For such a seemingly simply (and, when done well, very tasty) thing, it always surprises me as to the paucity of dedicated rotisserie chicken purveyors in Cardiff (and seemingly the UK as a whole). I mean it is not as if we in Wales/the UK don’t love chicken (call it “fried” or a “cheeky” Nandos and we can’t get enough of it, well not the Nando if you are asking me to be honest) or just slap it between some bread and call it a “sando” for instant appeal!

Ones roasted on a spit, with crispy skin (crispy, well salted, chicken skin is one of life’s underrated food pleasures) and the fat dripping down onto spuds cooking at the same time are a staple in Spain. With dedicated rotisserie vans popping up everywhere in Spain, it always begs the question in my mind as to why we don’t have those in the UK (Dragon’s Den here I come, I shall value my new chicken pyramid selling truck company – clucky truckies – with a current turnover of zero at £336 Million and offer a stake of 0.5% for a £75 billion investment and come away having turned down an offer of a 50p investment for 75% of the company from Deborah Meadon contingent on changing to a plant based offering, but hey the free advertising).

The rotisserie desert seems to be, however, starting to bloom with places like Oriel  Modern Meats and Farrouf offering up variations on the rotisserie theme.

This bring me to the Heathcock Deli and Cafe in Llandaff (where I tend to get my regulary fix of a nicely priced delice de Bourgogne) which now have a rotisserie chicken night every Friday.

I was invited to the launch event but the blog doesn’t really work like that. I quite like eating out and actually don’t mind paying for it when I do (I run my own  business and somewhat resent being asked for/giving freebies, so can hardly expect/accept free stuff from others who equally run businesses).

A freebie would also means I couldn’t really have a moan if I don’t like something about it rather than doing what I call a Rocky (from Project Hail Mary, great movie, book is even better, rather than the Sly one) review as in this is “amaze, amaze amaze” or just not be arsed to write about it at all. Also me paying my way allows me to go off on massive tangents completely irrelevant to the places/food I blog about (which I admit I very occasionally do 🙄).

I appreciate that pretty much everybody likes a gift, such that if you tell me I have to pay £100 for a 10 oz rump steak it will undoubtedly detract somewhat (well a lot actually, I mean I would be “What the fxck and tell me again why Salt Bae’s ever shrinking empire is in massive financial difficulty“) from my level of enjoyment as against you telling me that they are paying for it (as would the fact that if someone else paid I couldn’t conscionably be able to ramble on about the price of smoked Minke whale in restaurants in Svalbard – Nor 199/£15.62, as you asked).

As such (and it may just be me), I simply don’t trust myself to be impartial about something if I haven’t paid for it like Joe Public has too. Perhaps people are more cold hearted then me (people who know me may find that very, very difficult to believe) such that when they get a gift they are not that fussed on they are happy to say “Well that’s shit” rather than sugar coat it (my mother was legendary in terms of a distinct lack of sugar coating regarding my father’s oft very ill judged gift ideas) but the lack of many non – Rocky reviews linked to #invites (“amaze, amaze, amaze“) would suggest that when most people get a freebie they are grateful rather than ungrateful. I also assume to be the latter would effectively be committing freebicide/lead to invitenarok/admageddon/invitenophage (bad, bad, bad, no fist my bump)?

As a result I passed and went (like pretty much everyone else) as a paying guest a few weeks later.

The menu is short,

with two snack options, the centre piece chicken and some add on sides.

I am now going to be a bit mean to the vegan fraternity, but as it is a rotisserie chicken night (chicken being the operative word) I was very glad to see there was none of this chick’n, chik’n alternative nonsense on offer.

With 4 of us we decided two whole chickens and a mix of the rarebit and ham hock and chicken croquetas (x 2) snacks was about right. If you are a vegan this is  not the night for you I would posit

The ham hock and chicken croquetas were top notch

with a crisp outer shelf encasing a rich bechamel within which were embedded robust chunks of chicken. A well judged amount of tarragon provided a judicial hit of anis (too much can result in something  rather medicinal, too little and why did you bother) and the ham hock provided a nice hit of meaty salinity. Good start and fair value (each croqueta was quite chunky) for the price. My only quibble is an old one of why serve it in bloody 3s when so few people dine in multiples of 3. Just price them by the croqueta, I say, and let people order accordingly. In fairness they were chunky enough to easily cut in two.

The Welsh rarebit (£6 per piece) was sufficiently big to provide an adequately sized quarter each.

Good kick of mustard from the rarebit, which had that sort after (by me) gooey consistency. Again a slight quibble, this time being the bread it sat on could have done with being more toasted. As a result, it had a bit of a soggy bottom.

On to the main event, you get a platter, with the whole chicken, foccacia, caesar dressed leaves, a pot of gravy, aioli (plus points here for not committing the heinous crime of calling it garlic aioli) and a romesco (on the menu it is an either or option, so we doubled up).

This came with two well stacked bowl of new pots. and we further added sides of a bean and tomato salad and a colelaw (£5 each).

The chicken was not the tiddler you often get when a whole chicken is advertised, being a rather plump, buxomly breasted, bird. The interior was nicely cooked so it was juicy rather than dry and had a good flavour to it. My only real criticism regarding the chicken was the lack of a crispy skin. As mentioned earlier, a bit of well salted crispy chicken skin is one of life’s underrated food pleasures and it was a shame it was not present here with what was otherwise a pleasing bird.

Both the aioli and the romesco were good, with the romesco shading it for me. 

In terms of the pots I love a newie, but these were advertised as chicken fat potatoes and I am not sure they saw much (if any) of said chicken fat in the cooking process. Very nice, but not what we were expecting veg wise. As I looked for evidence of chicken fat, J regaled us with tales of her love of Leo’s peas  (festive season ones are on the boil already, so should just about be ready in time, I understand) and unseasoned sliced boiled swede, as well as newies, with a roast.  I, once an inconclusive chicken fat search was completed, sympathised with her partner as to his apparent poor life choices in ending up with a Leo’s peas and sliced swede addict.

The gravy was glossy and thick, without being gloppy or over reduced, and again had a really nice flavour to it (great for mashing the spuds into).

The casear salad had nicely crisp leaves and a punchy dressing that was not over applied. The focaccia (two decent sized slices) were also very good, with a crisp salt laden crust and a nicely yielding fluffy interior.

In terms of the sides, all too often coleslaw is smothered in too much mayo and as a result is cloying. Here the “zesty” coleslaw was exactly that, with a nicely refreshing anis hit to it.

The bean and tomato salad was pleasant, without wowing, with good quality toms. and yielding beans. It, however, suffered from a lack of seasoning. A good heft of sea salt would have really lifted this side dish.

As they do takeaways it was an easy matter getting a grease proof, insulated, bag from them to take the carcasses home. J used her one to give titbits to her dogs, whereas Mrs. SF and I used ours to make chicken stock (of which, surprise, surprise, I am a slightly obsessive frequent maker).

I used the resultant stock (plus the left over chicken bits I then picked off the carcass) to make a risotto for 2

and then used the left overs of that to make arancini.

As such it gave us two extra meals and some left over chicken stock to add to the freezer stock of stock.

On the drinks front

they have a reasonable selection to suit most tastes.

After some deliberation, we decided (well I did) on an easy drinking (not too boozy) vinho verde

Quite zippy, but with no trademark VV spritz, some salinity, a pleasing citrus start and a touch of peachiness on the finish  White vinho verde can be a bit neutral/bland, but this is one of the better ones in my opinion. This is what I call an easy pleaser.  It is not going to rock your wine world, but it is pleasant enough.

This VV wine retails for about £11 (if you are a Wine Society member, mad not to be  if you enjoy wine, bit more if not) so a pretty standard UK level of mark up here.

The chicken could have done with something with a tad more heft than the VV, but I didn’t think the rest of our table would have been up for the rioja chardonnay alternative.

Looking at other stuff on the list, the mark ups look pretty similar (all OK by UK standards). Per glass (£175 ml for £8 on £30 bottles) prices apply a small mark up as against the bottle price, but it is not excessive.

The verdict

We had a very enjoyable meal at the Heathcock Deli and Bakery and it was nice to see the place full on the day of our visit.

I think the pricing is about right (not sure if get a discount if takeaway,  but not so far as I could tell) with a lot of food for effectively £14.50 per person (assuming you share a chicken between 2) sans booze, sides (they were nice, but probably not needed) and a tip. If you just have the chicken platter and a beer each you could come in at below £20 a head (sans a tip).

With the meals I managed to make using the left over carcass it made it even better value for money.

A few pretty minor niggles (well it is me), with the pots not really chicken fat ones (so far as I could tell), a lack of crispy chicken skin and a slightly soggy rarebit bottom, but for the price (in what is a rather convivial setting and a very easy stroll from my gaff) I think it is excellent bang for your buck.  Service was very good, attentive without being overbearing.

I will certainly be making return visits.

The details

Address: 48 High St, Llandaff, Cardiff  CF5 2DZ

Website: https://heathcockbakery.com/

Hours:

I would strongly suggest booking as there was no room for walk ons on night of our visit.