food&drink
restaurant scene forward in 2022
We all know that kitchen teams tend to skew distressingly blokey, especially in the top roles, so here are some domestic examples to the contrary.
Rupali Wagh’s Tukka Tuk partnership with Anand George has brought south Wales some of its most distinctive street food dishes, with rich southern Indian flavours. Wherever you find them – at their Swansea, Cardiff or Barry homes, or at a food festival – you’re guaranteed memorable cooking. And she’ll make sure your dog gets a warm welcome too!
Leyli Homayoonfar leads an all-female kitchen at Bab Haus(Barry/Caerphilly) and has become one of the most recognisable faces in Welsh food. You get the feeling there’s nothing she couldn’t cook brilliantly, from Mexican to Korean to the Persian food of her heritage. Her reputation has spread far, drawing the longest queues of the day at last year’s international live-fire cooking Meatopia festival.
Business is blooming
at Barry’s Alium Jonathan Swain visits – and profiles – one of the finer restaurants to open in south Wales this year, and a second hit in the making for its figurehead.
Details matter. Barry’s recently opened Alium has only one L, not the two you might expect – its name is Latin for ‘another’. Why Latin? It’s a nod to owner Antonio Simone’s late father, chef Giuliano, who was taught the language by Puglian monks. There’s a further reference here: Antonio built his reputation at Dinas Powys’ Humble Onion, and allium (with two Ls) is the family that includes the onion. “Another onion”, if you will. There’s plenty going on below the surface.
That’s true of the food, too. Antonio’s cooking is characterised by skill and time well spent in preparation, but for too long his food has been categorised by ‘those who know, know’. This visible move to Barry’s Pumphouse building, formerly Hang Fire, puts his food where it belongs. There’s nowhere to hide now.
There are prime Porthilly oysters with a choice of dressings, and plump prawns heady with garlic butter; deep-fried macaroni cheese squares, crisp yet gooey; a cake of long-braised pork cheek, the meat cooked for hours until it has surrendered its collagen and slumped into a sultry tangle of flesh ready to be cooled, pressed, portioned and crumbed. A hearty, indulgent menu.
Steaks feature heavily: Alium champions Welsh produce, so these come from Oriel Jones’ Llygadenwyn farm. Familiar cuts are available – porterhouse, sirloin, fillet – but we go for bavette, served pink and with the mineral depth of properly reared and aged beef.
There’s a hefty slab of pork belly with an impeccable crackling, the glossy surface giving way to skilfully rendered meat against the simple sharpness of apple. It’s all too easy to come across underdone crackling, or find the meat dry or flabby. Here, it’s beautifully judged in every way. And the chips? With little fear of contradiction, they’re the best in the area.
When it comes to dessert, only the panna cotta will do: a Humble Onion classic. It’s as faultless as ever, that lascivious wobble a familiar delight. This is exactly the kind of independent restaurant the area needs, and exactly the kind of place Barry deserves.
aliumrestaurant.co.uk JONATHAN SWAIN
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Shumana Palit is the woman behind 22 years of Ultracomida. From Aberystwyth and Narberth to Cardiff’s Vermut and Curado (and their imminent Spanish Wines Direct in the capital), the company she runs with husband Paul can claim to be one of the UK’s largest Spanish importers, covering mainland Britain with their deliveries.
Simmie Vedi is the new head chef at one of Cardiff’s most notable restaurants, the two-AA Rosette Bully’s in Pontcanna. Her French-influenced menu has a keen emphasis on seasonality and limiting food waste. Highlights include smoked duck, lamb loin with sweetbreads, and an opulent tarte tatin: it’s a lavish, indulgent experience.
Cooking huge steaks is the clichéd preserve of the burly and beardy, so here comes owner Stacey Roberts [pictured] of Pencoed’s Steak & Stamp to redress the balance. A one-woman kitchen, she serves the expected dry-aged sirloins, ribeyes and rumps – but bring your elasticated
Banquet, 60oz of beef with seven evensides and three sauces. It’s suggested as ideal for four to share, but who am I to judge? A well- kept secret outside the area, weekend visits usually need booking six weeks in advance.
waistbands for the aptly-titled
facebook.com/agtukkatuk
babhausmex.co.uk ultracomida.co.uk bullysrestaurant.co.uk steakandstamp.co.uk
JONATHAN SWAIN
Women pushing the Welsh
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