One of Dick the dog’s favourite places is the beach

and with favourable tide times we popped down to Newton Beach to stretch our and his little legs last weekend.

As summer drifts inexorably towards Autumn (in Maderia at the mo where the weather is very nice, but understand it a bit apocalyptic in UK currently), we were lucky with the weather

with a nice warm wind.

Don’t know about you lot, but I have rather enjoyed our good summer (or as the Met Office probably called it “Armageddon/Ragnarok“), having spent many pleasurable days in the sun (not working anything like full time certainly helps take advantage) without (much to my amazement) me or my house spontaneously combusting (I have,  however, managed to go a slightly lighter shade of blue) and I shall no doubt look back with fond memories (rather than horror) at the warm/hot and dry weather in dark and dank (get building that boat, Noah) winter months to come.

Having built up an appetite with a good 10,000 plus steps beach walk (still life in the old dog – talking about both Oscar aka Dick the dog and me), I decided a bit of (nothing too fancy) lunch on the way back was in order and Cobbles on the road to Ogmore by the sea rather fitted the bill, with a reputation for fulsome doorstep sarnies. As such, it seemed an ideal (door)stop on the way back from the beach.

The menu is all sarnies and a rather strange concept

(at least to me) of bronns (filled savoury scones apparently).

Lots of classic and interesting combos, I was tempted by the Reuben (is it one though, without proper salt beef and Swiss cheese in the mix) and was very nearly swayed by the keep it simple steak and cheese number.

As I had skipped breakfast, I settled on the relative simplicity of the Bacon, Egg and Tots ensemble (£10.00).

The ordering system is a good one, with the need to hang around by where you order alleviated by the use of buzzers signaling when your order is ready.

We sat in the very pleasant courtyard, 

as we waited for our buzzer to go off, but if the weather is less clement there is plenty of indoor space.

When the buzzer went off, what I picked was an absolute doorstep of a sarnie,

with a rather fulsome amount of filling.

The bread (white, with no poncey pumpernickel el al options on offer, although they surely risk being raided by Nanny State Sturmtruppens based on my  understanding that to the ruling Islington Set in the Capitol not using “artisan” sourdough made from a starter at least 75 years old, called Dough Calzone, is actually a  crime against “oh the humanity“, coming very high up on “the peasants are revolting” scale of offending someone) was lightly toasted, so there was a bit of a crunch to the interior but a soft yielding interior

The filling was very good, with a thick layer of creamy egg slathered onto crisp (but not nuked) bacon.

American cheese added a touch of tawdry tanginess and went well with a layer of  crispy crushed tatar tots. A welcome bit of greenery, in the form of rocket (my view is it would have been better with the more peppery watercress, which seems to have gone out of fashion having been almost entirely usurped by rocket these days), helped to cut all the richness.

Good sarnie this, which was easily big enough to share between two (which of course I didn’t do).

As I was ordering, I picked on some very moreish cookie piece samples on the counter (with sweet stuff and pastry stuff under it)

and thus had to buy one (£5.50)

As with the sarnie it was a big bugger, a positive cookie monster, with a cube of brownie on the top. Nice this, with a good squidgy interior and not being overly sweet.

Drinks wise, Mrs. SF had a flat white, which she said was very nice and I had a can of pop.

Can’t remember how much each were to be honest. There are a couple of beers on offer if you fancy booze and aren’t driving.

Worth noting the place is very dog friendly

which whilst for Oscar’s ultimate benefit rather non plussed the anti social bugger that he is (as in “How dare you bring me to a place that lets in other f’ffing dogs“).

If you don’t fancy a sarnie, then there is a chippie option as part of the set up

Menu looked pretty reasonable, I thought.

No idea as to quality, but the quality of my  sarnie would suggest it would be pretty good.

The Verdict

The sarnie (refuse to call it a sando mainly because it wasn’t, with the menu strapline of “Sandos  – NYC deli style sandwiches” a rather odd thing to say – bit like saying “Empanadas –  Greggs style pasties) I had here was really tasty and a real doorstop. I kept it relatively simple, but I am sure other options are equally as good as if you can nail (as they did) an egg and bacon sarnie you can progress happily to the next level.

Not cheap, but worth it I would say.  It made for a very worthwhile stop off for a doorstop on the way back from the beach.

The details

Website: https://www.facebook.com/share/19Ux5FBgSc/

Address: Tymaen Farm Buildings, Ogmore Rd, Ogmore-by-Sea, Bridgend CF32 0QP