Kindle - Cardiff

Summer has finally reared its humid, unreasonably warm (at the time of writing) head, and having received a bout of good news recently, we decided to expose our pasty skin to that big ol' star in the sky that keeps us from freezing to death and pop our Kindle cherry for a celebratory evening of al fresco dining.

It would however be remiss of us not to whet the whistle thanks to a mini crawl around a couple of Cardiff’s best bars. A glass of fizz and a particularly good natural red courtesy of Nighthawks. I’d love to be able to sit and reel off some serious Wine knowledge here but I’m no aficionado in this regard (or any others to be honest) I just like stuff that tastes good so I’ll leave it at that while imploring you to visit Nighthawks yourself and succumb to its charm yourself.

We move swiftly on to Lab 22 for a seriously great Old Fashioned, made by request with Michter’s Bourbon which combined with Labs’ in house bitters is a deeply balanced, honeyed caramel, properly phenomenal example of the classic. The second is a contender for one of the best drinks you can get in Cardiff, their Critical Mass (Banana Bread Woodford, Slane Irish Whiskey, Hennessy, Salted Maple) which is something like the Old Fashioneds’ distant, cooler and much sexier cousin with all the showmanship you’d expect of a bar regularly cited as one of the UK’s finest.

A ten minute jaunt…. fine. A ten minute stumble through the centre of Cardiff to Kindle and having read somewhat conflicting reports beforehand from a mix of people, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect as we walked through the gates of this old warden's house a stones through away from the Stadium but what we got was nothing less than great. There's something of a swagger present at Kindle, the kind you don't often see, from its intimate retreat like setting to the menu which at only a few dishes long practically dares you to order one of everything. Then its open kitchen where you can hear the faint roar of its open flame while you’re eating the fruit of its labour and even its toilets with their individual hand towels and fancy diffusers - Kindle absolutely means business.

We do actually almost order one of everything and things kick off with a surprise amuse bouche of battered mushroom with a curried mayo - it goes down as nicely as a strand of well fried mushroom with a nice little Mayonnaise can do. An order of their famous potatoes make us question every other potato that has come before them; earth shatteringly crisp, smoked to within an inch of their life all the while still retaining a fluffy interior. I don’t understand these potatoes and I don’t want to for fear that it could send me in to an existential spiral. They sit proudly alongside Dauphinoise and freshly fried salted McDonalds fries probably the best version of potatoes you can get, you could even argue that they physically can’t get better than this, I wouldn’t bet against it.

Superb treatment of vegetables is a common theme at Kindle - they grow a fair bit of their produce on site and I’m presuming that fact extends to a small tower of Carrots that come scorched and spoon tender with a chilli oil that I feel although lovely could probably do with a little more heat to really bring the dish to life. While a wedge of grilled hispi cabbage comes absolutely smothered in smoked ghee and hot honey all the while retaining its subtly bittersweet flavour - both dishes ensure the main vegetable in play remain the star of their own shows with the accompanying flavours designed to enhance not overpower.

In all honesty, there’s barely a misstep across any of the 8 or so dishes we eventually order. A piece of fried chicken is heavily seasoned but balanced out by a particularly potent garlic aioli. It’s very good, I’d love it even more if it was slapped in a potato roll and delivered to my door while nursing a hefty hangover but we can’t have everything we want now, can we? Then there’s a piece of torched mackerel in all of its meaty, oily glory which is as good a piece of Mackerel as I’ve ever had. It comes with a bonus prawn wonton that I suspect at some point in its creation had been smoked, adding an additional dimension that takes the dish to lofty new heights.

We end on a dessert that features a chioux bun filled with a very banana'y ice cream with a wedge of satisfyingly stodgy banana bread to the side. There are no pictures here because I was completely and utterly pissed so you'll just have to take my word for it that this was good. A selection of petits fours go down equally well. The bill comes in at around £125 which for what we got, which included several glasses of red and an incredible jalapeno margarita, seems to be remarkable value for money. What was once a fledgling city centre scene is starting to bloom and Kindle can rightly take its place as one of the OG's who are right at the heart of it. So if you're looking for your next meal out, whatever the occasion, there is an increasing number of restaurants that deserve your money and we will get to them all but for now - I'm recommending Kindle.