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Tom gets a tipoff about a Welsh gem and is wowed by the faultless flavours and prices

It’s been a while since I’ve been back to Barry, that small, rather handsome Welsh seaside resort a few miles outside Cardiff. More than two decades, in fact, when I was doing unit publicity for a film called Rancid Aluminium (the less said about that, the better), in the then deserted Pleasure Park. These days, the flume is splashing, the waltzers twirling and there’s rollercoasting once more.

Barry, too, is thriving, especially for those with lunch on their mind. There’s Goodsheds serving up various street foods (including Tukka Tuk from that Cardiff legend Anan George), beardily crafted beers and, best of all, Alium, the new place from the hugely talented Antonio Simone, best known for his gutsy cooking at the Humble Onion in Dinas Powys. Sitting on the site of the late and much-lamented Hangfire Southern Kitchen, Alium has big boots to fill.

But from our very first bite

– cool, briny Porlock oysters, wearing a rich, lustily spiced Bloody Mary dressing – we know we’re in good hands. Not that I doubted that for a second, ever since Jonathan Swain (the man behind the essential

Clean blog) told me I had to get downhere.Quick.Andwhen

This is one of those lunches that cannot put a foot wrong

Jonathan calls, I drop everything, stopping only to pick up fellow eater Mark Taylor along the way.

Lamb sweetbreads, all sweet, spongy, easy-loving lusciousness, sit on sourdough toast, drenched in a hazelnut burnt butter. I’d travel three hours for this dish alone. There’s more, though, much, much more. A Mars bar-sized block of beef cheek croquette, where crisp panko struggles manfully to contain a mass of soft, savoury slow-braised cow. Punchy sriracha mayonnaise provides heat, while slices of pickled turnip add bite and crunch. Three vast wild prawns, swimming in yet more spiced butter, are deliriously undressed, their heads sucked dry, their succulent, sea-scented bodies devoured in two great bites.

This is one of those lunches that simply cannot put a foot wrong. A rectangle of pork belly, the fat rendered deep into the piggy flesh, the crackling as brittle as stained glass; bavette steak, cooked rare, with grunt and chew. And chips, dear lord, those chips – golden, craggy and glorious. A salted caramel panna cotta wobbles, while lemon tart has both bite and beauty. Oh, and did I mention the price? Two courses for £22. For cooking of this level, that’s not so much value as a downright heist.

£22 for two courses. Alium, The Pumphouse, Hood Road, barry; aliumrestaurant.co.uk

PARKER BOWLES KRISTENSEN

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2022-08-14T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-08-14T07:00:00.0000000Z

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