11 hours Ago By Steffan Rhys
This strange thing has been happening to me lately. Sometimes, I enjoy something so much I literally feel like I could cry. I don't know when it started but I'm sure it never happened when I wasn't a tired, 40-something dad.
It's usually sparked by something especially moving on TV (it can be happy or sad), or an incredible moment in sport, and maybe occasionally something my kids do (though mostly they just stare at iPads while demanding food, which gets me emotional in a completely different way). It happened when I was watching the Gavin and Stacey finalé: I sat there on Christmas Day trying to hide from the rest of my family that I was silently weeping through most of it. I think I just really love it when a group of people create something really special, and then an even bigger group of people find such enjoyment in it.
It's just so...
joyful . Anyway, I know what you're thinking: what does this blatant mental breakdown I'm describing have to do with a new restaurant? Well, I'll tell you. It's because I felt the same emotions while eating there.
The food was superb, the servers were clearly proud to work there and the chefs (who are also the owners) brought each dish to the table proudly describing everything on the plate. Again, it was just joyful. Hiraeth is a small neighbourhood restaurant that opened in Cardiff in the autumn.
"Hiraeth" is a Welsh word without a direct English translation that conveys a deep longing for something, especially one's home. It first began as a pop-up before the pandemic and was so succesful that chefs Andy Ashton and Lewis Dwyer, who is currently representing Wales on the BBC 's Great British Menu, found a permanent home in the upmarket town of Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan. All was going well there until the building they were in was put up for sale.
I never saw their Cowbridge restaurant but it's hard to imagine a more fitting place for Hiraeth and its modern and intimate vibe than its present incarnation, where around 12 tables (mostly laid for two when I went) are set up in a cosy end-of-terrace spot with big glass windows on the front and side and the open kitchen at the back from which the chefs bring out their gorgeous dishes when they're ready. Anyway, Cowbridge's loss is Cardiff's gain — and what a gain it is. I suspected I'd love it as soon as I walked in.
It was only 7pm but all but one or two tables were taken by couples chatting and enjoying the food while Welsh rain lashed the big old windows — and not one person was looking at their phone bored, despite it being Valentine's Day. I'd decided before arriving that I was going all-in with the taster menu and wine pairings so this wasn't going to be cheap (it's £65 for the seven-course taster menu and £40 for the wine pairings). The first course, "snacks", included a tostada and a little doughnut filled with cod roe.
A solid start but not mind-blowing. Then came the "chicken tea", which was like nothing I've ever been served before: a small fillet of crumbed fried chicken served alongside an intense chicken broth to drink straight from the cup, some white bread as light and fluffy as a cloud and the star of the show, the chicken skin butter. Butter has become a thing for restaurants in the last few years.
From Marmite to parmesan, there's often as much pride in a restaurant's homemade butter as there is in their main course. But I'd never had chicken skin butter before and chef Andy knew how good it was when he dropped it at the table saying: "Fight over the butter." But chicken tea wasn't the only course that I'll remember a long time.
The other was briefly described on the menu as "Welsh beef, crispy onion, pancetta". And all of these things were great. But what the menu didn't mention was the side of beef shin lasagne which came with it, a little parcel of lasagne which I think was then breaded and deep-fried before being topped with parmesan.
It was sensational. Cod with buttermilk and wild garlic was a beautiful course too. There was one thing about the evening that was a bit of a disappointment: it's pretty much a given in any restaurant now that you'll only get a set amount of time to have your meal.
I eat fast and am not the type of person who wants to linger at a table long after finishing my meal so it's generally not an issue. Once the last mouthful is in, I want the bill and the exit. But not everyone is as eager to immediately leave (including, in this case, the person I was eating with).
I also don't want to feel like I've over-stayed my welcome before dessert is even finished. I completely understand why restaurants don't want people bed-blocking tables when there's another paying customer who can have it, especially now it's such a tough industry to survive in. But if you're serving a seven-course menu, you are cutting it very fine by giving people a two-hour time slot (there was actually an "optional" eighth course on the menu which actually never materialised as an option because there wasn't time).
And when you're paying close to £250 for the pleasure, you don't really want to be downing your dessert wine in one while the next customer hovers over you waiting for your table. Our lovely server did explain that they were in the process of switching booking systems and that table reservations would normally be for 2.5 hours.
That sounds like an ideal amount of time to make the most of a restaurant well worth making the most of. Anyway, back to the dessert. It's the first one I've eaten in a restaurant for about 15 months after drastically changing my diet .
It was actually a big deal for me to decide to go ahead and eat it, but I'm glad I did. It was a chocolate orange granola and it was gorgeous and so sweet. And even after seven courses, including two desserts and five fantastic wines, I didn't have anything even remotely approaching that uncomfortable fullness you get from over-indulging.
I guess that's another sign at how perfectly pitched the menu is. Another few minutes and the whole thing would have been perfect. Two taster menus and two wine pairings came to £236.
75. Find Hiraeth near Victoria Park in Cardiff..
