Yes, I know I have blogged about this place before (more than once), but I love it and I also love a bit of cheekiness. This is particularly the case when the target is seemingly easy to satire in the form of the limited merits of “MinSixcule by Nico” (as heard from reliable sources), and SixbyHiraeth is a novel way to drum up business in that darkness of dark months (for hospitality) in the form of January.

Everyone is skint after the December splurge, there is the kick in the teeth to hospitality Dryanuary (why give up drinking for one month when you can just drink better stuff in moderation all year – I mean do people go on a bender on Saturday nights and then pat themselves on the back for not drinking Sunday mornings?!) and Vegaunary (if you are going to dedicate a month to eating veg wouldn’t it be an idea to have it in the Spring or the Summer when there is a plentiful supply of homegrown veggies, other than swede and sprouts, rather than stuff flown in from Chile and Peru).

I frankly, don’t give a shxt about either and would rather eat and drink (in moderation) well in January than self flagulate. As such, when Hiraeth announced their January six course taster at £40 a head (as SixbyHiraeth) I thought what an excellent idea to get the punters in in January and promptly booked it.

I had previously booked in for a late-ish Friday lunchtime with Mrs. SF and J, but pesky work got in the way. Mrs. SF and J went anyway and I was left to wallow in the misery of multiple IT issues while desperately trying to get a document out as against a very hard deadline.

Both of them came back slightly merry and singing the praises of each and every element of the meal, with no thought as to how this might just compounded my misery. Neither of them felt inclined to do anything to soften the blow of me being unable to go.

I decided at that point that I still definitely wanted to go (and Mrs. SF was game for a return visit) and thus we booked it for a Saturday lunch (taking away the risk of work getting in the way – as it happened, it was dead the next week which is what is known as “bloody typical“).

The menu is a lovely thing and a sort of Hiraeth greatest hits, with the likes of their cheese soup and chip butty on there (both of which I have eulogised about before on here or on X).

I usually shy away from wine pairings with tasters as when there is a few of you  it often makes more economic sense to choose a couple of suitable bottles to see you through). Here Mrs. S.F only wanted a glass or two, so I thought what the heck why not.

On the face of it the £40 pairing (their standard pairing price) was both very good value and suggestive of a rather interesting selection.

If you are a saddo like me and do the math, you will note that it comes out at 6.6666666 for each course and the same for each glass of wine. Six indeed.

As we were being seated I spied a Tio Pepe Una Palma fino on the board

and thought it would make a rather fine aperitif.

Bone dry, this had a lovely bready nose, with citrus and saline in the nasal mix and hazelnuts and green olive on the palate. 

Gratifyingly served in a proper glass, much to Mrs. SF’s relief as she is always embarrassed when I get vexed about  sherry being served in a doll’s house glasses.

Have to say this was a bit of a bargain at £6 (6 again) for a decent pour. It retails at about £18 for a 50cl bottle, so applying a very reasonable (for the UK) 2.5 x mark up gets you to £45 (£54 if applying tbe more standard 3 x mark up) for the bottle. Divide that by 5 (100ml pour – I would say here it was more) you get to £9 (£10.80 if apply 3 x) a glass even if applying straight line division per glass (few places do that).

As such, if you like a drop of good fino (mad if you don’t) this is a bit of a bargain!

Nicely invigorated by my fino, the first course soup arrived.

This soup was gorgeous, with an intense chicken stock base overlayed by nutty cheese, sweet caramelised onion and a zippy herbatiousness from a herb oil (dill I think). Superlative soup this.

This was paired with a Chilean cabernet sauvignon.

I enjoyed this wine, with nice cedar and pencil case aromas and blackcurrant on the palate, but can’t say I was entirely convinced as to having it with the cheese soup at the front end of the menu. Personally, I would have put the grüner veltliner or the white rioja or actually the Una Palma fino on the list in play at this early doors part of the game and a new world cab sauv was a bold choice at this juncture.

Next up was the chip butty and a lovely thing indeed it was.

Beautifully crisp (on the outside) potato sandwich with compressed and fried (in chicken fat I think) bread. Nice contrast of textures, with the crisp exterior and soft yielding interior. Bag loads of flavour too for what was basically bread and taters

It was all complimented by a fruity curry sauce. Not hot, but with a welcome tanginess to it.

Sophisticated and rather decadent, yet with homely foundations (which rather sums up Hiraeth).

The wine pairing here took me to Hungary (a wine country close to my heart with the wonderous Tokaji white wines, both sweet and dry, but I am less familiar with their reds)

with a blaufrankisch (60%), merlot, cab sav. (both 30%) blend. Looked older than its 6 years, I thought, with a bit of bricking on the rim.

Red cherry and a touch of spice on both the nose and palate, it worked well with the butty (cutting through the fat it was cooked in, without overpowering the dish).

The menu said the next course was a fish cake? To my mind it wasn’t any thing of the sort, but regardless it was a mighty fine bit of fish cookery.

A herb crust capped a beautifully cooked  bit of pearly white cod, just past translucent, with the fish sitting on a briney mound of cockles and a decent blob of silky smooth pomme puree (mash to plebs like me). A rich sauce dotted with herb oil complemented rather than overpowered the fish. Certainly not a cake, but I would happily eat this as a birthday treat in lieu of one!

An interesting Uruguayan albarino (new one on me, with me only having tried  Spanish and New Zealand Albarinos before) was the wine pairing here.

Lovely drop this, with stone fruit (peach and apricot) and a nice hit of refreshing citrus. Bit more stone fruit driven than a Spanish albarino, but none the worse for that. Cracking with this fish dish.

Welsh pastures and potato brought a rather fine (jussed up a bit) steak and chips number.

A nice bit of properly rested rump (much better flavour than snoozeville fillet) had a blushing pink interior (I would say just a tad over for my bloodthirsty tastes, I probably have Transylvanian blood in me, but fine for the 99% non vampiric elements of the populous).

The steak came with a silky smooth celeriac puree, topped with crushed pickled onion monster munch. Now this may seem a bit of a gimmick, but it actually worked very well. Added a welcome touch of aciditic piquancy to the proceedings (much in the way mustard does and how well does that go with beef). Touch of whimsy, no doubt, but not an unwelcome bit of play in this instance.

A good rich, but not overly reduced, jus  nicely complimented the beef.

Chips were big fat proper whoppers, cooked in beef tallow as all self respecting chips should be,

with crisp shells and soft interiors. Generously seasoned, a herb and garlic butter coating added to the very pleasing mix.

A Montsant wine (Catalonia in Spain), being an everybody’s in the pool blend of garnacha, carignan, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and tempranillo, was a welcome foil for the beef.

Nice drop this, with lots of dark fruits and a touch of pepper spice. Oak in the mix, but nicely intergrated.

The first of the two dessert course was a choux pastry affair,

filled with a good thwack of cinnimon in the Welsh cake ice cream and some rather fine boozy raisins and cream, as well as a whisky caramel which had the pleasant bits of whisky (dried fruit and a touch of vanilla) without the alcohol burn.

The “wine” pairing here was a low alcohol sparkling elderflower number.

As I am not a fan of either fizz or elderflower, this wasn’t for me.  I can see this as a refreshing summer drink, but not really as a pairing for this dessert. With the bun and cream here, I would have gone for muscat wine (maybe a Muscat des Beaumes de Venise or a Moscato d’Asti).

As for the glass, I like a coupe glass for fizz (on the infrequent instances when I drink it), can’t say I was that enamoured by the “trifle bowl” used here. Funky for a cocktail,  but not convinced as to use for fizz (maybe I am just a stick in the mud old fogey).

The final course was a really nice combo of fruity bara brith and a gooey soft cheese (perl wen?), with the rich creaminess of the cheese complimented by a bit of fermented honey.

A rather nice way to end the meal (food wise).

In terms of the wine pairing, I was back in clover with a tawny port from Kopke

Nice combo of  dried fruit and spice (predominately vanilla), which worked very well with both the cheese and the bara brith (amping up the dried fruit in it).

The verdict

Yes, I know I bang on about this place and have blog about it a few times already, but it is to me pretty much everything I want from a restaurant. Really good food, a well judged wine list and just a really nice feel to the place (which I can easily walk to).

The SixbyHiraeth has ended its run, but I would like to see it back next year. It is a great idea to get the punters in in the usually slow month of January and judging from the full dining room on my visit and Mrs. SF’s and J’ s earlier visit it worked a treat. I have no doubt those numerous punters will be back for the full Hiraeth taster (for the quality, still a steal at £65) and that cracking lunch deal.

This is my favourite place to eat in Cardiff at the moment. I would happily eat here every week. Mrs. SF and I have agreed to try and do so at least once a month in 2025 (which is undoubtedly going to be a rough one for hospitality).

The details

Address:  587 Cowbridge Road East, Victoria Park, Cardiff, CF5 1BE

Website : https://www.hiraethkitchen.com/