Often, a menu is reminiscent of a multiple choice exam question: one dish you can immediately jettison, another as an outside bet, and two which vie for final consideration.
Forcing someone to make a snap decision between duck, prawns pil oil, black pudding and bacon salad, and a crab and scallop gratin however, surely constitutes some breach of the peacetime equivalent of the Geneva Conventions.
Thankfully it's a slim, well-chosen a la carte menu: six starters, six mains plus a smattering of pub grub classics. It is also refreshingly and reassuringly free of the menuspeak cliches which currently irk me so.
A bobby-dazzler of a starter, the duck: puy lentils, nutty and rich with a densely flavoured sticky jus, are so good I almost forget about the meat. They're served with plenty of bite left in them, thankfully. The meat itself gently teases away from the bone; it's all very reminiscent of classic French cookery and absolutely perfect comfort food on a cold evening.
From the pub classics section, the burger is well-seasoned and textured without falling into the trap of being packed too tightly. It's a substantial thing, a theme which runs throughout the meal. This is not somewhere you'll leave hungry.
The 'fishfingers' are proper, hand made things. Captain Birdseye this isn't: this is real food for young diners.
A precisely cooked fillet of bream, the skin served crisp, has a coating of sobrassada and a bed of orzo dressed with squid and red peppers.
Lamb three ways teams a funky little faggot, a tangle of shredded breast which has been pressed and crumbed, and a couple of thick lamb chops, still springy to the fork, which have a good rosy touch of pink. There's another jus which is the product of long, patient reduction and is lusciously meaty and viscous, a dark and glossy thing to be savoured, to be lingered over. If I hadn't been conscious of Having To Set A Good Example, I'd have been worrying at those bones with my teeth and chasing every last smear of that sauce with my finger.
I'm later told the lamb comes from Blaengwawr Farm (Off My Land). Their lambs are rare breed Glamorgan, which is also being registered as part of the Slow Food movement which is gaining such popularity.
This is nose to tail dining: after the whole animal is bought in, the liver & offcuts go to make the faggots, the breast is slow cooked, pressed and crumbed before frying & serving crisp. The third element is a roasted piece of lamb- in our case, chops- and the jus is made from the bones. It's time well spent.
We had no room for desserts- even a crème brûlée and a clafoutis couldn't tempt. These are hearty poryions of hearty food. This side of Cardiff deserves a good addition to its small roster of good places to eat and drink, and The Longhouse hits the mark with room to spare.
Although this is definitely a dining pub rather than a pure boozer, and it would be good to see more local breweries represented on the bar, Longhouse is heartily recommended: just be prepared to find yourself spoilt for choice.
The Longhouse
The Tumble,
St Nicholas,
Cardiff
CF5 6SA
029 2115 7754