I’ve been meaning to try the Herbivore pop up supper club for absolutely ages, and now I have, I’m kicking myself that it took me so long. It was bloody excellent.
Herbivore is run by Simon, a long-time vegetarian and previously the chef at Milgi, another place I love and have written about plenty of times before. These days, he often brings his Herbivore concept to some of Cardiff’s best little independent restaurants as a one-night-only pop up, with a different menu each time.
The menu
Here is the £25 “F word” menu we enjoyed for the Valentines popup at the Embassy Cafe in Cathays, along with a very nice BYOB bottle of wine.
I was really exited by this menu in particular, as the food sounded just like the kind of stuff we ate (and I loved) when we travelled to Israel a few years ago – I wasn’t disappointed.
Every single course was a delight.
The falafel was crispy on the outside and wonderfully soft and flavourful on the inside – you won’t be able to eat the stuff you get from the supermarket ever again after eating this.
The salad, which included char-grilled lettuce, something I’ve never eaten before, was excellent. Smoky bbq-ish flavours with crunchy croutons and little pops of freshness from the pomegranate seeds.
The Fatayer was like a light and healthy pasty – tasty, filling and not at all stodgy, and it was delicious with the pickled fennel – another first for me.
Of our two desserts, the Orange blossom was my favourite and is pictured as the header image of this post – it was like a slush puppy Jaffa cake, really refreshing! I was less keen on the baklava, only because I’m not the biggest fan of super sweet stuff, but it was still a beautifully presented dessert, flavoured with rose water, which gave it a slight hint of Turkish delight.
The verdict
In a nutshell, I absolutely loved Herbivore and will be booking on to the next date as soon as it is announced on Twitter – I can’t wait to see what will be on the menu next time. Join me if you can, you won’t regret it.
