Ever since the seminal “We’re gonna need a bigger boat” Jaws movie, sharks have had a rather bad rap. Between being slaughtered wholesale for their fins (for the benefit of people with more money than sense) to being seen as rapacious killers of anything that enters the water (my experiences of diving with them is they are, by in large, pretty indifferent to us humans) and the final heinous insult of “Baby Shark” (it’s in your head now isn’t it), they really are in need a bit of good PR.
It may surprise many that sharks were deemed to be responsible for only 15 deaths worldwide in 2025. A surprising comparison to that kill count is that of the, oh they are so cute, deer which is responsible for upwards of 400 human deaths a year (do deer roam the forests armed with machine guns and chainsaws?) and even more so to the kill count of water snails which is upwards of 200,000 people a year (who knew that Gary from SpongeBob Square Pants was such a prodigious serial killer).
This brings me to Sharkbite Burgers who (from their Cwmbran base) have expanded into the Cardiff market via the new Platform “Street Food” (is it) by the Cardiff Bay train station.
I assume the Sharkbite name is intended to play on the stereotypical view of sharks with big teeth biting off huge lumps of meaty flesh (interestingly many species of shark are filter feeders, so don’t bite anything and I dare say very, very few sharks have tasted beef there being somewhat of a disconnect between where they reside and where cows do) and also allows for a myriad of jolly jape names (which I have abused to the max. in this post) for their burgers such as the Goblin burger and the rather obvious Megladon and Great White. I am willing to bet they won’t get round to using the Flaccid Cat shark on the menu. I mean who wouldn’t be up for a Flaccid Cat burger (order me two)?
I do find it a bit odd that the blurb on their website refers to “our homemade ocean-inspired flavours” when absolutely nothing on it comes from the sea (other than maybe, at a pinch, salt)! I mean if you call a 100% beef burger a bean burger, does it become vegan inspired?
As the Mystere Wine Club has monthy wine tastings down the bay, I found myself at Cardiff Bay Station (being too tight to get an Uber) with a bit of time to kill and needing sustenance in preparation for the tasting (Loire Chenin, as you asked).
The newly opened Platform Street Food, being right there by the station, was thus an obvious choice with the opening roster of traders being:
- The Dough Thrower
- The Italian Job
- Ilanfaesdiary
- Academy
- Sharkbite burgers.
Despite the wider choice, my sights were set firmly on a Sharkbite burger.
It was then merely a question of which dubiously named creations on the QR code accessed menu to go for.
I am not one for fussy burgers (don’t like crisps, pulled pork, kitchen sinks, banana fritters etc. put in with the patty, with cheese and bacon, the latter at a push, pretty much my topping limit as I like to actually be able to taste the patty) so that knocked on the head a large portion of the menu.
I was, thus, left with a choice of the Great White or the Meg. The latter was a pretty basic bitch (like that) burger with only cheese plus a sauce added and as such it, in theory, seemed to meet my basic burger needs but sounded just too big for me and too much price wise (a Meg -a – expensive £16.25) to boot. I, therefore, settled on the smaller Great White.
The patties here are of the smashed variety and I think I might be speaking for a few in saying I’m tiring somewhat as to the longevity of the smashed burger fad, with me rather pining for a cheese burger with a thicker juicier patty (ideally with a pink interior too, but that would undoubtedly lead to an inspection and a cease and desist “befehl” from the H&S stormtroopers to whom anything remotely rare is to be instantly downgraded to “null punkte zum wohle der allgemeinheit“).
Leaving aside the purported flavour benefit, I can see why smashed patties are so popular with vendors as they are quick to cook and you can get away with using a lot less meat, but for the punter instead of the fabled maillard reaction flavour bomb you, all too often, get a dry and overcooked patty which can be little more than a meat smear cooked off on the flat top.
I do feel the tide may be turning on the smashed versus thicker patties, with a slow revival of the latter, but currently smashed ones still reign supreme.
As a result, I was a bit “Oh goodie, another smashed patty burger” when my burger arrived.
and my next thought was it ain’t the biggest (a rather juvenile Great White/Baby Shark – it’s back in your head isn’t it) and that, maybe, I should have gone for the Meg.
I liked the use of the old stager sesame bun (it was a bit burnt in places, which somewhat detracted from my pleasure in seeing it), tangy burger sauce, tawdry American cheese and the properly crispy (but not nuked) bacon bits
as well as the nice gnarly bits at the edge of one side of the patty. The patty also had a decent flavour to it.
The bit that disappointed was the fact that, other than the edges on one side, the patty looked a bit gray (which suggested only one side saw full exposure to the flat top)
and lacked the sought after maillard reaction (which is kind of the point of a smashed patty).
The seemingly thrown on at the last minute iceberg lettuce served no purpose to my mind and there was too much of it.
As a result it was an OK rather than a really good burger.
Sides wise there are various options,
and in keeping with my keep it simple theme I went for the seasoned fries
Not the best these, to be honest, with a very uneven spread of the seasoning (smoked paprika and salt, predominantly, as far as I could tell), with some fries naked and others excessively dusted, and the fries pretty bog standard (frozen I would hazard a guess). I have had better oven chips, if truth be told.
Also, with no condiment options on the table or the menu (so far as I could tell) and the very liberal dusting of the seasoning, they were Atacama Desert dry.
Proper hand-cut fries with just salt and vinegar and the option of a bit of mayo would have been a vast improvement.
I needed every gulp of the lager I bought
to combat the dusty dryness of the fries.
On the booze front, I had a brief look at the drinks menu and this suggested that the wine mark ups are surprisingly reasonable.
This wine was £22 on the QR code accessible list, so mark up wise that is very good these days.
People were ordering cocktails with things like candy floss in/on them. Not for me, but each to their own and great for the “Gram” I suppose.
I had a couple of bottles of wines with me, to pass on to other Mystere Club members, and was quite tempted to go the full on Miles from “Sideways” with my burger meal (regrettably the wines I had with me, whilst good, were some way off of a 1961 Cheval Blanc).
The verdict
My burger was perfectly nice, but not what I would call top tier. Also, it wasn’t cheap at £11 for a single patty. The Bleecker bacon and cheese burger I had in London in Feb.
was only 10p more (before the need to add on here the Platform delivery fee, see more on that below, so the Bleecker burger is actually cheaper) and was quite a bit better that this Great White effort (I would also imagine Bleecker’s overheads, in Central London, are far higher).
So not a lemon, but also not top tier/great (fries were poor). It was OK, without really wowing for the relatively hefty price tag.
As to the wider concept, the place is nicely laid out with good indoor and outdoor spaces
I imagine in the Summer it will be very popular
The menus for each vendor are accessed by QR codes embedded in the tables and ordering (and payment) is all done online (drinks can just be ordered at the bar). Even for a technophobe like me it was a pretty easy process and service was swift.
Be aware there is a delivery fee (73p – not optional) and a service charge (optional, but you pay it up front). Seems odd to have both and they added a fair bit to the ultimate bill for the food.
As to the other traders, you have pizzas
and “sandos” (no they are not) from the Dough Thrower and Italian- ish (very ish) from the Italian Job
The Cardiff Bay – Nara, in particular, put me off the latter (more a case of Nonono- Nara).
Nearly a full house of all the wrong ingredients (begone cream, you foul interloper) and when you take a “throw in the kitchen sink approach” ingredients wise it is perhaps best not to have any “leaks“.
I suspect it probably tastes fine, but was a Carbon- Nah for me.
So in summary, I wasn’t entirely sold on the place (judging by what I suspect made up a fair proportion of the crowd on the night, with multiple light rings on display, you will be getting lots of “insanely good”, “OMG” “to die for”, “cooked to perfection” “melt in the mouth” “honestly, I was blown away“, “the best thing evah“, “oh Ad, but tots. impartial”, from Istaamaaaaazingram, although the pack has probably moved on to Dave’s Hot Chicken by now), but my burger was decent enough (wouldn’t order the fries again) to the extent that I view Platform as a useful option down the bay to fuel up pre – future wine tastings.
Despite what Walesonline say, it is very much not a cash only venue (quite the opposite, I believe).
Details
Address: next to Cardiff Bay Train Station, Hemmingway Road, Cardiff, CF10 5LS.
Soliciting Flavours 