High Street, Cardiff. 029 2022 8513 / www.thehashery.co.uk
Food: **** Atmosphere: ****
There is something oddly uplifting about the Hashery, an independent new restaurant on Cardiff’s chain-heavy High Street, injecting a little bit more personality into an area that, if it were a person, would be the clone of a chartered accountant called Clarence. Adding to the Hashery’s punky personification is its straight-out-of-film backstory: four talented individuals who worked at a nearby big chain set up their own restaurant on the same street. Upon entering the restaurant, two things strike you: 1) Bryce Davies’ striking street art adorning its walls and 2) what on earth is a hashery? (Hashery, noun, a restaurant or lunch counter, especially a small or cheap place.)
In terms of its prices, the restaurant lives up to its name: two-for-one cocktails all day starting at £6.95 and nothing on the menu over £9.95. However, what’s on offer differs wildly from the image a hashery evokes, speacialising in hefty portions of beautifully prepared mussels, indulgent Cubanos and burgers, and expertly prepared cocktails.
Upon sitting down at a table, we’re served up with a couple of glasses of electric tea (resembling a blue lagoon), which went down well. With a medley of spirits inside me, we choose to follow it with the Med Mussels, cooked with chorizo, tomato and basil, and a Chick Flick Cubano (a basil and buttermilk chicken Cubano sandwich). The mussels are absolutely breathtaking, and the Cubano goes down a treat, while we’re unable to believe the prices. This is good food and drink at a great price, and just as good a location for a few drinks with friends as it is for a meal out in the town centre, where it shines out as a beacon of hope.
words LUKE OWAIN BOULT