A long postponed catch up with a bunch of old work colleagues, all but one of whom has escaped under the razor wire (with Rachel the remaining one and now probably part of the furniture as she has been there so long having started when she was 6 as a chimney sweep before progressing to quill sharper, ink well filler and then finally to lawyer), took me to Hickmans bar and restaurant in Penarth.
I have driven past the place a few times, whilst taking the jalopy to Gimber Motors (very good and worth the hassle of getting to Penarth, which reminds me the jalopy needs a service – in effect making sure the single screw that prevents a complete collapse is tightened) and mused (as I did) as to whether it would be worth a visit.
Being the newish kid on the block in Penarth and my old boss saying it is always busy, I thought let’s give it a go and a table was duly booked.
On looking at the menu I spied rotisserie chicken and duck sharing dishes.
Now I love a properly done bit of rotisserie meat, with an uber crisp skin and thought if I can persuade Rachel to “share” with me I may get the lion’s share (hoping she would say “Well I am stuffed” after eating half a wing).
Looking at the menu (in advance) online, I thought it did have a few rather odd elements in that:
- Baby chowder sounds like something you have to clean off your shoulder after burping a baby!
- How can something made without any diary in it be cheese?
- Why is a duck breast (singular) £28, when a whole duck is only £35 and half a duck is £21?
I had already discounted the pie, as pictures I had seen online suggested it was nothing of the sort (being a puff pastry capping casserole). The parody skit on Instamaaaaaaazingram on the topic,
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFf4ByiJTet/?igsh=cGc3ZGI5MTQ5NWw4
is rather good on this heinous culinary crime, I have to say.
Having persuaded/conned Rachel into sharing the whole rotisserie chicken with me, the question was what to go for initially, with a choice of snacks and full blown starters.
I discounted the baby chowder and the chargilled savoy heart with smoked cashew “cheese” (for obvious reasons – see above) and was not that enthralled with the other, on the menu, starters. As such, I decided on the “seared” tuna special (a hefty £12)
Looked pretty and was a decent portion, but the tuna itself was quite bland lacking much, if any, flavour (a paucity of seasoning being one of a number of flavour – lacking – issues).
Also I think there was not enough fierce heat used in cooking it to allow for the creation of a proper external sear without overcooking the interior.
This resulted in a number of issues, with the lack of a proper sear to the exterior and the tuna interior being a tad overcooked (at least for my tastes). Adding the cooking issues to the blandness of flavour of the tuna resulting in me being less than enthused at my “special” choice.
Pickled carrot and a wasabi infused cream were nice, but overall this disappointed for the price tag.
Other starters ordered seemed more successful,
with the (£5) baby chowder (despite the adverse connotations from its name) being actually quite nice (lots of cockles in it and a pleasing creaminess without being unduly rich or gloppy), a French onion soup (£7) and an artichoke and anchovy (£9 – again a special) number (the latter being probably the pick of the bunch).
Didn’t take a picture of the miso and sesame pork belly dish ordered by the final one of our five. He seemed to enjoy it and it did look quite nice, causing me to curse my poor decision making in going for the tuna.
On to the mains,
the chicken was a robust portion (two legs, including 2 thighs, and two breasts, but oddly no wings – I mean what was Rachel going to eat) for £15 each, coming with a choice of two sauces/butter (we went mushroom sauce and a garlic and herb butter number) and two sides (included in the price).
The chicken was nicely juicy with a good flavour. The skin would have benefited from being a tad crisper but this was a minor criticism. As predicted (and planned), Rachel passed a good portion of her half onto me.
“Triple cooked” chips were nothing of the sort,
having barely had a single cook to my mind. Rather flaccid and missing, by a veritable country mile, that trademark crunch you get from a triple cooked chip (I make a mean one, if I say so myself, but concede it is all a bit of a faff), these tasted no better than your common or garden packet oven chips to me. Shame that and compounded by a lack of seasoning (there was salt and pepper pots on the table, but I like a good thwack of sea salt added to my chips by the kitchen rather than having to self apply from a unusual totally inadequate salt shaker).
A Caesar salad was much more successful,
with crisp lettuce nicely coated in a zippy dressing (not overdone quantity wise) with a good portion of anchovies and non soggy croutons in the mix. Tad more parmesan wouldn’t have gone amiss, but this was a pretty good salad that worked well as a side to the chicken.
As to the sauces/butters,
the mushroom sauce was nice with a good earthiness, whereas the garlic and herb butter (rather odd non-buttery/more set cream texture) was a bit light on both garlic (for my tastes, confirmed by Mrs. SF not complaining that I honked of the stuff when I got home) and discernible herb flavours (parsley maybe).
Two others in our party of 5 (down from 6 as one had seemingly caught elephantisias judging from the picture she sent with her regrets for not being able to make it due to a sprained ankle) went for the sharing rotisserie duck (£35).
Again looked a decent portion for the price tag (coming with 2 side and 2 sauces/butters) and both people who ordered it said it was nice.
Parmentier potatoes were more successful than the “Triple cooked” chips and the kale and carrots dish also got a thumbs up.
I do think they have missed a trick here in not having, underneath the rotating ducks and chickens on the rotisserie, potatoes basting in the fat and juices dripping off of the poultry. Have had these sort of taters in Spain before and they were fab.
Another oddity here was a request for a further half a duck was made, but we were told that the whole duck ordered was the last of the rotisserie ducks. Bearing in mind we sat down at 18.30 and ordered before 19.00 this suggested a lack of foresight in terms of getting stuff on the rotisserie. With it being a Friday night, I would have expected it to have been fully loaded up for the evening service.
He eventually settled on the fish and chips. Again no photo, as couldnt be arsed to stretch the phone camera that far over the table, but the fish looked nice (with a good batter). The chips, however, suffered the same not “triple cooked” fault as those that came with the chicken.
On to the puds, I was gassing too much to take a picture of the menu but I recall the choice being at tad limited.
I went for the orange posset (£8)
which had a good flavour. Texture wise I thought it was a bit off (being a bit too solid), with it feeling like it had been taken straight out of the fridge
The other dessert ordered was a sticky toffee pudding
Nice dish this, with the sponge not too dense, a good caramel sauce and a decent scope of vanilla ice-cream
On the booze front, on one look at the list, I would bet the farm in terms of guessing who supplies their wines.
In terms of said list, it has a reasonable (rather than capacious) selection of whites
reds
roses and fizz (no sherries, so far as I could tell, which is a shame).
In terms of pricing, the Pesquera Crianza 2021 (a Ribera del Duero) retails for around £25 so the £40 price tag here is very reasonable.
In terms of what we ordered, the majority requested a light white, which was fine by me with my seared tuna and chicken order.
I plumped for the picpoul de pinet on the list, with picpoul what I call an easy pleaser.
This retails at around the £12 mark, so the £33 price on the list is OK for the UK.
Nice zippy wine this, with lots of minerality and citrus and a touch of tropical fruit. Two bottles went down very easily.
The verdict
This is not top end dining, but nor are the prices (generally) top end.
Where they tried to take thinks up a notch they seemed to be less successsful, whereas the simple stuff like the rotisserie chicken was pretty well executed (chips aside) and good value.
As such I would say good, so long as you temper your expectations and order appropriately. More good pub grub then high end restaurant, which is perhaps reflective of the other pub venues in the Gastro Food group of which it is part.
Service was good and, with us having a nice chat and catch-up, it made for an enjoyable evening.The time really racing by.
It was very busy from around 19.00 onwards (bit loud, probably mostly me, for some in our party) and thus there is clearly a market for this sort of uncomplicated (but overall tasty) food in Penarth.
My advice is go for the rotisserie stuff rather than anything too fancy-schmancy and you will probably come away happy enough.
The details
Address: 38 Windsor Road, Penarth, CF64 1JJ.
Soliciting Flavours 