Chilled-out dining with small plates but big taste
THE TASTE TEAM CHECKS OUT UISCE IN CARDIFF
IT’S Cardiff’s newest place to be and for breakfast, lunch or a laid-back dinner, Uisce in Pontcanna can’t be ignored.
Sister-joint, Heaney’s, is definitely a place where you head for relaxed fine dining and little brother Uisce takes that relaxation vibe a step closer to ultimate chill – oh, it doesn’t take reservations, either.
The MO is small plates, good wine and fine service in an intimate setting.
Luckily for us it covered all those bases the night we went, a balmy July evening when a cold glass of sparkling Mezzacorona Rose (£6.80) went down brilliantly ahead of our easy tea.
Light with a subtle sweet, honey taste, it felt like I was on holiday.
My friend and I decided to pick a few of the small plates to share, it’s a way of eating I really enjoy. Pop out for a quick drink of a summer’s evening and get something quality to pick at, if you don’t want anything too heavy.
We chose four items, the “Kick in the Head” (£4), croquettas (£5), lamb crumpet with salsa verde (£8), king prawns with paprika and garlic (£7) and the spiced beef with padron peppers (£9).
We wondered if we needed more, we didn’t!
All the plates came out as and when they were ready, so if you like all your different dishes at the same time, try somewhere different.
This is the perfect way to serve the items on this menu, you get a full blast of the flavours – solo and there are some fantastic flavours to be had.
The Kick in the Head is one of the more interesting charcuterie meats on offer, made out of various parts of a pig’s head it looks great and has so much flavour.
Peppery rounds of wafer-thin meat swirled from its meaty, rich taste to delicate spice.
Next up were the king prawns and croquettas. I LOVE croquettas, they barely touch the sides and are so easy to munch on – you can’t come to Uisce without including them in your line-up of treats.
This time they were crisp on the outside, gooey and cheesy on the inside.
The prawns were excellently cooked too. The garlic and paprika dusting didn’t take away their flavour. With a sharing plate, though – and if there’s a chef’s reason for this, please tell me – it meant splitting one prawn. Chuck an extra quid on and give us four so we can have two each. Ta!
That was all forgotten though once we were able to dig into the lambtopped crumpet. Good grief! What a delicious plate of food. Loads of lamb piled on top of a homemade crumpet.
We waited a bit for the padron peppers and beef and when it came the beef was covered in the sticky, tart Ponzu sauce. It was a really different flavour – though prevalent in Japanese cooking – and something I’d never had, at least in such an allengrossing form.
It could have done with being a touch more spicy, but the combo of the beef and clean, fresh, salty-tasting padron peppers was fantastic.
Despite thinking we might need to order more savoury plates, we quickly realised we’d rather get some churros (£6) to our table straight away, mainly because we saw them being served to another table.
Oh yes, we were right to order them. They are the best churros I have ever tasted.
Golden crisp on the outside, almost non-existent – eg light and airy – on the inside. Gorgeous.
We also tried the espresso pannacotta topped with brownie (£5), which was good, but the churros threw a lot of shade onto that.
We came away sated from the amount of small plates and desserts we ordered and I was happy with the range of flavours, textures and types of food we ordered.
I also loved that some of the small plates were made in a small kitchen right in the bar, it makes it feel informal for sure and you can see exactly when your food is on its way.
I think Uisce achieves its aim in wanting to lay on informal, chilled out dining, with dishes that err on the lower side of fine – they are the first to do it and they do it well.
More of the same, please.
■ Find Uisce at 6-10 Romilly Cres, Cardiff CF11 9NR.