Padel is seemingly wildly popular and I, being pretty inept at most sports (love to watch sport, rugby union in particular, but was one of those kids that got picked towards the end/last in terms of team sports), can sort of understand why.  A (not very good) marketing stapline could be “If you can’t serve properly (for tennis) or don’t have much stamina (for squash), why not try padel.”

I am sure at anything other than the starter level it is very skillfully, but it does look like it is relatively easy to get to grips with the basics thus making it a bit more for the masses (and sports incompetents like me). It is certainly wildly popular,  with middle aged men of a seemingly similar (very not ripped) physiques to mine flocking to the courts

I mention it, as at the weekends Dick the dog’s preferred walk is on Llandaff Fields

and, if he can be arsed, Pontcanna Fields. As such we often walk passed the new Smash Padel Courts on Llandaff Fields on the outward and inbound portions of our weekend walks.

I have been known to get a bit peckish on said walks and have noticed that the padel courts (that always seem to be full) have a cafe attached which is welcome to all (even Dick the dog, well at least until they met the grumpy git) and you can be sans a padel court reservation to get in (hence the blog title).

It is clearly set up to cater mainly for the many padelers,

with a view of the courts, but it was also popular with the dog walking fraternity on my visit.

I watched the various games of padel going, as a I awaited my order, and my observations were:

• The rules seem simple (until a shot that looked exactly the same as the previous good one was called a foul);
• Seems easy to pick up, but difficult to master (one quartet were very very good, but another not very good quartet seemed to be having as much fun without the need for wanky fist bumps and high fives) and as such appeals to all levels;
• The kit looks a bit spenny (apparently padel rackets start in the hundreds and go up to several thousand, the discovery of which operated to put me off any ideas I may have had on the “maybe give padel a go” front)

As to the food, the menu seems to be a bit more expansive than their in town  predominately sarnie operation (very bravely/foolhardily located opposite the ever popular Fresh),

with the addition of small plates.

On the subject of small plates, since when has a half, let alone a whole, rotisserie chicken been a small plate!!

The sarnie names are of a pun quality that actually makes my blog post titles look clever and boy is that a limbo low bar to fail to get over, with said sarnies having a  similar MO to those at Cobbles (which I had the other week).

My visit was for breakfast, walking Dick in the mornings,

with there being some seemingly odd additions to your standard breakfast butty set up.  The bacon one included paprika ketchup and spinach (I mean what on earth is anything green, let alone baby spinach, doing in a bacon buttie).  I am also not keen on maple cured bacon, whereas the sausage one had “the Devil clearly exists, as otherwise this wouldn’t” a baked bean hummus in it.

Until I spied the inclusion of baked bean hummus I was firmly in the Cumberland camp, but the maple cure to the bacon in the bacon sarnie had me doubting that as an option. Eventually my morbid sense of curiosity as to the Devil’s work in action “baked bean hummus” got the better of me.

It was certainly a fulsome sarnie (£7.50), packed with sausage encased by crisp exterior and spongy interior focaccia bread that made it quite tricky to eat (with sausage ejection a constant risk).

The baked bean hummus seemed to me to be merely crushed and pureed baked beans and was not as offensive as I feared (just looked like, and I suspect tastes like, baby food).

Whilst there was no questioning the quantity, the flavour was a bit lacking. The aforementioned baked bean hummus was only hummus like by dint of being crushed and pureed and the sausages lacked caramelisation to the skin (which also made them look a bit enimic), as well as little evidence of the spices (pepper, thyme sage and nutmeg) that import flavour into a cumberland banger.  I am also not convinced as to the efficacy of American cheese in a sausage sarnie.  Made it all a bit gloppy, without adding much flavour wise. My view tends to be that all you need to add to a sausage sarnie is butter and some brown sauce (never red, begone foul blasphemers) and leave it at that.

Mrs. SF’s bacon number (£7.50) was similarly robust portion wise.

Taste wise, it was better than the sausage sarnies, with the bacon crispy (but not nuked) and not overly sweet. The American cheese worked better with the bacon (think bacon cheese burger), but I didn’t get much evidence of the purported presence of egg or the paprika ketchup. The baby spinach was not as unacceptable as I had envisage, but it was fairly neutral and as such didn’t add much to the party (other than a touch of virtue perhaps).

On both counts my view was they would be better off just keeping it simple. There is a reason sausage and bacon sarnies are enduringly popular and it ain’t because of spinach or baked bean hummus.

Coffee was actually quite good, with a choice of beans

I went “King of coffee” cortado (with Ethiopian beans) and Mrs. SF went flat white (with a blend of Costa Rican and Eithopean beans).

Good flavour to both and they were gratifyingly hot (the bane of barista coffee is they are all too often at best lukewarm verging on tepid, probably due to Yanks suing anything that moves because the hot drink they ordered was, quelle surprise, hot).

Like the breakfast menu, the lunch menu seems a little convoluted/to be trying a little too hard,

with the likes of lasagna nuggets and Welsh rarebit solders on the small plates section.

Sarnies are also offered at lunchtime,

but I  think if I came for lunch I would stick to the rotisserie chicken which looks decent value at £8.50 for a half and £14.20 for a whole chicken

The verdict

I would definitely go back for the coffee, drink in or take away, with the staff very friendly, helpful and nice to (made a fuss of) Dick the dog.

On the food front, I was less convinced. I suspect after a long padel session the food may be a welcome bit of stodge, but I found some of the combos a bit odd and was positively horrified by the “Shake to wake” crisp concept

where you apply you own flavour,

including the very dubious sounding donner kebab, to naked crisps.

I am more old school, breakfast sarnie wise, and think Oriel’s Modern Meat Shop do a better job of a breakfast butty. Coffee is good here though and that would take me back to break up a Dick the dog walk.

Despite my slight misgivings, I suspect they will do alright with an astute location with the captive padel pound as well as the dog pound (plenty of dog walkers on Llandaff fields needing food and coffee) to keep them busy.

I also understand they have just got a licence to sell booze so potential for post padel portations once off the courts

The details

Address: Llandaff Fields (between the padel and tennis courts), CF11 9HZ

Website: https://www.squarefair.co.uk/