The Brass Beetle - Cardiff

Hello! It’s been a few weeks eh? My May has been a bit of a quiet one thanks to a combination of a five week gap between paydays, vet bills and paying off my next holiday (any tips for Cornwall will be gratefully received) so it just meant that things had to stretch a little further this month but with the weather finally deciding to be a bit good, caution was thrown to the wind and we popped out on Saturday for Lunch. Our destination? The Brass Beetle, a restaurant/bar located at the business end of Whitchurch Road rubbing shoulders with some of the stars of Cardiff’s independent hospitality scene in the form of Brother Thai, Longa Turkish Cafe and Alex Gooch - company in which they absolutely belong by the way. It opened back in 2017 (I think!?) and it seems to be at a point in its existence where it knows exactly what it wants to be. The menu itself is super concise and oozes confidence with a focus on wood fired pizza’s with non-traditional but well thought out toppings, a couple of salads if you’re not fancying a pie, a few sides and an abundances of classic and in house cocktails and mocktails.

We start things off with a couple of drinks, mine a “Juicy Pale Ale” which does exactly what it says on the tin - a refreshing bit of swill that went down especially well in the quite frankly tropical Cardiff afternoon heat. We also get a “Tropical Storm” mocktail featuring a mix of Pineapple, Lime, Coconut and Ginger Beer that evokes memories of being poolside on holiday somewhere that isn’t in the middle of one Cardiff’s busiest roads. As I mentioned, we were here for Lunch and so wanted to keep things relatively straight forward. There was much deliberation between the hot honey chicken wings and halloumi fries to start, eventually opting for the latter. They come as a massive portion which was more than enough to share between two - the crust: a perfect, royal gold and they had all of the salty, squeaky satisfaction you need. They come with a healthy dollop of a particularly good garlic mayo that is so potent it would send a chill down the spine of every vampire within a 5 mile radius of Whitchurch Road. Ultimately, they’re some of the best I’ve had and it’s no surprise that it’s one of their most popular items on the menu.

On to the Pizza’s then and a menu that’ll make your local Pizza purist huff and puff with toppings across the board including romesco sauce, curried carrot, grilled peaches and a coconut/lime aioli to name a few. I go for my namesake, the “Fun-Guy” which comes as a Bechamel base with layers of mixed mushrooms, spinach, blue cheese, walnuts and a peppering of poppy seeds. It’s bloody good too, especially with a pot of crispy chilli oil on the side to help cut through the richness. The star of the lot is the blue cheese though - used sparingly but just enough so there’s a nice little funk with every bite. The leftover garlic mayo is useful for the crusts, which are admittedly a little tougher than I’d like, but that’s just a minor quibble on an otherwise faultless pizza and believe you me it all got ate.

I am graciously afforded a slice of my girlfriend’s pizza, She went for a combination that included grilled peaches, smoked provolone, prosciutto and pine nuts. It’s an Hawaiian pizza for grown ups and it hits all of the right sweet and salty notes that you want - the smoked provolone being my favourite element.

All in all - for two man-hole cover sized pizzas, a portion of halloumi fries so large Cyprus has had to declare a national emergency, two drinks and some dips, our total bill came in at around £45 - well worth it in my opinion. I do feel like the food here at the brass beetle should be talked about a lot more - really great quality, clearly borne out of love for what they do with real thought going in to the toppings and balancing out the strong flavours properly. The service was some of the most personable I’ve had in ages too - even the pup was well looked after with a constant supply of treats and fuss. There's an abundance of Pizza places in Cardiff at the moment; some great, some bang average. The Brass Beetle is very much leaning towards great.