We revisited the brilliant .CN last night and I thought I'd share a few photos. The food was once again unique, expertly cooked and most importantly delicious. If you want to read my slightly more detailed thoughts on .CN then check out my previous review
here.
Half of our table of 7 opted for
Chinese hotpot. A bubbling pot of broth (half chicken flavoured and half fiery red, littered with dried chilli, chilli flakes and sichuan peppercorns) was brought to the table along with a cornucopia of raw ingredients. The table groaned with overflowing plates of king prawns, scallops, whole squid, wafer thin lamb, tofu, fish cake, fresh vegetables and noodles. A couple of bowls of sesame sauce and garlic and chilli dip also accompanied the hot pot to add a bit of extra seasoning. For £15.99 you can eat as much as you want for 2 hours (dangerous for those with large appetites). It was greatly enjoyed but after a while there were a few jealous glances from the other half of the table as they began to crave a little more variety in texture and flavour.
Myself and the other half of the table ordered from the regular menu. New highlights included a spicy, sticky and sweet kung po chicken and some addictive guoti (pan fried meat dumplings) filled with a moreish combination of pork and leek. Dan ordered the slightly more off the wall cold shredded pig maw with spring onions in chilli oil. The cold chewy maw was pretty tasty but ultimately just a bit too different for my palette.
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| Pig's Maw |
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| Kung Po Chicken |
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| Salt and pepper squid |
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| Pork in Peking sauce with pancakes |
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| Crispy lamb breast with ground chilli |
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| Guoti (pan fried dumplings) |
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| Golden King Prawn |
If you haven't been to .CN yet then you really must. It's totally unique as far as Cardiff's restaurant options are concerned.
The details:
.CN, 228 City Road, Roath, Cardiff, CF24 3JH, Tel: 02920 48 66 88
Well done on this blog, I didn't realise there were so many places to eat oriental food in Cardiff. I am a massive Chinese food fan and would be very interested to see your reviews on the riverside and the pearl of the orient although I would warn you not to waste your money on the latter if our last experience was anything to go by! It was dreadful!
ReplyDeleteAlso we enjoyed your reviews on the potted pig, I have had that crab twice and despite nearly blinding fellow customers with bits of crab shell flying all over the shop it is probably the best dish I have ever eaten.
Very enjoyable and entertaining blog, keep it up!
Ps. If you want to treat mrs G to a nice weekend I would recommend Mr Underhills in Ludlow, a michellin starred bed and breakfast and a well worth a visit.
@anonymous - Thanks for commenting. I'm glad you enjoyed the post and the blog too.
ReplyDeleteI'm really keen to visit Riverside Cantonese, Pearl of the Orient, Yang's and Double Super Happy. Heard particularly good things about Riverside.
Interesting how much you enjoyed the crab dish. Although I enjoyed it, I think I would have loved it if they'd removed the meat from the shell for me. I don't like to work too much for my dinner!
Would love to visit Mr Underhill's too. It's very much on my to visit list.
Best wishes.
Riverside is fab! Like I said PO the O was pretty dire on the last few visits, such a shame as it is in a perfect location.
ReplyDeleteBtw, I loved the work that eating crab involved, it was such a big crab it made you eat slower and not get full so quickly; my other half did get a little fed up and had to help me out as he had finished his dish about 1/2 hour before me!
Regards
First time to visit your blog - it is fantastic! Glad you enjoyed EAT CN as I love it too! Another Chinese restaurant I would like to recommend is Golden Corner in Churchill Way. As a Chinese who is a Sichuan cuisine lover, I reckon the Sichuan dishes there are authentic and the price is reasonable.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 9th Nov - Really pleased you like the blog. I'll be sure to visit Golden Corner. Thanks for the recommendation.
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ReplyDeleteVisited this restaurant last week. Thoroughly enjoyed the very flavoursome and distinctive flavours? The service was charming and helpful too.
One big problem. I couldn't see the hygiene rating displayed so, perhaps foolishly, looked it up on the Foods Standards Agency website. It got a frankly miserable 1. I want this restaurant to succeed and have been told that there might be all kinds of non-hygiene related reasons for such a rating - such as failure to complete paper work. However I am unconvinced, so until I am assured that there will be no rat droppings in my steamed dumplings I will wait hungrily for the time I can feel it is safe to indulge again.
Hubby & I ate there about a month And all was ok until at the end I visited the loos... they were filthy & no soap!! I then got more suspicious when I couldn't see the food rating clearly displayed (it was tucked away & not clearly visible) so I did some googling & found it has a 2. We didn't get ill but spent the whole night paranoid that we were going to... not nice!
ReplyDelete@Jo - Oh no, that's a real shame! I haven't visited in a while but it sounds like they've had a hygiene rating of 2 for a year or so now. That's pretty inexcusable having filthy loos with no soap.
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