Finger-licking goodness
Our foodies were at the opening night of Cardiff’s first indoor street food market
MADRID has one. Barcelona has one. London has one...
Now Cardiff has joined the ranks of the world’s foodie capitals by launching Wales’ first indoor street food market .
Sticky Fingers Street Food is based in the former Chiquito building in Brewery Quarter where five of Wales’ awardwinning street food vendors will be taking up camp every week from Thursdays to Sundays.
The surprisingly-spacious building has been completely renovated to transform it into a family-friendly space where the vendors have set up camp in their own little stalls lining the walls.
In the middle is plenty of seating on a mix of high wooden benches and smaller tables and there’s a small bar. And if you walk through a little passageway you will find a larger, separate dimly-lit bar serving a range of drinks.
The market is the brainchild of Matt Connolly, who’s working with Stephen Cawardine, former owner of Lab 22, on the project.
They wanted to offer diners in the Welsh capital a new fun way of eating out that was cheaper and more relaxed than booking a table at most restaurants - and they’ve certainly achieved the right vibe.
The relaxed and chilled interior features corrugated iron-style pillars covered in graffiti art, large brightly-coloured square tiles on the floor chalk board menus.
There’s even an outdoor seating area (which is under a canopy) for those who don’t mind braving the chill. Once again it has wooden tables with colourful plastic chairs and there’s twinkly lighting too.
The food
While the food markets of Madrid and Barcelona are crammed with different vendors, there are only five traders inside this market – but between them they have a great range of food on offer.
The Original Goodfillas Company offers dough-based food loaded with a choice of savoury or sweet fillings while Malaysian street food is served up by Makasih.
The Two Anchors is renowned for its seafood and Mr Croquewich puts cheese at the heart of its dishes.
Finally, if you love meat then you’ll want to visit Hoof – set up by Dusty Knuckle pizza founder Phill Lewis and John Cook formerly of Cardiff’s Arbennig restaurant – which serves flat-ironed steak in brioche buns.
So is the food worth a try? Fancying some seafood, I headed straight to The Two Anchors which had three mains on offer - mackerel burger, Cajun grey mullet tacos and scallops along with a portion of fries.
I ordered the mackerel (£6.50) - and I will definitely be back for more.
The grilled fish was extremely moist and tender and just fell apart into big flakes as soon as you bit into it.
The apple and celeriac slaw added depth and texture and gave it an autumn bite while the juice from a fresh lemon wedge provided some nice sharp notes and the lightly toasted brioche bun injected sweetness. The rosemary salted piping hot fries (£2.50) were the perfect accompaniment.
I thought I’d better take some goodies back to the office for the rest of the WalesOnline Saturday gang to try so ended up with two toasties from Mr Croquewich (£6 each) and one of the dough-based savouries from The Original Goodfillas Company (£6.50).
The Glamorgan toastie featured leeks, garlic and onion in bechamel sauce with Caerphilly cheese, cheddar, mozzarella and Dijon mustard. Substantial and tasty, the mustard offset the richness of the cheese and the leek added flavour and substance.
The Hell Raiser was made up of maple roast squash in sweet chutney jam with red onion, coriander, feta, cheddar and mozarella.
If you love a combination of sweet and savoury then you will love this. The chutney jam worked perfectly with the blend of cheeses. The Don from The Original Goodfillas Company was like a calzone and was packed with ham, mozarella, mature cheddar and tomato paste. The ham was really chunky and of good quality while the cheese was tasty without being overpowering and the dough was of a perfect light consistency. It had all the qualities of a satisfying pizza.
The verdict
Sticky Fingers is very much like Cardiff’s Summer Feastival street food celebration – which took place in Bute Park earlier this year – but it’s undercover.
It offers great quality food from some of our best independent traders at reasonable prices.
As a permanent fixture, hopefully we will see constantly changing menus and maybe some more traders added as time goes by to make sure it stays fresh and varied. Open from noon until late, this is a venue for all occasions - a break during shopping, a post-work drink and snack with colleagues, a meeting place before a big night out or somewhere to refuel after a few drinks.
You could also happily while away a few hours here with your friends as you enjoy a relaxed catch up over drinks and some tasty dishes. I’ll definitely be going back. For updates, visit the Sticky Fingers Street Food Facebook page