So I am back after a week off from the blog, which rather triggered my OCD but ultimately was probably a good thing to do as it won’t feel so weird next time, due to a very nice break in Spain catching up with old friends (they are my surrogate Spanish family really) over there (has been a few years, but was like had only been a matter of a few days, with my Spanish still bloody awful despite 850 quadrillion consecutive days doing Spanish on Duolingo).

Rather perturbing for my oh so fragile ego, last week’s “no post” week had more views on the blog than the previous “with a post” week. Are you all trying to tell me something by these numbers? Is it a case of me having a decent back catalogue of posts or do you lot just prefer me being literary (sic) silent (and we all know which one it is don’t we)?

I may or may not do a post on the food and drink I had (generally very good and I am still in shock at how low the mark ups were on wine in restaurants are over there even in places in the very centre of Malaga) in Spain, but this week it is back to Cardiff’s food and drink scene.

It is well documented (by me) that I love a glass of wine (subject to it being decent) and that with said wine I am partial to some picky bits/nibbles (old age has stripped me of any meaningful capacity in terms of drinking sans food to soak it up). This has lead me, in recently weeks to the very good Ogof and Vicino (in my neck of the woods) and with me transiting through town on my way to a wine tasting in Cardiff Bay this afforded me the opportunity to try a new(ish) kid on the block in the form of Kindred (on the site by Admiral where Little Man Coffee (and Chilled and Tannin) use to be.

Now the MO of this place would, at least at first blush (begone foul white zinfandel), suggest it is very much my kinda thing such that you could say it is somewhat akin to a kindred spirit (in terms of a love of food and wine).

I have always rather liked the slightly art deco feel to the outside of the building they are located in, although inside they have (regrettably) retained the same lethal step at the entrance which found me always inadvertantly staggered into (rather than out of) the place in its previous Little Man Coffee incarnation.

The interior has been spruced up a bit and is a nice space to while away a few hours.

This place has both a day time

and an evening (post 5pm) menu.

The former looks rather nice for a quickish working or shopping day bite, but I was there post 17.00 so it was the evening (picky bits) menu for me, which was ideal in terms of fortifying me for a Tuscan tasting down the bay).

Before I get into the “meat and drink” of what I had, it wouldn’t be me without a little moan. Last week I bemoaned the seeming often disparity between menus on restaurant’s websites and the actual one you get presented with at the table. In this instance, the online menu and the one outside by the door

were different to the one presented at the table, with none of the “Plates” featuring on the menu I was given.

Not sure why this was the case, maybe issue in kitchen so reduced menu on that day,  but I must admit to being a tad disappointed that the option of a slightly larger offering was no available. I had rather set my heart on the torched sardine dish (currently mildly obsessed with tinned fish, probably won’t be next week) and also liked the sound of the roasted chicken thigh with a butter bean ajo blanco. 

With the absence of any “Plate” dishes, I re-examined the menu for suitable picky bits to go with my wine.

For starters, I munched on a bowl of jalapeños puffs (£2).

Quite moreish these, with just a soupçon of chilli heat (good thing not too firey, as drinking wine). Good bar snack these (perhaps better with a beer than wine) for the price.

I love a good gilda (reminds me of happy days mooching around Donostia – San Sebastian, which I see from Instagramaaaaazing is now infested with “Influenzas“, telling us of  “hidden gem”  docoveries that 5 billion people have been to already, and therefore likely now ruined😭) and thus this was my next order.

Really enjoyed these with the contrast of brininess from the anchovies and olives and sourness and a touch of heat from the guindilla peppers. All doused in a good quality grassy olive oil, which made me instantly regretted not ordering bread to mop up the residual oil with. For £4, I thought these were pretty good value for money.

Crostini are quintessential picky bits and here there is a rather tantalising sounding selection of toppings (both veggie and meat)

and for my next snack I decided on the prociutto and cured egg yolk number

I enjoyed this with nice crisp bread base and good quality prosciutto, topped off with umami rich grated cured egg yolk.

Nice as it was, my issue with this was I thought it a tad mean (size wise) for the £4 price tag. Now I don’t profess to be an expert on how restaurant price menu items, which is a complete mystery to me to be honest, but it seems odd to me that this rather diminutive bite was the same price as my trio of gildas.

To finish off my snacking I was rather torn between the loaded crisps (which were rather fun the other week at Vicino)

and the arancino with chilli jam.  Because I am tight I went for the cheaper arancino (£5.5)

Pretty little bauble, I though, with a nice crisp (oil free) exterior shell and generous blobs of chilli jam.

Inside the risotto rice was nicely cooked (neither mushy or chalky), with a good favour and (very importantly) nicely seasoned.

My only quibble was the mozzarella had not quite melted (10 seconds more in the deep fat fryer would have probably sorted it). I also enjoyed the chilli jam, which was more fruity than hot.

On the booze front, I was there for a glass or two of wine

but beer and (of course) cocktails are also options

With the wines it is nice to see all offered by the glass (125/175ml), would have quite liked a carafe option too, as well as per bottle.

Quite brave of them, I thought, to have a liebfraumilch on there. It is a wine that has lingering bad memories of it embedded into the UK psyche due to the horrors of the 70s. Didn’t go for it, but there are some decent liebfraumilch wines about these days (tend to work well with Asian food). It is a wine, however, that still very much struggles to distance itself from its rather dubious past.

After a little internal deliberation, I went for the Saffer Chenin Blanc (they are usually pretty reliable) in the form of the Babylon’s Peak number.

Decent (rather than wow) wine this, with the exuberance of tropical fruit notes reigned in by citrus on the finish, and it was perfectly nice sipped with the gildas, puffs and crostini I had with it. Price wise (for a bottle) it is £38 on the list and goes for around the £12-£13 mark retail. So pretty standard UK mark up (which would probably give a Spaniard an aneurysm). No appreciate mark up on the per glass as opposed to bottle price, with £6.50 (125ml price) x 6 coming to £39.

I had time to kill and an arancino to eat so I ordered a futher glass, this time a red, in the form of the French Native Vielles Vignes carignan (£6.10/125ml).

Again a decent rather than a wow wine, with black fruit and a touch of vanilla spice. Lacking a bit of complexity perhaps, but as an easy drinking number it fitted the bill of an early evening snifter well enough. 

It certainly worked well with the arancino.

Price wise it is £10-£11 retail so £29 a  bottle is again a pretty standard UK mark up these days. Little bit more of an uplift re the glass compared to bottle price with £6.10 x 6 equalling £36.60 as against the £29 bottle price.

The verdict

This is a pleasant spot for a drink and a few nibbles. I enjoyed the food, although I do think the crostini are a little pricey for what you get.

In terms of the wine offering, I know I said neither wines I had were wow wines but wow wines are not necessary for a quick drink with nibbles (and probably prohibitively priced to boot). All you need in such circumstances is a decent (ideally interesting) quaffable wine and Kindred’s offering meets that brief well enough.

I would say a nice crisp fino or manzanilla (in a normal wine glass, not a copita, please) would be a good addition to the list, as both are perfect with the “picky bits” food they focus on in here.

It is a nice addition to Cardiff’s burgeoning wine bar scene along with Ogof, Vicino, State of Love & Trust and Nighthawks, as well as the likes of Bar 44 and Curado.

I do hope the larger Plate dishes are on the menu for my next visit as from the online menu they do look ideal for a pre wine tasting bit of grub.

They seem to do a number of events, including an interesting sounding monthly white wine blind tasting.

and producer specific tastings.

The place is dog friendly too, which is a bonus for me and Dick the dog. Nice little haven to take him (and more importantly me) to when in town.

The details

Address: Unit 5, Ivor House, Bridge St., Cardiff, CF102TH.

Website: can’t find one but they are on Instagamaaaaazing as https://www.instagram.com/kindredcardiff?igsh=dTJ0YjZiY2JsbnEx

This includes a link to a reservations page

Opening hours: