I tend to think Mrs. SF and I are soul mates whereas she often seems to find me about as palatable as a shoe insole!
Funnily enough, we bought each other the exact same Valentine’s card, albeit from rather different perspectives!
Cursory research (I mean is there any other kind on this blog?😂) suggests Valentine’s Day is a bastardisation of the Roman festival of Lupercalia, which took place in mid-February to celebrated the coming of spring. It included the (not) very romantic custom of pairing off women with men by lottery (a sort of Roman Blinds Date).
We tend to shy away from Valentine’s Day (VD) events. I find it, all too often, an excuse to ramp up the prices and ramp down the quality. Mrs. SF, on the other hand, hates a fuss being made and thus tends to shy away from anything that encourages me to do so.
As to fuss, one of my gripes with VD is who is going to create a fuss when presented with mediocre food on that day. Most people if disappointed on the day are more than likely to give a mere “Yes that was fine thank you” (not wanting to ruin the mood) to the generic overpriced shxte they have just eaten off of the chain restaurant’s “It’s your special day” menu (if music be the food of love, what be the £10 supplement for the only main you want on the already overpriced “fixed price” menu, the food of cheers suckers me thinks).
Personally I think it was all invented by avaricious card manufacturers and florists to drum up business with romance (other than a love of money) the last thing on their minds.
Regardless it is an important event (bit of a bugger for them that it was on the usually busy Friday this year mind) in the beleaguered hospitality industry’s calender (after the usually hollow month of BloodyhellIamskintanuary, compounded by Dryanuary and Veguanary – bloody stupid month to do either in in my view) and when I saw Grady Atkins (now lading things catering wise at “the on my doorstep” Insole Court) had put together a rather interesting and not silly money (£55) 5 course menu at the Potting Shed
for the day
my cold as liquid helium heart melted a tad and I booked us in. We added some friends, so Mrs. SF didn’t have to talk to me too much (who says romance is dead)!
Certainly helped that it is on my doorstep, with no need for a cab when everyone else also needs one (uber algorithm goes 🤑🤑🤑)!
Even better I asked about corkage (always worth a punt for these types of events) and the response of £10 per bottle had me in a very jovial mood, as I love a mooch in the wine room/cupboard to find suitable bottles to pair (usually ones that I have forgotten about and need drinking).
The food
First up was a paipuette of sole
and boy was it a moby dick portion (a theme of this meal). Lovely cook to the fulsome fillet of sole and a rich sauce tempered by a pleasing lick of acidity and a nice allium kick from copious amounts of chive.
A beetroot dish was a right Bobby Dazzler,
with a new one for me in the form of dehydrated beetroot. Slightly chewy in texture (almost akin to that of a dried apricot), the dehydration process really amped up the innate beetroot flavours.
The beetroot was nicely complimented by whole hazelnuts (providing a nice textural and flavour contrast) and a warmly spiced curry sauce. Nice crisp (brik?) pastry and peppery nasturtium leaves made for a very fine dish.
I really, really liked this dish.
Next up was a Jerusalem artichoke number.
A nicely warming and thick veloute with a pleasing sweet nuttiness from the chokes and just a hint of vanilla in the background. The whole pieces of the artichoke, cooked down to an almost fudgy sweetness, added nicely to the mix.
Nice touch that the Jerusalem artichokes came from the onsite veg. gardens.
Mrs. SF can’t eat Jerusalem artichokes, so with advance warning a spinach veloute was the substitute, which she enjoyed.
The “soup”/veloute came with duck buns, with the buns scone like in appearance but much lighter in texture.
The duck was confit’d (I would hazard a guess) and shredded into a sort of rillettes affair, with a nice level of seasoning and that lovely rich fattiness you get from duck.
My slight quibble with this dish was it seemed to be two rather disparate dish. Both very nice, but perhaps not quite sitting together. The bread, for instance, would have been ideal to dip in the soup, but not with the duck in it. Personally, I would have made these as two distinct courses and, in reality, that was how we ate (6 for the price of 5) and enjoyed them.
The main course was an intriguing dish of venison, with shaved raw cabbage and confit white onion (burnt pear is in the menu description too).
Lovely cook to the venison, which had a charred exterior and a ruby red interior. A mix of smoke and mild gaminess made for a compelling combo. The confit onion half gave a allium hit without any astingency and the raw cabbage a freshness as against the richer elements of the dish. A nutty potato was just the right side of firm and a nicely glossy and gamey sauce complimented the meat, although Mrs.SF felt there was a bit too much of it. I disagreed, with my only issue being my inability to discern the burn pear.
On to puds, I am a sucker for Baron Bigod (my dyspraxic brain can only seemingly see it as Baron Bigot – the raciest of cheeses) and what came was a nicely ripe, oosing, slab of his Lordship with a hint of shroom to the rather lovely creaminess.
Nice to see a decent amount of accompanying homemade crackers and bread to put it on (always irrates me when places are tight with the crackers and you still have cheese left and nothing to put it on). A refreshing (rather than sugar loaded) fruit chutney/almost salsa affair on tbe side was a welcome addition.
Can’t say much about the other dessert as I didn’t have it and Mrs SF tends to zealously guard her food choices from any attempted fork/spoon incursions from me.
Certainly looked nice and she said it tasted very good, with the rose evident (too much of it just overpowers), without dominating in the creme anglese, a silky, creamy and rich chocolate cremeaux and a good (i.e. not dry) sponge with a nice level of pistachio all seemed to rather please those that choose it. Whilst I loved my bigod, I did have slight pangs of regret in not ordering this.
The drinks
On the booze front, we took advantage of the very reasonable corkage offer and first up was a Ribera Sacra (Galicia in North West Spain) white (a blend of predominately godello, with albarino and dona blanco in the mix).
Very minerally, with a nice refreshing level of citrus driven acidity as well as a touch of stone fruit sweetness. Worked very well with the sole and the beetroot dishes
Next up was a Puglian negramono wine, which is passito style wine (grapes dried in the sun of the vine on mats)
Big bruiser (dare I say a pugilist) of wine this, with black cherry fruit, cassis and tobacco on the nose. On the palate, it was opulent without being too rich or boozy. Good with the venison and cheese (slightly overpowered the duck).
The other wine was an absolute corker, being an old vintage (1994 was an “excelente” vintage in Rioja) from the ever reliable Bodega Muga in La Rioja Alta.
Lovely example of how well wines made from the tempranillo grape can age, with a lovely nose which managed to combine sweet, sour, savoury and floral notes. On the palate the fruit (predominately red berries) was still in there, with tertiary meaty notes coming through and taking the lead. It still had a refreshing level of acidity and a lovely length, with it staying on the palate for a pleasingly long time.
Really top notch rioja this (second bottle of it I had this Feb and with food this second time it was even better, just wish had more of it as still has stuff left in the tank maturity wise) and I enjoyed it very much with the venison and the cheese.
The verdict
I have always highly rated Grady Atkins’ cooking and I very much enjoyed this event of which I hope there will be many to come.
My only criticism (which may sound odd to some) is that the undoubted generosity of portion sizes made for a hefty meal over 5 courses. Of course, for many, this may be a positive boon. Mrs. SF was perhaps just a bit too full after all five courses and even I (as a full on glutton) thought well that was a big meal. Certainly, I can’t quibble as to value for money on that basis that is for sure.
If you are looking for a Mothers Day venue then that is the next event at the Potting Shed and it looks rather fine (shame we are away, as looks fab).
With these pop ups, it all makes for interesting times (food wise) at Insole Court, with in-house catering for events there (great place to have a wedding/party, with some lovely rooms for events) including an in-house bakery (with that also supplying baked goods to the Potting Shed).
I believe the intention going forward is to source (as much as is possible) veg from the onsite garden. Can’t get fresher than that can you and certainly lowers those food miles.
I really must pop in for lunch there more often!
The details
Address: Potting Shed, Insole Court, Fairwater Rd, Cardiff CF5 2LN
Soliciting Flavours 