Before Covid Carmarthen was starting to garner a reputation as somewhere with a plethora of nice places to dine out - a healthy mix of independent restaurants and chain establishments fusing together within walking distance to create a town centre with something for everyone, whatever their tastes and whatever the occasion.
Unfortunately, the hammering businesses took across 2020 and 2021 saw the landscape change for many. Restaurants, bars and shops have come and gone; town centres left to bounce back and business owners left to hope that the appetite of the customer for good quality food on a night out is still as fervent as it was in years gone by. To get the latest What's On newsletters from WalesOnline, click here.
Carmarthen’s newest restaurant is located on Nott Square. The historic building has been a bar and/or restaurant before, and has closed for different reasons (expansion and Covid respectively) but it’s now taken on a new lease of life as Shikaku, an Asian fusion restaurant which is the brainchild of local man Ben James. As someone who loves food and loves Carmarthen, I thought it would be irresponsible of me to not check it out.
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As you walk into the two-storey restaurant and bar you are greeted by a clean and cosy area with a number of tables and chairs where you can enjoy a pre-meal drink as you ponder over the menu, which consists of a number of small plate options of Asian food. I’ve never been totally enamoured with the idea of ‘small plates’ - as someone who loves his food, my motto tends to be ‘the bigger the plate the better’, but I was intrigued about what was to come.
The menu is split into different sections: ‘Vegetables’ - salt and pepper tofu, tempura enoki mushroom, Chinese pancake, and vegetable gyoza, ranging from £4 to £8.50; ‘Meat’ - sticky beef, roasted duck bao bun, and shredded chicken, all priced at £9.50; ‘Seafood’ - sushi roll (£9.50), squid (£8.50), and shrimp gyoza (£8.50); Charcoal Hibatchi Grill - signature chicken satay, char siu pork ribeye (both £9.50); and ‘From the Wok’ - fried noodles, and stir fried Chinese greens, priced at £6 and £4.50 respectively.
Wanting to jump in at the deep end of the ‘small plate’ world, we opted for the sticky beef, the duck bao buns, chicken satay, pork ribeye, sushi, and a portion of noodles. What can I say? We were hungry. All this was accompanied by a lovely bottle of Chilean Merlot picked from a plentiful wine list. That might sound like a standard offering for a town centre restaurant, but there are places in Carmarthen where you ask what wine they have only to be told “red and white”.
We went upstairs to our table and the first thing that struck is how wonderful and intimate the space is. Every table was full but it didn’t feel overcrowded. Rather than pack in as many tables as possible, Shikaku has instead focused on getting the right amount of diners into a cosy space which overlooks the square below. This results in attentive staff being able to offer you space while simultaneously giving you everything you may need at any given time. Nothing is too much trouble, nothing takes too long, and you’re not left without food or wine for any considerable time.
Now then, the food. To my delight, the six (as I said, we were hungry) dishes came out on tiered trays like you were enjoying a posh afternoon tea, except instead of scones and cakes they were filled with delicious Asian food. I almost didn’t want to spoil the beauty of the presentation, but that particular idea didn’t last more than about five seconds given how nice it all smelt.
After binning off the chopsticks to avoid any more embarrassment, I started off with the chicken satays, which came with a delicious peanut sauce. They were so tasty I ate three of them immediately (before apologising to my co-diner). I then calmed down and ate like one is meant to at a small plate eatery - a bit of this, a bit of that.
A bit of sushi, which tasted as fresh as any I have ever tasted, a bit of duck with hoisin sauce in a soft and delicious bao bun, some sticky beef with teriyaki, chilli and oriental chimichurri sauce, and fried noodles mixed with shredded veg, bean sprouts, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, sesame, and teriyaki glaze....going from plate to plate was akin to eating at an all-you-can-eat Chinese restaurant but without having to leave your seat.
All the food was tasty, but special praise must be reserved for the pork ribeye, which had been sous-vide for 12 hours - a cooking method in which food is put in a container that no air can enter and cooked very slowly at a constant temperature in water (I Googled it so you don’t have to) - and topped with a honey glaze and crispy garlic panko breadcrumbs. All I can say is ‘wow’. It was a highlight among highlights, so much so that next time I might just make the ordering process easier and ask for the pork six times. Just due to how good it looked on the plate, we had intentionally left it untouched and it certainly turned out to be a case of leaving the best until last.
It was a delicious end to a delicious dinner. It felt like I had been for a glorious sit-down Chinese but without that ‘I’ve overdone it and I’m about to burst’ feel which often accompanies it. I was full, but not stuffed, a testament to the quality and freshness of the food that had been put in front of me.
Carmarthen does have a number of nice places to dine-out. It used to have more, but such is the way of life amid the difficulties of running and maintaining a thriving business during a time when everyone has to watch the pennies to make sure they can pay their energy bills. Shikaku has undoubtedly been added to the list of places you need to eat at in Carmarthen, and if the first visit is anything to go by, it should be a staple of the town centre’s dining options for years to come.
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