Review: Heaneys, Cardiff

Heaneys is a handsome, friendly, comfortable and capable fine dining restaurant in the nice Pontcanna suburb of Cardiff. Thirty minutes walk, or a ten minute taxi ride on a rainy December night, from the Castle. We went with the long tasting menu, because ’tis the season to over-indulge after all! And a beef fat old fashioned made for a very good pre-prandial sip while we waited for the first snacks.

The best snack was a cube of hash brown enriched with scallop roe, a dollop of taramasalata on top and a little caviar on top of that. Absolutely wonderful, definitely one of those “please just line up eight more of these for me and I’m all good” snacks. The little cheese tartlet was nice too. They turned out a really splendid sourdough, full-flavoured with a good crumb and very twangy, and a black and scrunchy crust.

Chalk stream trout came in a light truffle and ponzu broth. This broth was a stunner, light and very full-flavoured but without going into umami overload. I’d have preferred it with a white fish or shellfish. Next up, a beautifully cooked piece of monkfish draped with lardo and set on cubed turnip. I felt the cream sauce rather took over the dish, certainly couldn’t detect the Iberico pork used in it. I freely admit to not loving (most) cream sauces with fish! Hen of the woods in a miso broth topped with lots of crispy onion was great. Then a lovely bit of sea bass, the skin a beautiful crispy shard on top, with a brown butter jus and a chunk of braised salsify. And a blob of creamy foam.

The venison main wasn’t cutting any new ground, but was a great example of its type. Lovely pink piece of loin, some jolly seasonal accompaniments of beetroot, red currant, blackberry and red cabbage, and then a side serving of spiced and gamey venison sausage. Loved that sausage.

For pre-pud we had an ice lolly of coconut, passionfruit and white chocolate. I guess I’ve had enough ice lolly desserts now that I see them as gimmick; this combo could have been presented much more appealingly on a plate. The main dessert was a warm chocolate pudding around a centre of banana miso caramel, jerusalem artichoke ice cream and crispy chips on top. That banana miso caramel was inspired and indescribably yummy and I’ve always got time for that funky-earthy hit of jerusalem artichoke.

All in all a really enjoyable tasting menu for £85 a head. You could comfortably add £40-50 to that if you wanted a meal of the same quality in London. I don’t know if that makes Heaneys a bargain or Cardiff a bargain! Maybe it’s a bit of both? Anyway, although I can’t really shout Heaneys out as particularly ground-breaking or earth-shattering, I can totally recommend it for a splendid dinner on a visit to Cardiff.