Hearing the news that Welsh chef Bryn Williams was finally opening a south Wales venue the initial reaction was 'about bloody time' but the follow-up feeling was one of pure excitement as the chef patron of Odette's in London, Porth Eirias in Colwyn Bay and The Cambrian in the Swiss Alps, was bringing his creativity and brilliantly curated menus to Penarth with Touring Club.
In opening the attractive, elegant and charming bar-cum-restaurant with a modest but frankly delicious menu, the Denbighshire-born chef has teamed up with fellow founders Dylan Griffith, Rowan Hobbs and Grant Maunder who have all drawn on their own travel adventures to bring the best wine, beers and cocktails to Stanwell Street in the seaside town.
Opening quietly this June our visit was on the hop and we expected not to get a table - such is the buzz on the food scene about the venue. But we were in luck, first we parked up upstairs where there's a huge table for a big group or where the more friendly diner can sit next to other guests. But then a space opened up right on the bar which we jumped at, as at Touring Club you can sit and watch the chef and bar staff prep and cook your cocktails and food selections, like a front-row seat for dinner - a concept I'm a big fan of.
Read more: The brilliant people behind Wales' most beloved restaurant sat among the rolling hills
Another lush seating option is the long, high table in the front window space - which was in full flow on such a sunny, hot day, packed with diners and the atmosphere was noisy but jovial - everyone was having a great Wednesday evening, put it like that.
Enough about the seating arrangements, let's talk about the menu - which I, of course, perused ahead of time and got excited about. It's a small plate kinda place, so don't go in expecting a full meal - it's the type of place where you'll sink a few cocktails or glasses of wine and nibble on dishes like devils on horseback (£5), chorizo with mustard mayo (£8), roast scallops (£14) and, their absolutely incredible Swansea crab on toast (£12).
We ordered all the aforementioned dishes and then some, aiming to get as much of a flavour, pun absolutely intended, of Touring Club's wares as possible. As mentioned, the menu is small, but refined down to a point which sees the best of local ingredients and taste pairings made the utmost of. We added the Welsh rarebit (£10) and lamb cutlets cooked with lemon and salt (£17).
The dishes came out pretty quickly, but the beauty of sitting at the bar is you can see your dishes being put together. Rapidly we were tucking into the chorizo, Welsh rarebit and crab toast. The last two were big hunks of sourdough toast completely swamped in their toppings and all the better for it. I lost a few dollops of the cheesy rarebit topping such was its fantastic gloopiness - the tartness of the cheese mix and eye-pleasing browning of the top, it was a smashing.
But the crab on toast was something I'll keep going back for, the white crabmeat dressed on top layer was so fresh and there was loads of it - if you love seafood then it's for you. You'd think that would be it for a crab dish - but no, the separated-out darker meat had been blended and sassed with a splash of Tabasco. The combo of them both together, cracking.
We also couldn't get enough of the devils on horseback - dates wrapped in bacon - and the chorizo, they were like elite-level cocktail sausages, or a version of, or A-list buffet-level snack. The sweet and sticky dates were wrapped in the saltiest of chewy (a good thing!) bacon and were so very moreish. The bite-size chorizo, too, was a meat snack of the highest quality. They had smokey, paprika flavour and a gentle kick at the end of it. If you only need bar snacks with your beer, these are perfect.
Lamb and scallops next and we watched the cutlets being prepped, cooked and sizzled right in front of us, too. This meant we could smell their stunning aroma while tucking into our other things. So by the time we got them we were totally drooling in anticipation!
That anticipation was warranted. They were delicately cooked to perfection on the meaty medallion part and sizzled to a crisp on the rind of fat. Another must-order. In a cheeky move we doused the last bit of lamb in the miso-y-scallop-y butter and it worked so well. Those scallops were again cooked beautifully, fell apart to the bite and had lots of flavour from that miso butter.
While the food may be a big part of Touring Club's attraction, the drinks menu is superb, too. We started off with a glass of Palmer Brut Champagne (£12.50) and an enzoni, which is a twist on a negroni plus added grapes. The Champagne had a delicate fizz, sweet undertone but not too sickly and knocks its perhaps more well-known competitors into the shade, could easily drink a bottle. While the enzoni was a great pick-me-up, the vermouth of a negroni is replaced by lemon and sugar resulting in a lighter cocktail asthe sweet citrus works well with the bitter herbal flavour of the Campari. A glass of Demi-beouf Sauvignon blanc (£7.80) went well with the scallops.
Touring Club is going to be on many-a-foodie's hit list this summer, but it's the venue itself and the people of Penarth who will absolutely benefit in the long run. It's the perfect place to drop what you're doing and pop out for a glass of wine or a coffee and a snack - or be like us and go the whole hog and order three-quarters of the menu - what I mean is, it's going to get a lot of regulars. Partially, that's down to the staff, who are super friendly (not intrusive), knowledgable and for sure have the vibe of knowing your name by the end of your first visit. That kind of atmosphere is not easily earned, but Touring Club seems to be doing alright at it's only early doors.
And while the small plates are, I would say, a touch pricey on a few fronts (the scallops), what I think is important to remember is the quality of ingredients, the skill of putting the dishes together - which is on display right in front of you dish after dish - and where you'll find it, Penarth's status as a desirable place to live, cannot be forgotten.
But aside of all that, Touring Club is just a lovely place to spend an evening, where you'll be guaranteed top service, an impressive drinks menu and food choices that you won't regret, in fact you'll come back for them time again.
Read next:
