The verdict

Good deal this, with well flavoured baos and decent wine all for a tenner. I often forget about this place, but this is definitely the sort of offer that should be drawing the punters in.

As an aside, this would fit perfectly with the Cardiff Wine Passport (with a summer one on the way I believe). I mused last year that it would be good for the passport to be extended to the burbs and this place is right by a bus stop, so would make for a good start before venturing into town (same with Moura up the road). With both being located in Hungry City Hippy‘s (who came up with the Passport in the first place) home patch, it seems a bit of no brainer to me.

The wider menu is, of course, available.

The sweet potato gyoza is particularly good,

unless you have a nut allergy (in which case it probably will be “to die for“).

If you can, maybe visit one or indeed more of your local restaurants soon. I bet you would miss them if they were gone.

The details

Address: 587 Cowbridge Rd E, Cardiff CF5 1BE

Website: https://www.nookcardiff.co.uk/:https://www.nookcardiff.co.uk/

This bao and glass of wine offer is on from Wednesday to Saturday between 17.30 – 18.30.