I always like to see a café menu referring  to “all day” rather then the ubiquitous “brunch” and thus I was somewhat swayed by the online menu at the rather swish looking Park Side Coffee and Kitchen in the affluent Cyncoed/Lakeside burb of Cardiff.

I equally hate seeing headlines like “Dubai style all day brunch, with cocktails, comes to Cardiff“- I mean can you actually have brunch past lunch based on it being an amalgamation of breakfast and lunch and  post lunch surely it becomes “linner“? Also the Yanks were doing boozy brunches in the 1930s (with mimosas, bloody Mary’s, bellinis) when Dubai was hardly even a backwater (oil not being discovered in the UAE until the 1950s), let alone a place with a myriad of swanky hotels serving boozy brunches.

Located on Clearwater Way (with State of Love and Trust, on that strip, already a firm favourite of mine), Park Side Coffee and Kitchen is the latest expansion on that strip of the Fire and Wine Group (along with Ballers and Bodega).

It is certainly a big old space,

with it having quite an airy feel. It progressively filled up as I ate my lunch.

The all day menu in the place

was frustratingly somewhat different from that online on their website. I know places have specials and change their menus periodically, but it just seems a bit lazy not to have the most up to date menu on the website. I am about as far from a tech wizz as is possible, but I am pretty sure it is not that difficult to update websites (which can be done at the same time as the new menu comes back from the printers surely).

I had rather set my heart on either the ham hock hash or the (now sadly rarely seen these days) kedgeree on the online menu, with me loving the smoked haddock and curry combo, on the online menu. The use of brown rice rather tempered my disappointment, as to the kedgeree’s  absence. I mean why do South Asian people, who eat rice all the time almost universally shun the brown stuff? I tell you why, because it’s bloody horrid that’s why.

The preferred online options off the table, I toyed with the idea of the buttermilk chicken and waffle or the steak and eggs, but spied brisket on the menu.

Now brisket is, I think, a good dish to judge a place on. A tricky cut to cook, as it can be tough as old boots and dry as a sandbox if not done right. Get it right and you have a juicy, tender, full on flavoured delight.

Here the choice was between the brisket bun and brisket mac and cheese. The latter was deemed by me to be too rich for my gallbladderless digestive system at lunchtime and thus the brisket bun it was (a not inexpensive £17).

What arrived was a behemoth in a bun, with what looked like a mini roasting joint bulging out of its bun bikini.

The outer crust  promised much, with the darkness of hue suggesting caramelised delights.

Sadly my initial joy at the size and hue was tempered by having to extract a large piece of string from my gob as I took my first bit into it

It didn’t effect the flavour (more on that in a mo), but it really shouldn’t have been there!

On to the flavour, once I got passed the rather miserly bbq sauce (decent flavour and smokiness to it, but nowhere near enough of it) the brisket itself was oddly devoid of flavour and quite underseasoned.

In its defence is was tender and not dried out, but with brisket, you expect a bit of good old fashion, fatty, beefy flavour  

If I had eaten this blindfolded I am not sure my jaded palate would have identified it as beef. The string was not far off being the tastiest bit.

Oddly, bearing in mind the lack of seasoning to the beef, the rosemary and  sea salt fries were wildly overseasoned.

Now I am not adverse to liberal seasoning, but these were more like dead sea salt fries to be honest and there was no much (if any) of the advertised rosemary flavour in evidence.

The fries/chips were actually nicely crisp, with some pleasing gnarly edges, but were marred by just way too much salt (and I am a salt fiend).

The apple and chicory slaw had a nice freshness to it,

but included what appeared to be soggy bread (why, I am not sure). Crunchy croutons I get, but soggy bread I don’t. Take that out and would have been very nice, but with it in there it gave it a rather weird pappy texture.

Drinks wise,

the wines seem to have a Spanish bias (no doubt linked to Bodega next door) and prices don’t seem too bad. The Tinto Bodegas Maximo retails for a £10 a bottle, so £8 for a 175ml glass is not totally horrendous by the UK standards (get you a lynch mob in Spain mind).

Do find it odd that a pint of beer/cider is £6.50/£6.75 and a half is £3.5/3.75. I mean, why isn’t a half just half the price of a pint, especially if it is on draft? See it all time, but it hardly encourages responsible drinking.

I went for a coffee

and wished I had gone for a soft drink.

This was not because the coffee was not nice (it was), but rather the fries gave me a raging thirst and no water was brought to the table. I could have asked for some, with carafes on other tables after people presumably did, just not mine which I only belatedly noticed, but I personally don’t think I should have to ask.

The place is dog friendly and no one batted an eyelid at Dick the Dog, who was on pretty much his best (mildly loony) behaviour.

He did walk into the glass panel by the sliding door mistakingly thinking (in his old age) it was the avenue to outdoors.

Verdict

Perhaps I chose badly, as what was delivered to other tables (eggs benny, shashuka, steak and eggs, breakfast baps et al) all looked quite nice. Then again so did my brisket bab behemoth, but it did rather flatter to deceive and really should have come sans the strings attached (especially when it is in a bun, I mean you wouldn’t serve bone in chicken in a bun would you).

Bit underwhelmed by my brisket to be honest and think it would have benefited  from being broken down a bit with more sauce on the mix.

Perhaps just the wine shop (State of Love and Trust) next time I am in the area. I did go in there to have a  browse (love a wine browse) and bought a Saffer chenin (narrowly resisting the temptation of the Commado G Sierra del Gredos garnachas which they had in stock –  kudos for having them as they are tricky wines to get hold of these days) so not an entirely wasted trip.

Details

Website: https://www.parkside.kitchen/

Address: Unit 1 Clear Water Way, Cardiff CF23 6DZ