There are few things better than a tasty (usually, but not exclusively so, meat) filling encased in a good pastry case and the pastry case for Cardiff is, in my view, pretty strong with our savoury pastry  game in pretty fine fettle.

I have come across recently (darkened the door of) two newish (as least to me, I am always somewhat behind the curve – cheese cloth and seersucker are still in vogue right?!) savoury pastry slingers that add to the likes of Rees Family Butcher (the undisputed Cardiff pie king, if you disagree I regret to inform you you are simply wrong), Pettigrew, Ground, Grano, Brod and Ty Melin in Cardiff (savoury pastries rather than pies in a number of these mind).

One of these is in the city centre and the other is in the burb of Pontcanna (which according to estate agents now comprises of 14 time zones, pushing France with 12 into second place and Russia with 11 into third place).

Donald’s Coffee & Pies

Interesting spot on Quay Street, which seems to have had (during the many, many years I used to work in town) many, many tenants.

Close to the Millenium stadium (or what ever it is called these days, think it is “Whoever bungs us the most moolah” Stadium) and the Arms Park, there is some shrewd marketing in terms of selling pre and post game pies, as well as catering for the weekday office crowd and weekend shoppers and revellers.

I popped in on a Friday afternoon post the lunch time rush and it, seems based on the few pies still on offer (a load more were in the oven, but were 15 mins off being done), to have done a pretty brisk trade.

Luckily I managed to snaffle the last of the lamb and mint pies (with the only others still available being the surprise, surprise, veggie ones, with me putting on my uber smug face as the chap vehind we asked if any meat pies were left) and settled in with it into the rather austere interior (a bench around the wall and some very small tables which are just about big enough for a pie and a coffee but naught else).

Good looking pie this,

with a nicely glazed crust and a good level of filling once I pierced the lid.

Tender, tasty lamb was present in some abundance (a lack of the headline ingredient and to much filler is far too often a legitimate pie complaint, on top of my usual “That’s not a bloody pie” gripe when what is presented is a casserole with a pastry lid), with said lamb luxuriating in a rich, thick, gravy replete with mint. 

Bit like crisps, pies can all too often taste very little like their billing would suggest,  but here the lamb and mint came through in spades.

Despite being the last lamb pie standing,  so I assume it had been in the heating cabinet for a while, it had retained a very good level of heat. Not too hot to blister the mouth, but it had that nice rise of steam as I pieced the pastry lid

Good base too, with no soggy bottom, and a nice crispness overall to the pastry. I would imagine (as a pie eaten on the hoof by hand) it would hold its structural integrity pretty well.

They do decent coffee too, with a very acceptable cortado.

Only complaint here was a seeming lack of any prices on display.

My pie and coffee came in at over £8 (£8.35 I think), but I couldn’t tell you what proportion of that was the pie (the majority, I assume) and what was the coffee. Value of each is tricky to judge, as such, but overall the price was pretty fair bearing in mind the quality of the pie and of the coffee.

Cracklin with Oriel Jones

This is a reopening of the old Cegin Oriel unit in Pontcanna, this time a collaboration between Oriel Jones and Cracklin.

A short, but very sweet pie and sausage roll menu was on offer on my visit

with a rather fine looking display of said pies and sausage rolls.

First up was a log of a sausage roll, with a cracking pastry to pork ratio

Beautifully crisp pastry, with the anis from the fennel seeds on the top working really well with the encased pork.

The pork itself was a good texture (not to dense, but with structure i.e  not a smooth extruded paste) and was bob on with the seasoning.  Good caramelisation to the pork ends too.

Best sausage roll I have had in a long time and about as similar to a “limp dick” Greggs’ one as lump fish roe is to almas caviar.

In terms of a pie, all of which seem very well priced at £4, whilst tempted by the pork pie as I had bought a sausage roll already I though the veggie number (3 cheese, leek and potato – £4) was in order (not due to Veganuary as it is the same as all the other months where I eat a mix of veg and meat and I am not a nob – OK only one of those is true).

Good crisp pastry case, with a cheesy crust and a crisp bottom.

There was a bit of a cavity directly under the lid, filling wise, but the filling itself was rich with tangy cheese (camembert, stilton and cheddar), with a nice hit of alium sweetness from the buttery leeks, all bound together with soft yielding potato.

With all the cheese, saltiness could have been an issue here. Such a fear was unwarranted, as it was just right for my tastes on the seasoning front.

Despite the lack of meat, this was a rather good pie. I don’t normally like starch on starch (people who order chips with pizza should go to jail, with said jail housing Napoli Camora capos and foot soldiers, in my “non extreme” opinion), but I have no issue with a pie and potato combo. I mean, a meat pie just begs to sit on the lap of a pile of buttery mash. Here, the potato and pastry work equally well together, despite the taters being inside the pastry.

A subsequent visit had me try their very fine looking pork pies.

Nice crisp pasty (without the claggy inside layer often present is your common or garden pork pie).

A fulsomely meat interior came with a nice level of peppery spice and made for a fine pie. My only slight quibble was the lack of pork stock jelly, which I like in  pies (it’s presence being lacking may be a boon for many). This may have been due to it  still having having some heat left in it when I bought and when I ate it.

Bearing in mine the paltry £4  price tag, it was a some bargain to my mind.

Verdict

Two very good additions to Cardiff’s pastry game, with both offering excellent savoury pastry contoction.

Rees‘ steak pie remains (at least to me) the Cardiff benchmark, but these places offer pretty good alternatives and I would say the Cracklin sausage roll is one of the best, if not the best, in Cardiff currently.

Details

Donald’s Coffee and Pies

Address: 18-19 Quay St., Cardiff CF10 1EA.

Cracklin with Oriel Jones

Address:  221 Cathedral Road, Cardiff, CF11 9PP.