Easing into the Easter weekend with an invite to try the sold-out, super popular Lahmacun supper club - where Welsh lamb is roasted over an open fire and you're served duck fat hash browns - is perhaps the best way to start a bank holiday.
Forget the chocolate eggs, this evening was all about the intricately designed menu, where Middle Eastern flavours are weaved together and matched with local produce to make a, frankly, mind-blowing feast.
Chef Lucas Wootten and his wife Sophie, whose story you can catch up on here, have created a must-attend dinner event, here. Lucas' chef skills paired with Sophie and her dad, Amir's, expertly honed kitchen talents, advice and family recipes serve up a three-course feast of deeply tasty grub with intelligently matched flavours.
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Enough of my exulting, what did we all eat? When we sat down in the beautifully decorated room at Pontcanna's King's Road Yard (behind Pipes) there was already an attractive loaf of challah (bread) with a sprinkling of za'atar herb flavouring and a huge hunk of lyonnaise onion butter. Then came the snacks, or really, a stream of sharing starters including butter bean hummus with fermented muhammara (Middle Eastern walnut and roasted red pepper dip), Aegeon feta gougeres and, oh my, the, duck fat batata harra hash browns.
Sitting on long dining tables you sat close quarters with other diners and the food was to share between six - luckily we were sat with lovely chatty people who joined us in tucking in as soon as possible. We were polite, but not that polite we could wait to taste the yummy buffet in front of us.
The hash browns, incorporating the Syrian fried veggie recipe batata harra, were the most amazing hash browns I've tasted. Light, crisp and delicately herbed - they were fantastic, the feta gougeres were a tiny savoury choux bun and were a sharp cheese-filled treat and the hummus, amazing. The flavour combos, which will be a strong theme in this feast, were all individually identifiable but complimented the entire spread altogether.
If I thought the opening gambit of this meal was amazing, it was about to get even better. The Berber-roasted lamb was surrounded by accoutrements like mujadara braised lentils - these are lentils cooked with rice and topped with crispy shallots - purple sprouting broccoli drizzled with an anchovy dressing, Jerusalem artichoke and pickles and sauce.
Each element played its part wonderfully - again, all such standalone tastes but together it was a party of flavour with each bite. The lentils, were full of deep, richness and moreish while the artichokes (I was under the impression I didn't like them after a bad experience years back) were baked with harissa, preserved lime and wild garlic - so delicious I have to only have artichokes made like this going forward.
But my favourite, aside from the lamb (more on that in a bit) was the side of broccoli. Yes, the broccoli! The veg was cooked to perfection but it was how it was served, that sauce drizzled over the top, marvellous. Creamy but light with a piquant of anchovy taste, not overpowering at all and, of course, an ideal flavour to serve with lamb.
I've skirted around the lamb for too long now. It was outstanding. As you enter the supper club you see the set up of the open fire and it's impressive. So is the way the lamb was cooked. Let me tell you, you'd want to hog the serving all to yourself. Fall off the bone tender, packed with flavour. One of the best lambs I've ever tasted.
I could have happily gone home and lay down after all that, but there was also the dessert. A rich apple and tahini tart with date ice cream and the vegan choice, a coconut muhallabeya with rhubarb and rose. Two very different dishes, both flavoursome. the tart was sweet with a tahini kick while the muhallabeya (milk pudding) was silky and creamy, more rose-flavoured than coconutty and the jelly layer on top added a texture contrast, I would have liked to taste the tart rhubarb a bit more, but I really enjoyed the delicate rose flavour.
After being lucky enough to savour all Lucas' dishes I didn't need to wonder why Lahmacun is a sell-out pop up - regulars to their farmer's market stall are also under no illusion. It's a real skill to take all these independent delicious flavours and puzzle them together to make a complete picture, while still standing out individually. This is the way to eat dinner. Keep an eye on Lahmacun's Instagram for their next events. The spring supper club evenings cost £42. Also, 10% of their profilts go towards the Hands Up earthquake appeal, if you want to find out more about that, click here.
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