Cardiff on a Fiver: The North Star, North Road

Under the rules and by-laws of Cardiff on a Fiver, the 'maximum £5 budget' also includes deals such as those offered daily by The North Star.

Naturally, the suspicion is that such a good offer is bound to result in compromised quality. It stands to reason, I suppose. Corners cut, profit margins preserved and all that.

However, they seem to have different ideas here. Their website makes unequivocal commitment to cooking all dishes 'fresh to order, using local independent suppliers & producers wherever possible, with lots of love & care...nothing out of a box, or microwaved, simply fresh food as it should be done.'

Which is an encouraging start. 

The look is... eclectic, I suppose. A picture-framed lampshade protrudes from bare brick walls, similarly presented trumpets hang from ceilings and house lightbulbs. And I don't know about you, but that qualifies as 'wacky' in my house, a distinct and restful break from the bustling road just feet away.

Such whimsy is confined to the decor; or at least, it's banished from the plates which arrive. It's immediately apparent that this is no-fuss food, with attention to the basics. A case in point: when someone's first reaction is that they like the sound of your chips, you know you're on to a winner.

A salt and pepper squid salad was excellent: the pieces (not the ubiquitous and anonymous rings, but chunks of body) briefly dredged in barely-there seasoned cornflour and served sweetly tender. An easy thing to get wrong, for sure; but just so good when it's done as well as this. That it was ridiculously cheap, just added to the enjoyment.

The salad- a zippily colourful assortment of peppers, red onion, tomato, fresh herbs, various leaves- had a gentle nudge- rather than a kick- of chilli and was reckoned to be the best pub salad my wife (and this is a woman who, among other things,  Knows Good Salad) can ever remember having.

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We pause for some tip-top comic stylings.

Q. What do you call a man with a seagull on his head?
A. Cliff.

Q. What do you call a man with 50 rabbits up his bum?
A. Warren.

Q. What do you call a chip at The North Star?
A. Russell.

So. On to those chips...

Apart from that lovely dry whisper, it's obvious these are hand-cut chips. You know, from actual potatoes. Someone has taken the trouble to peel and cut them by hand. Crisp, fluffy, irregularly shaped, smartly seasoned chips. Again, one of those things pubs often get badly- and blandly- wrong, but these are masterful. Easily good restaurant quality, at catering-sized-bag-from-the-freezer prices. Sitting here, I'm struggling to think of better locally and I'm coming up short- these match the excellent examples at El Puerto and La Marina, and the list runs pretty dry after that.

The burger was well-seasoned and flavoursome- perhaps slightly overdone for my taste, but I like my beef still gently lowing- on a toasted floury bun.

So all in all a rather successful visit: proper chips to rival anywhere in the city, a decent burger, and a most impressive salad. And here's the good bit: under the auspices of their offer, they evened out at £3.95 each, coming in comfortably under our £5 per head restriction. Or less than a box of 20 McNuggets, to you and me.

Now. How much is couple of meal deals from the Subway a couple of doors down, again..?

The North Star  
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