I have a love hate relationship with cyclists. I have a friend who is a responsible rider who is properly obsessed with cycling and does ludricous inclines (up and down) and distances on their bike. I admire his dedication to the cause, without having the slightest interest in following suit and generally sympathise with his gripes about inconsiderate car drivers. I also love watching the Tour de France, being genuinely awestruck at the superman ability of the riders particularly on the brutal mountain stages. They have to be up there with the Nordic skiers as the world’s most impressive endurance athletes.

On the negative side are (albeit a minority) cyclists who think a ring of a bike bell has the equivalent effect of Moses’ parting of the Red Sea, a no cycling sign in a park is in fact an invitation to cycle in said park (like driving up a pedestrianised street in a car and thinking, oh it’s fine as rules don’t actually apply to me) and stopping at a pedestrian crossing/red light is purely optional/an entirely unnecessary thing (nothing that a bit of judiciously placed cheese wire wouldn’t cure some would say, not me of course). Dont get me started on the scrouge that are ebikes!

As you may have, perhaps, already surmised I am not really much of a bike person. I have a slowly rotting mountain bike in the garage that hasn’t seen the light of day for what must be 10 years + and which I care very little about and thus to get me into a bike repair shop said shop would have to offer something other than bike stuff.

Workhorse in Canton, Cardiff does just that, with the bike repair shop

supplemented by a cafe specialising in bagels and coffee.

It always surprises me that, with bagels being so popular in the US, bagels have failed to catch on as much (outside of limited areas) here in the UK (when we all to often, for good or ill, slavishly parrot US trends). The fact that the supermarket ones are generally shxte, being denser than a neutron star, may partly explain this but the salt beef loaded ones I have had from Beigal Bake on Brick Lane have been the business.

The latter makes me wonder why they are not more popular this side of the pond.

The menu at Workhorse has been recently been expanded, with very welcome wider weekday options

and the addition of some rather interesting  specials

The Bourdain special particularly appealed, with that oh so underrated  doyen of deli meats mortadella, but alas I was marginally too late to get one as the last one was bought by the (selfish, non mind reading) chap in front of me (who really should have instinctively known it was the last one, that I wanted it and thus decline to order it himself).

As a result, I defaulted to that bagel staple of lox (here locks) and cream cheese (£10.50).

What arrived was a robustly filled beast,

with good quality smoked salmon (with the drier texture I prefer and strive for when I make my own) and a good thwack of lemon and cracked black pepper. The tang of the cream cheese and capers worked nicely with the salty richness of the salmon, with the red onion and lightly pickled cucumber adding both refreshing acidity and a bit of textural crunch.

I really enjoyed the generous sprinkling of dill on the cucumber, which brought a pleasing hit of anis to the proceedings.

The bagel itself had the requisite chew, without being too dense. Not as easy on the jaw as the Beigal Bake number, but still much better than your average UK bagel in my limited experience.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this classic bagel combo offering from Workhorse.

Drinks wise,

they offer predominantly hot drinks (with some soft drink options also).

I went for the king of coffee, in the form of a cortado (£3.70),

Nice coffee, with both fruity and chocolates notes. Properly hot too, which is all too often not the given it should be.

The verdict

Interesting concept this, which I rather enjoyed. It is no frills, which I quite like, and the expanded menu offers plenty of interest bagel wise. I very much hope the Bourdain is on next time I am in. 

With Mr. Doner and Shawarma (on top of the well established Rees & Sons butchers for your pies needs) informal lunches are looking up on this bit of Cowbridge Road East.

One little moan is the increasing trend (including here) of a service charge being applied (albeit on an optional basis) upfront. Now, I generally tip unless service is really poor but it just seems counterintuitive in a service industry to ask for a tip based on the quality of the service before any service is actually provided.

Details

Address: 364 Cowbridge Road East, Canton, Cardiff  CF5 1HE.

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