I have an on off love affair with al fresco dining. At its best, usually in a country with a less chaotic climate than our “fours seasons in one day” one, it can be a joy with the sun on your back and the aromas of cooking wafting over as you sip on something nicely chilled (not overly, we tend to drink white wine far too cold in this country and conversely red wine far too warm, with a lightly chilled red perfect for warmer evenings).
In the UK, however, it is far too often a battle in terms of getting the kagool on before the heavens open after you have spent the previous hour batting away marauding wasps whilst ingesting industrial levels of acrid smoke as someone cremates (yet still manages to undercook) a dayglo pink meat tube of dubious origins and offers you (a “we are not friends anymore” moment) a glass of polonium 210 (otherwise known as 19 Crimes – J once brought a bottle of it to the house and after kicking her out I texted her to thank her as I had realised I had actually run out of oven cleaner).
Obviously these days eating outside is even more perilous, with Met Office warnings of instant death if the mercury tops 27°c /80°f (it used to be called a nice day) if you aren’t in your cryo chamber/able to dehydrate/rehydrate “3 Body Problem – Trisolorian style”).
This brings me to Nook by the River, an annual outdoor revival of Nook, the restaurant that used to be on the site that Hiraeth now occupies.
It seems to be wildly popular, with it selling out its run last year in double quick time
This year’s seemed to be the same, with the only table I could get on my preferred date (which aligned with mine and J’s diaries – her’s considerably fuller than mine if truth be told and her often accusing me of making up fake friend to fill mine up, which I dispute as Bilbo, Smaug, Thorin Oakenshield and Gandalf are very common names in the UK) being 20.45.
Mrs. SF regards this sort of time as akin to eating in the dead of night, her seeming to now work on Florida time re evening meals, so passed. I, on the other hand, am OK with late eating (Spanish friends eat ridiculously late, such that we would rarely finish food prior to midnight before then venturing out for drinks and getting back in time to pick up fresh out of the oven bread from the local baker on the way home) so 20.45 it was (with the forecast set fair).
The setting is rather lovely, being by the River Taff as it takes a sharpish left through Llandaff, with a sail type affair shielding the dinners from the worst of any adverse conditions
and a beast on the BBQ
We were rather lucky with it being a fine summer evening, with the temperature just right and a gentle zephyr stirring the air and wafting over some rather alluring cooking smells.
All made for a very convivial setting and we were in good spirits as we sat down at our table after (possibly too many) prinks at mine
The menu is somewhat of a continuation of what Nook (bricks and mortar version) was known for, basically small plates and a couple of larger options,
which for an outdoor kitchen set up seemed potentially a tad ambitious to me (multiple tables all potentially ordering multiple variations of things at the same time seems to me to be the thing of kitchen nightmares).
Some nice sounding dishes, although (bearing in the pleasantly warm verging on hot June “we are all gonna die from heat stroke” date) I thought the Jansson’s temptation (a rich creamy potato dish, which is traditionally served in Nordic countries when it is cold so guest have something warming inside them on the chilly journey home), which came in a cast iron skillet/pot was a rather odd thing to put on. It was popular on the night mind, so what do I know!
With the barmy evening weather, we focusssed on the salad elements and started off with the roasted baby gem salad (£9).
Nicely crisp, tangy, fried pickles sat on smokey (from the fire) baby gem lettuce with a sharp Russian dressing and a pleasing hit of anis from plentiful frongs of dill. My issue with this dish was the lettuce had sort of lost its structure, releasing its innate wateriness thus making it a touch limp/wet lettuce in texture. Think the overall concept is a good one, but requires a touch less cook time on the lettuce.
Next up was a riff on the, beloved of 70s parties, classic waldorf salad (£9).
Nice sharpness to the green apples and juicy grapes bought acidity, with refreshing crisp celery, crunchy walnuts added to the lettuce. Whilst bountiful in quantity, the shavings/slices of Welsh black truffle were curiously devoid of flavour. The other slight issue was a lack of quantity in terms of the dressing on the dish.
I did think, when it arrived, the £9 price tag seemed low based on the liberal use of truffle. On, however, tasting the truffles it was probably priced about right.
Again good dish, with a few tweaks perhaps needed. Ditch the truffles and bit more of the dressing and to me it would have been bob on.
Suitably refreshed from our salads and a nice chilled glass of picpoul and garnacha blanco (both £8) respectively, we moved on to the hot stuff.
Tempting as the whole plaice was, we felt it a bit too much portion wise (with the lateness of the hour) and a bit faffy filleting wise (with us multiple bottles of wine in) thus went for the prawn toast/deconstructed prawn cocktail (£13).
Really good dish this. Plump juicy prawns, with head intact and thus brain juice still available for sucking out, sat on a prawn toast that actually lived up to its name and was a million miles from the insipid stuff you get in takeaways and in 3 for 2 supermarket Chinese food canapé offerings.
Not sure the crisp lettuce and cucumber added much to the mix, but a good marie rose (my dyspraxic brain refuses to see it other than as rose marie) sauce certainly did. Sharp, with a touch of tempering sweetness.
Very good dish this and I would happily had ordered another one.
Another veggie course came in the form of a corn and potato succotash (£8).
Crisp sweet kernels of corn (thankfully they didn’t call them ribs, which I hate) with just a touch of char to the kernels, nutty new pots and bountiful herbs worked very well together. My only quibble was I wish there had been more of it. Up the price a bit and the portion sized and I would have been really happy.
On to the meat and a sous vide pork number (£15).
Nicely cooked pork loin, which had been cooked low and slow in a sous vide to a beautiful tenderness and finished off on the flame adding a pleasant touch of woody smokiness. A punchy sauerkraut, American mustard and a fruity ketchup gave this dish an up market hotdog vibe (I vaguely recall being told the sous vide process here involved hotdog water).
With State of Love and Trust supplying the booze, I knew we were in good hands with a nicely judged and reasonably priced list. Great to seem a chilled red section and some lighter style reds on there.
I was torn between going Greek, with the white assystiko (£45 on the list, with it retailing at around the £21 mark) and the red xinomavro (again £40 on list here, with it around the £21 mark retail), or Spanish, with a couple of Sierra del Gredos garnacha wines.
In the end, I defaulted (as I all too often do) to Spain and the cheaper of the two Gredos numbers in the form of the Gre2 garnacha (£40 on the list here, with it around the £19 mark retail).
They served this lightly chilled and it was a lovely drop.
with fresh red berry fruits to the fore and a touch of spice and earthiness. Very refreshing and a million miles from the brooding boozy beasts that garnacha/grenache can produce (I have a Sardinian one in the wine room that is a whopping 16°).
Perfect wine for the barmy summer evening and the somewhat eclectic choice of dishes we ordered.
Verdict
The location, by the river in Llandaff, is rather bucolic and the pleasant setting and weather were well matched by the food and booze offering.
All in all it made for a very enjoyable evening and I actually had no problem with the the lateness of our sitting.
This is how al fresco dining should be done.
Value wise, we (two of us) were well fed and watered for £118 which I thought was very good value particularly with the booze we had.
I understand you can go along for just a drink and with the State of Love and Trust list it is well worth it even if you can’t get a table which you still can I believe if you are prepared to be a bit flexible with timings.
The details
Location: Llandaff Rowing Club, Bridge Street, Cardiff, CF5 2PT
Soliciting Flavours 