With Hiraeth probably my go to restaurant in Cardiff at the moment, the problem I always had was if I got there a tad early there is nowhere even remotely nice to have a quick snifter.

On my last visit to Hiraeth (still knocking it out of the park), for lunch, afterwards

I popped next door to have a nose at the new place on the row in the form of the Welsh Cheese Company’s shop.

First impression suggested

it looked to be a good venue for pre dinner drinks (and nibbles) prior to a Hiraeth visit, as well as looking promising as a venue for a stand-alone visit.

I have said on many occasions that what the Victoria Park end of Cowbridge Road East desperately needed was a decent place to have a drink. There are a couple of pubs down that neck of the woods, but they aren’t great in my experience and thus I tend to shun them. When Anatoni’s closed, I mused that the vacant premise would make an ideal bottle shop and whilst the bottle shop idea did not come to fruition this new place seemed to be pretty much the next best thing with the benefits of an eat in food (cheese and charcuterie) and drink in wine by the glass and bottle option, as well as takeaway food and booze.

A quiet end to the week (work wise) led me to sack off on Friday afternoon (if truth be told I rarely work Friday afternoons or indeed Fridays at all) and thus made for a good excuse to go out for lunch to try out the new kid on the (Vic Park) block.

The menu centre on cheese and cheese and charcuterie boards

There is a cheese and wine pairing flight, but to be honest I find a 75ml pour a bit of a waste of time (unless I am at a tasting – a case of “I prefer to pay more for a decent pour“) and I wasn’t much fussed on 2 of the 3 wines on offer (low level Bordeaux is usually pretty grim in my experience, as is anything other than top notch –  i.e. expensive – prosecco).  The sauterne and blue (Per Las) would (not had the particular sauterne on offer here) be very nice suspect.

A more free form cheese option is available,

which I think would be perfect with a quick snifter glass of wine, but we were being lazy so handed over the choice of cheeses by going for the sharing Welsh cheeseboard from the main menu (£25).

which came with a positive cornicopia of extras, as well as bread (from, the on the same row, Pettigrew).

The cheeses choosen for use were:

• a nicely earthy Hafod cheddar, that was a million miles better than your common or garden cheddar;
• a fruity goat’s cheese called Sinodun Hill, which had a pleasingly yoghurty backnote;
• a Thelma Caerffili, which had a nicely crumbly texture and a delicate lemon flavour from the core and earthiness from the rind;
• a creamy blue,  I think they said it was Blue Wenault, which was reminiscent of a gorgonzola with a nice salty hit; and 
• a gooey Golden Cenarth, with a generous nuttiness (enjoyed it so much I bought some of it to take home).

It was nice to see a plentiful amount of good quality crackers (a personal bugbear of mine is when cheeseboards come with a miserly amount of crackers, so you are left with loads of cheese and no bloody crackers).

Grapes (big green one and small red one, the latter nicely sweet), dried fruit (dates and apricots), peppery radishes, briney cornichons and a good (and very generous portion wise) chutney all added nicely to the mix bringing saline, sweetness and acidity. 

The bread (despite being the ubiquitous sourdough) was nice and came with a proper amount of nicely salty butter.

The only thing on the cheeseboard that didn’t work (for me) were the waffles,

which were too sweet for my tastes.

We added (unnecessarily as the cheeseboard with bread included was more than big enough, probably for three) some olives, which again were a generous portion for the £4 price tag.

On the booze front, it is nice to see all the wines offered by the glass.

Not the most exciting selection (if I am honest), but it is always nice to see a manzanilla pasada (£9) on a list with a proper 125ml pour.

I am a sucker for a good manzanilla (including the more aged pasadas) and Hidelgo is a reliably good producer. Nice saline hit, with apple and almond, it would have benefited from being chilled (it wasn’t, even a bit). Just a touch oxidised, perhaps.

I moved on to a glass of the grillo siciliana (£6) which was just peachy (being quite peachy on the nose and palate) and chilled (was the manzanilla not being chilled an error or a conscious decision – if the latter it was very much the wrong decision).

J had the MC Excellens crianza (£10 a glass). She said it was nice, but it is a particular wine I have never really warmed to (to me it is a bit boring, which is probably the worst thing I can say about a wine, with so many more interesting rioja crianza and joven wines about to be honest for that sort of money) and the Picada L15 Malbec (£8) from Patagonia. Malbec is not my favourite grape, as I tend to find it a bit overbearing, but this was lighter than most Argie Malbec. It was actually ok, with a nice cherry core and not too boozy at under 14°.

Mark ups seem pretty fair with the Malbec retailing online at around £12.50 and on list here at £29 a bottle.

I asked on leaving if you can buy a bottle of wine off the shelves and drink it in and if so what was the charge. They said yes and it was the retail price + £10, which is very fair. I think for next visit I may take that option.

If you don’t fancy wine there are other options both alcoholic and non alcoholic.

The verdict

This is a nice edition to Victoria Park, with there finally being somewhere down there decent where you can get a drink.

The cheese offering is very good, but I would say the wine is just a touch pedestrian. I suspect it covers most bases for the majority of people but a decent gamay, a good pinot noir and both a racy dry (Aussie or Alsace)  and a more fuller, medium (Germany), riesling on the list would be nice for the likes of me.

I applaud the inclusion of a manzanilla on the list, with a decent 125ml pour, but it really should have been served chilled. While I am talking about sherry, a good fino (again chilled) would make for a further nice addition to the by the glass offering.

The cheese counter is very tempting as you leave and I, of course, picked up a cheese to take home.

The details

Address: 591 Cowbridge Road East, Victoria Park, Cardiff, CF5 1BE

Website: https://www.welshcheesecompany.co.uk/victoria-park-shop-bar/

Opening hours:

Tuesday – Thursday: 9am-5pm
Friday & Saturday: 9am-10pm
Sunday: 9am-2pm

Closed on all bank holidays, other than Good Friday.