A few months ago, Cardiff was treated to its first Danish bakery in the form of Brød on Wyndham Crescent, Pontcanna. Locals may recognise the location as the former site of wine merchants Phillip Morgan and Son, which closed in 2014 after around 85 years of service.
The bakery has had a full revamp, with wooden walls and flooring and a long counter displaying a tantalising selection of traditional Danish pastries and freshly baked breads.
Brød is owned by Betina Skovbro, an experienced baker who moved to the UK from Denmark in 1998 and worked as a photographer until she decided to her follow in her grandfather’s footsteps by opening the bakery.
Whereas in Denmark, pastries are eaten at breakfast and are very much a part of a wider takeaway culture, Brød recognises that the British like to sit down and meet with friends while they enjoy their pastries with a coffee, so there is more of a cafe atmosphere here.
The bakery has proven to be very popular with the community and I’ve read many an article that mentions the queue that can usually be seen trailing out of the door.
Luckily, there was no queue when I arrived with my housemate, James and his friend, Nathan on a cold, wet Saturday a couple of weeks ago, although the bakery was very busy and there weren’t any tables available at first. We were more than happy to place our orders at the till (as is common practice at Brød) and wait for a table to become available.
Within less than ten minutes, we were seated at a table in the centre of the bakery. Each table was affectionately decorated with a small Danish flag sitting in a dainty glass bottle, in addition to a votive candle in a glass jar.
A waiter kindly brought our coffees over to the table. A strong, rich cappucino (£2.65) was served in a cup and saucer topped with a thick frothy layer, carefully finished with the Brød logo in chocolate sprinkles. This was accompanied by a small metal loaf tin filled with rock sugar cubes.
Fancying something savoury before we moved on to the sweet pastries that Brød is known so well for, I opted for a Rundstykker (breakfast roll) with butter and cheese (£1.50). The breakfast roll was soft and fresh, lightly dusted with flour. It tasted delicious with the fresh butter and the cheese, which was a mild, creamy cheddar.
Meanwhile, James and Nathan both opted for the soup of the day, parsnip and chilli, garnished with fresh cream and parsley and served with a bread roll and butter (£3.95). The flavours were very subtle and the chilli gave the soup a gentle, spicy kick – just the thing to warm you up on a cold winter’s day!
James chose to replace his bread roll with a tomatog oste snegl (tomato and cheese snail; £2), which was light and soft with just the right balance of cheese in the pastry. This can be seen at the top of the below picture.
The Danish pastries were served on a sheet of greaseproof paper on a wooden paddle board and they looked completely irrestistible. I couldn’t resist the look of the chokolade boule (chocolate ball; £2); a light, fluffy pastry, not overly sweet, topped with a thick layer of milk chocolate. It didn’t disappoint.
James went for the Kobenhavner (Copenhagener; £2), another soft, light pastry, more savoury than sweet, this time rectangular-shaped and covered in poppy seeds.
Nathan was drawn to the chokolade snegl (chocolate snail; £2), a Danish pastry rolled into the shape of a snail and topped with milk chocolate and multi-coloured sugar sprinkles. This was the most appealing of all the pastries to look at and I wouldn’t mind betting that it tasted pretty good too!
I really enjoyed my first visit to Brød; the bread and pastries were so fresh and tasty, while I was completely blown away by the value for money – you really can’t go wrong with £6.15 for a cappucino, bread and cheese roll and a chocolate pastry. Needless to say, I’ll definitely be returning here – I just wish it was closer to where I live!
Brød – The Danish Bakery
126 Wyndham Crescent
Pontcanna
Cardiff
CF11 9EG
www.thedanishbakery.co.uk
oh my goodness, this looks incredible! I want to go! I live in the North East though… what a shame. Glad you enjoyed it. Such an amazing price.
Thanks Katie. If you ever visit Cardiff, you know where to go 😉
This place must be doing very well if it’s had queues out of the door! I can see why, the decor inside is lovely and those pastries look so delicious. I think the chokolade boule looks like it would be my favourite. x
Apparently there is almost always a queue here, and I’m not surprised. It’s delicious food!
Those pastries look great, I think I would have gone for the chocolat ball too.
The chocolate ball was amazing. I could eat it again and again (but probably shouldn’t! Hehe)
Ooh I wish they had this in London that soup and the tomato and cheese pastry sound amazing!
Ooh, do you not have something similar in London? I would be surprised if you don’t have a Danish bakery up there.
This post is making me hungry, lol. Looks so yummy.
Tell me about it. When I wrote it, I felt like I could eat my body weight in pastry, haha.
This definitely looks like my kind of place. I ate so much bread and baked treats when I was in Denmark. I think it would be dangerous living near somewhere like that haha
My housemate loved it here because he’s been to Denmark and so he really enjoys going here. It was his idea to take me here 🙂
Damn being on a diet. Those pastries and breads look amazing.
Aww I know the feeling. I have gone on a diet since visiting Brod, and I was on it whilst writing the review too – torture!
Oh wow this place looks amazing!
Thanks, I love it here!
I think I would want to eat absolutely everything if I visited, yum!
Me too! It’s all so irresistible.
The bread and pastries look amazing and the soup looks pretty good too! What a great place.
Thanks, I’d definitely be ordering the soup if I went there again – which I’m sure I will do! 😀
This looks like such a cute little place. I love finding hidden gems. Ive never been to Cardiff but I’d love to visit.
Great post hun
Charlotte x
Thanks, this is lovely little place. I highly recommend it. 🙂
Wow, those pastries look absolutely amazing compared to my local deli x
Thanks Rachel, they were the tastiest pastries I’ve eaten in a while!
This place looks fab and what reasonable prices – no wonder they are busy! It looks like the kind of place my kids would love to eat too – we’ll have to check it out!
Thanks Ali, it’s lovely here. The value for money is great and the food was flawless. Such a treat!
I think if I had a place like this on my doorstep I would really struggle not to visit it every single day! oh YUM!!
I know, it’s going to be hard for me to keep away. Good job it’s two bus rides away from my house 😉
Love that everything is topped with a layer of chocolate!!! These pastries sure look tasty 🙂
Me too! They were amazing.
Oh wow – I wish this was near me – it all looks SO delicious! What fantastic value for money too! Kaz x
Thanks Kaz, I’ll definitely be heading back here soon 🙂
oh I am so jealous right now and hungry the pictures area amazing
I need all of those pastries right now! They look sooooooo delicious. This place sounds so cute and amazingly yummy! I agree the snegl looks the yummiest!
Thanks Deanna, me too.