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Located at the heart of Swan- sea’s Brynhyfryd community, Haystack has been welcoming customers since May 2018 and, in the space of just over five years, has made quite the name for itself locally, with customers queuing out of the door and up the street a common sight to those driving past most days. The restaurant really cares


about the quality of its food, so much so that on the walls behind the counter is a chalk- board which tells customers exactly where each component of its breakfasts are sourced from, all local and of the highest standard. This shines through especially in its traditional break- fast. Known in Haystack as the Farmers Breakfast, it is made up of sausage, bacon, egg, hash brown, mushrooms, beans and toast, with the option of adding extras like halloumi and chorizo. It is served to you at your table in a frying pan, and the extra mile chefs go to in getting the best quality ingredients pays off instantly when you start to eat it. The Gardeners’ Breakfast


Robert Dalling visits the quality conscious Haystack in Swansea


serves up vegetarian sausage, halloumi, egg, house hash brown, mushroom, tomatoes, beans and toast. The Vegan Breakfast is made up of vegan sausage, vegan bacon, scram-


Dorset red Cheddar. I want to order as many things as possible. For the non-dumpling dishes,


Kate Ng finds getting messy at Dorshi, Dorset, is part of the fun The dumpling-forward eat- ery, tucked inside an alleyway, takes its inspiration from the streets of Penang, Malaysia. It has a hole-in-the-wall feel that many restaurants on the food- obsessed island have, as though you’ve squeezed yourself between two buildings only to find food heaven awaiting you. The presence of paper “table-


cloths” suggest your meal might get a little messy, but it’s all part of the fun. The menu is also exciting, divided into dumpling and non-dumpling dishes, with unexpected combinations like pork and Bury black pudding, hot smoked fish, beancurd, and capers, and field mushroom and


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one of the friendly waitresses recommends a celery, cucum- ber, strawberries and lovage salad coated in a kind of sauce made from cashews and nori seaweed, which was crunchy, fresh and delicious. We also indulge in fried shimeji mush- rooms flavoured with togarashi, a Japanese spice blend of chilli flakes, seaweed and sesame seeds, and served with a sea- weed mayo, as well as Hakata noodles (a type of ramen noo- dle) with the house broth and smoked garlic oil. Each dish is carefully crafted


and balanced, making for per- fect bites every time. The pork and black pudding steamed dumplings are succulent, while the hot smoked fish and bean- curd fillings encased in crispy fried dumpling dough are a crispy, salty revelation.


Kieran Ahuja visits London’s Osteria del Macellaio The “Mad Max”-esque alter on the back wall is presumably some sort of tribute to beef, which is what Macellaio is famous for. The other five of its outposts


are fully-fledged steakhouses, complete with gigantic glass cabinets full of ageing meat and the same slightly offbeat inte- rior design as the new location on Union Street. The Osteria has a long list of


£10 dishes, and you can choose any three for £29. It’s a straight- forward way of pricing, if not a slightly curious one. The method means that a portion of lard on toast or arancini costs the same as a beef escalope or


bled tofu, tater tots, mush- rooms, tomatoes and beans. Brunch options also prove popular, including the Haystack (avocado, halloumi and bacon in a hash brown sandwich topped with a poached egg) and the Brunch Burger (sausage patty, bacon, chilli jam, hal- loumi, fried egg in a brioche bun with tater tots). But the big favourite among customers is the pancakes. On my visit, I went for the American Classic option (four


American pancakes, two slices of bacon, maple syrup, icing sugar), with an added extra of chicken to top it off. It was a sight to behold when it was brought to the table, once again showing the extra attention to detail which goes into things in the kitchen. And the food itself was even better, with the meal more than deliv- ering on that sweet and savoury American taste with light, fluffy pancakes and perfectly cooked toppings. Definitely one to con- sider on your visit.


chicken Milanese. Neverthe- less, it’s a charming way of eat- ing, and you could quite easily feed two people with drinks for less than £50 a head. The food, similarly to Macel-


laio’s other branches, is fault- less. The arancini cacio e pepe, which could so easily be a dense chore of an appetiser (as aran- cini often is), is instead a more- ish and surprisingly light bite. However, steak remains the


main event, and Macellaio is well aware of this. They’re served theatrically and proudly, and rightly so. They’re as good as any steak I’ve had in recent memory, although a more salt-averse diner than me might find the one we had a touch too much. There’s also a small selection


of desserts. Predictably, we go for the tiramisu, as I wager 90% of customers do. I’d also wager that 100% don’t regret it – it’s as classically satisfying as every- thing else on the menu.


15 September 2023 | The Caterer | 13


IMAGE: HAYSTACKCAFE.COM


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