12 of the best things I've eaten in Cardiff in 2022

After twelve years of blogging, I have to admit I’m beginning to struggle to sit down and write a new restaurant review every week.

Perhaps briefly turning my hobby into a job took the shine off things a little, or maybe it’s the fact that blogs have been gradually superseded by myriad foodie Instagram accounts. 

Or perhaps it’s just the realisation of the brutal challenges facing Wales’s hospitality industry and a nagging feeling that I need to support my favourite restaurants rather than finding somewhere new to talk about each week.

Cardiff’s restaurant scene has genuinely never been better and there are so many places which I could happily visit week in and week out without ever getting bored. 

Bar 44, The Heathcock, Thomas by Tom Simmons, Heaney’s, Longa, Milkwood, Pasture, Curado Bar, Kindle, Purple Poppadom, Nook, Salkaara, Asador 44, Casanova, Zi’s Cafe, Bacareto, Sibling and Curry Hut are just a few of the places which I wish I could visit more often.

But, it would probably be a bit boring to write about them time and time again on this blog. Therefore, I think I’m probably going to spend more of 2023 revisiting the places I love and less time writing about them.

Over the last 12 months there have been plenty of new (and more established) places which have served me some brilliant dishes. So, here’s a round-up of a few of the best things I’ve eaten in Cardiff in 2022:

The Betty Campbell - Ansh

Having eaten a bunch of burgers from Victoria Park’s Ansh, I can comfortably say that they’re my favourite in Cardiff (and Wales). There’s so much attention to detail, from their meat, which is sourced from Oriel Jones’s family farm in the foothills of the Cambrian Mountains, to their squidgy yet robust potato buns.

Each of Ansh’s burgers is named after a Welsh icon and it’s the Betty Campbell which is my pick. A pair of big-flavoured smashed mutton patties are topped with deep spiced Caribbean mutton curry, a crusty ooze of tangy Welsh cheddar and a drizzle of sweet and fiery Carolina Reaper and pineapple jam.

Chicken tenders - Fowl & Fury

Fowl & Fury’s Nashville hot chicken is my first port of call whenever I’ve got a fried chicken itch which needs scratching.

Their chicken tenders (£9) are my go to order and its their mild spice level hits the mark for me.

Whopping and gorgeously tender overnight brined chicken breast pieces are coated in a beautifully gnarly crisp crumb dusted with a spice mix with a lovely savoury and sweet complexity and lip tingling chilli heat.

Lamb mandi - Hadramowt

City Road’s Hadramowt serves a range of traditional Yemeni dishes but there’s one dish which everyone seems to order - lamb mandi.

The centrepiece of this multi-component dish is a huge mound of fragrant kaleidoscopic rice piled high with pieces of impossibly tender bone-in lamb and crisp caramelised and charred onions.

Mushroom Karaage - Matsudai Ramen

It’s a given that the ramen from James Chant’s Matsudai Ramen is delicious, from their fiery Sunset Red Tonkotsu to their seriously savoury and meaty Miso Ramen.

But, it was their triple-fried oyster mushroom karaage which knocked my socks off during a visit to their debut restaurant in Cardiff’s Grangetown. With its hyper-crisp grease free crumb, impressively meaty texture and accompanying Coronation-esque curry mayo, it’s a vegetarian dish which is even better than its chicken equivalent.

Chocolate cremeux - Sopra 73

Uniting three legends of Cardiff’s restaurant scene, Sopra 73’s gutsy French cooking is right up my street. Lamb sweetbreads, whole lemon sole and blushing pink venison all formed part of a memorable meal earlier this year.

However, it was a thick, smooth and decadent chocolate cremeux which lives longest in the memory. Its delicate bitterness of dark chocolate was excellent paired with a scoop of creamy salted caramel ice cream.

Throw in pre-dinner drinks at Glass of Bandol, located just a few doors down, and it makes for a great Whitchurch night out.

Meri-Ann - West Pizza

Whilst I’ve got a lot of love for RomEat’s Roman style pizza by the slice and Scaramantica’s bubbly Neapolitan pizzas, this year it’s West’s New York style pizza which deserves singling out.

Based in Kongs and Underdog bars in Cardiff city centre, West is owned by the same team behind Cardiff Market’s excellent Ffwrnes Pizza.

A whopping slice of their Meri-Ann margherita will set you back a mere £2.50 (or you can buy a whole 18 inch pizza for £13.50). A crisp and airy crust and a thin base combine nicely with a well-balanced tomato sauce and a big ooze of salty and savoury golden cheese. It’s the kind of pizza I could guzzle in large quantities.

Isle of Mull scallop - Gorse

Tom Waters is a chef whose name you’re going to hear a lot more about in Cardiff in 2023. With an impressive CV, which includes stints as sous chef at the Michelin-starred Bonhams in Mayfair and junior sous chef at Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck, Tom’s cooking incorporates techniques, ingredients and flavour combinations which are new to my many years of gluttony.

During a pop-up at Pontcanna’s Ground (he's just announced a residency there next year), one of the standouts was slices of plump and sweet raw Isle of Mull scallop adorned with pear slices and juice, smoked creme fraiche, and a cracking Amalfi lemon and British jalapeno kosho (a Japanese ferment), which delivered a hit of fragrant citrus and a deceptively fiery finish. 

Cheese and spinach borek - 4 Seasons

In terms of bang for buck, the cheese and spinach borek from 4 Seasons food store on City Road is probably my favourite Cardiff cheap eat of 2022. £1.49 buys you a whopping crisp and flaky pastry stuffed with salty cheese and vibrant spinach. Make sure you buy a £1 bag of freshly baked flatbreads whilst you’re there too.

Wild mushroom risotto - Casanova

Casanova’s wild mushroom risotto is one of my top comfort food dishes in the whole of Cardiff and it thankfully regularly appears as a special on their menu.

Risotto, a dish which is so often mediocre in the wrong hands, is pitch perfect at this seasonal Italian restaurant. From its creamy consistency, to the cooking of the rice, and its huge hit of funky wild mushroom and decadent parmesan cheese, everything about this dish is bang on.

Triple roast meats - Good World

Cantonese triple roast meats is one of my all time favourite dishes and it’s done well at Good World, a Chinese restaurant tucked away above a casino at Leckwith retail park.

The star of the trio was pork belly with hyper crisp crackling and well-rendered fat. Completing the threesome were sweet-marinated char sui pork and bronze-skinned duck served on top of soy-dressed fluffy rice and bok choy.

Tacos al Pastor - Wings of Glory

Run by a team who hail from Mexico and Colombia, Riverside’s understated Wings of Glory, is all about the food rather than the hipster vibes. Dishes on their Mexican, Colombian and Spanish focused menu include whopping arepas, freshly fried empanadas, sopes and tacos.

Excellent tacos al pastor combined soft corn tortillas topped with crisp pieces of marinated pork, slices of cleansing pineapple, white onion and coriander. A little pot of lightly smokey tomato salsa delivered a good thump of chilli.

Pakora scotch egg - Chai Social

An onion pakora scotch egg, it’s every bit as compelling as it sounds.

Golden crusted and light textured pakora surrounds a fudgey-yolked scotch egg and is served with a delicious sweet and tangy spiced tomato relish. It was one of the standouts of our meal at Chai Social, an all day drinking and dining destination, which earlier this year replaced the longstanding Mint & Mustard on Whitchurch Road.

Special mentions  

There are plenty of other Cardiff dishes which could easily have made the list this year from Asador 44’s epic fried breakfast and Heaney’s stonking Sunday roast, to Ceylon Spicy Pot’s copper coloured Sri Lankan aubergine curry, Zi’s Cafe’s fried chicken with dried chilli and leek, Salkaara’s saffron fragranced zafrani paneer, Saray’s tender mixed kebabs, Fresh Baguette’s peerless sandwiches, Nighthawk's cheese toasties, Malai’s cracking value Thai cooking and Longa’s beautiful Turkish breakfasts.

Further afield, we also had excellent meals from rising stars of the UK restaurant scene SY23 and Annwn as well as more established names like the Felin Fach Griffin, Stackpole Inn and Y Polyn. Leyli Homayoonfar’s Bab Haus, Alium in Barry, One O'Clock Gate in Dinas Powys, and Seven Lucky Gods at Newport Market also demonstrated there’s a lot of exciting things going on in south east Wales beyond Cardiff.

Cheers to lots more good eating in 2023 and supporting Wales’ vibrant independent restaurant scene.

Chai Social, Whitchurch Road, Cardiff restaurant review

The closure of Mint & Mustard on Cardiff’s Whitchurch Road earlier this year perhaps didn’t get the attention it deserved.

Whilst the Penarth branch of the restaurant still remains, its original base on Whitchurch Road was one of Cardiff’s most influential restaurants when it opened back in 2007.

It’s where Anand George started his culinary journey in Cardiff before leaving to open his critically acclaimed Purple Poppadom. The refined Southern Indian style of cooking which he pioneered at Mint & Mustard can now be seen in myriad restaurants across Cardiff.

Whilst Mint & Mustard’s Whitchurch Road branch is no more, it’s been replaced by Chai Social, a Mint and Mustard stablemate and the sibling of Cardiff city centre’s Chai Street.

What makes Chai Social particularly interesting is its billing as an all day drinking and dining destination. It certainly looks the part, with half of the space retaining a restaurant feel and the other adopting more of a colourful and casual cafe-bar vibe.

Mrs G has already visited Chai Social for a boozy night out. With their good range of punch, cocktails, craft gins and beers, it sounds look a fun place to have a session and something to eat.

Chai Social’s whopping menu offers something for every time of day with both classic Indian and fusion dishes available depending on your persuasion.

On the brunch and lunch section of there’s a full Indlish, kati rolls, loaded naans and even a bottomless brunch option for £30.

For lunch or dinner there are small plates, including tandoori cauliflower wings and slow-braised meatballs with kashmiri chilli sauce, as well as a selection of clay pot curries and larger dishes such as Ceylon devilled beef, a Social burger and Amritsari fish and chips.

We were drawn towards Chai Social’s express lunch menu, which is available from 12pm till 4pm from Monday to Friday, and offers a range of main dishes for a very well-priced £6.95. For research purposes (sheer greediness) we ordered three to share as well as an additional small plate.

Excellent thick and ice cold mango lassis (£3.50) had bags of tropical fruit and a creamy tang of yoghurt.

An onion pakora scotch egg (£6.95) was every bit as delicious as it looked; the golden crusted and light textured pakora surrounding a fudgey-yolked scotch egg. Whilst a slightly runnier yolk would have been preferable it was still a cracking bit of comfort food. It was accompanied by a delicious sweet and tangy spiced tomato relish and tasty yet run of the mill McCain-like chips.

The other stand out of our meal was a plate of okra fries (£5.60), which reminded me more than a little bit courgette fritti, one of my favourite beer snacks. A tangle of tender okra ribbons were coated in the lightest of batters. They were delicious scooped up by the fistful and dredged through a bowl of sweet chilli sauce.

A loaded naan bread (£6.95) certainly lived up to its billing. A mountain of very tasty things were piled onto a crisp and soft naan bread - coriander and tamarind chutneys, melted cheese, chargrilled paneer, crunchy pakora and poppadom pieces and crisp peppers.

It would have been rude not to put a curry through its paces and a chicken makhani’s (£6.95) spicing was bob on; the thick and creamy tomato sauce was fragrant with fenugreek and a good chilli heat. Plentiful chicken pieces could certainly have been a touch more tender but it was still a lovely curry accompanied by a mound of fluffy rice and poppadoms.

We had a very good lunch at Chai Social and it’s the kind of place I could genuinely see myself visiting any time of day. Whilst Mint and Mustard’s original home may be gone, it’s exciting to see the place start its next chapter as Chai Social.

The Details:

Address - Chai Social, 134 Whitchurch Road, Cardiff CF14 3LZ

Web - https://chaisocial.co.uk/

Telephone - 029 2062 0333

Good World, Cardiff Chinese restaurant dim sum review

Going out for dim sum as just a pair always feels like a busted flush.

With so many tasty morsels on offer, usually with at least three mouthfuls per portion, having to make do with just two appetites’ worth of food is a missed opportunity.

It was in this sticky situation that Mrs G and I found ourselves on a sunny Sunday at the Good World Chinese restaurant, tucked away above the Les Croupiers Casino in Cardiff’s Leckwith Retail Park.

We’d previously visited for dinner and enjoyed dishes of pan-fried three treasures, king prawns with garlic, and fillet steak with black pepper and macadamia nuts.

Now, we were back to try their dim sum, about which we’d heard good things and which is available every day of the week from 12pm till 5pm.

With an almost full dining room, we were surrounded by large groups of families and friends enjoying basket after basket of dumplings. It was a constant reminder of what we could have won.

With a selection of 70 dishes on offer on their tick list menu, we picked three dim sum and a larger plate to share.

A generous pot of fragrant green tea arrived first and lasted us for the duration of the meal.

Everything else followed in quick succession.

Triple roast meats, one of my all time favourite dishes was a good example and very well sized for £13.90. Better than our last visit, the star of the show was pork belly with hyper crisp crackling and well-rendered fat. Sweet-marinated char sui pork, bronze-skinned bone-in duck, soy-dressed fluffy rice and two token pieces of bok choy completed the delicious plate.

Crispy squid (£5.80) reminded me more of Chinese crispy beef than versions of the dish I’ve eaten elsewhere. It was still tasty. Thin fronds of grease-free crisp-battered squid were accompanied by a reassuringly day-glo sweet and sour dipping sauce.

Shanghai dumplings (£4.40) had sadly lost most of their meaty soup filling (their major selling point) but were still very tasty - the thin dumpling casings containing a well-seasoned pork mince filling.

They were lovely dressed with fiery chilli oil.

Last up were the best of the bunch, grilled pork buns (£4.50); crisp-edged, light, soft and squidgy buns filled with minced pork and chives.

We had a really tasty dim sum lunch at Good World. With fast and friendly service and so many more delicious sounding dishes on offer, we've already booked for a return visit with a large group of mates to do the menu justice.

Update - 01/02/2023

Since the above review I've had a few more meals at Good World and had some cracking dishes. 

A whopping portion of cumin lamb was packed with tender meat that was spiced with earthy cumin and plenty of ferocious chilli heat. 

Uber-crispy prawn dumplings were absolutely stuffed with sweet crustaceans.

So too were king prawn cheung fun. But this time, the crisp exterior was replaced with a soft and glutinous rice noodle coating.

Singapore vermicelli had a really good hit of curry spicing and was flecked with plenty of roast meat, egg and prawns.

Crisp cubes of turnip cake were coated in deliciously savoury XO sauce and dotted with crisp veggies. 

Sizzling fillet steak slices (£14.80) topped with buttery macadamia nuts were bathed in a thick sauce thrumming with black pepper.

Pan fried three treasures (£10.80) lived up to its billing - charred green peppers, soft aubergines, and creamy tofu pieces were each stuffed with sweet minced prawn patties and coated in a thick soy-based sauce with a good hit of black bean and garlic.

The Details:

 

Address - Good World, Capital Retail Shopping Park, 8, Leckwith Rd, Cardiff CF11 8EG

Web - https://goodworldrestaurant.co.uk/

Telephone -  029 2022 8866

Gorse, Cardiff pop-up restaurant review

Recalling a lengthy tasting menu to write a review often feels like trying to play a memory game.

I went for a dinner and I was served… suckling pig topped with kumquat reduction, trout skin crisps, dehydrated huckleberries, foraged oyster leaves, aerated blonde chocolate, and sashimi of Chilean spider crab. 

It’s especially tricky when your dinner is cooked by Tom Waters, a chef whose modern Welsh cooking incorporates techniques, ingredients and flavour combinations which are new to my many years of being greedy. 

With an impressive CV which includes stints at Odette’s under Bryn Williams and the Square with Phil Howard, Tom was also sous chef at the Michelin-starred Bonhams in Mayfair and junior sous chef at Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck. 

After his illustrious stint in England, Tom has returned home to South Wales with the ambition of opening his own restaurant and in the meantime he’s running a series of pop-ups under the name Gorse.

Having heard rave reviews from trusted sources who visited a Gorse event at Glory Stores, Mrs G and I swiftly booked in for a pop-up at Tom Simmons’ Ground in Pontcanna. 

Offering a single 8 course tasting menu for £65, it seems like a fair price considering the chef’s pedigree. 

Gorse’s wine prices are reasonable too with a small selection on offer by the glass starting from £3.80. We shared a very enjoyable bottle of crisp and fresh Bodegas Arousana Luzada Albarino (£21). 

We were the second of the staggered tables to arrive for the night but the dining room eventually filled to capacity and it was seriously impressive to watch Tom single-handedly cook for 20 people, aided by two friendly and knowledgable front of house staff. 

A trio of pretty, flavour-packed snacks were a statement of intent.

Cubes of trout tartare and a throat-tickling horseradish cream were loaded into a crisp pastry case whilst an ultra-fine crisp topped with a hunk of oily mackerel, a sliver of pickled ginger and a herbal shiso leaf delivered a sushi-like mouthful. 

A slice of carrot tart, with its crisp flaky pastry and deeply caramelised sweet-savoury root vegetable, reminded me of a savoury tarte tatin. 

The ultimate tear and share buttermilk loaf was served steaming hot. Its golden crust was a lovely contrast to a seriously soft crumb and it was delicious slathered with creamy salted butter which delivered a very subtle after note of sea-like nori. 

Isle of Mull scallop was one of the first standouts of the meal. Huge slices of plump and sweet raw scallop were joined by pear slices and juice with a nice acidity, smoked creme fraiche, and a cracking Amalfi lemon and British jalapeno kosho (a Japanese ferment) which delivered a hit of fragrant citrus and a deceptively fiery finish. 

A clever riff on a cacio e pepe was the meal’s other highlight. Made with daikon radish instead of pasta, the tender yet al dente root vegetable brought lightness to the dish as well as a mild peppery and earthy complexity. Coated in an umami-rich, buttery and peppery sauce made from 32 month aged Parmesan and Sarawak pepper, it was a gorgeously decadent plate.

A chunky and flaky piece of North Sea cod would perhaps have benefited from a little bit of colouring in a pan (Mrs G disagreed) but is was delicious accompanied by a vin jaune sauce, which was at once creamy, dry, fruity, savoury and a little bit funky. The crunch of walnut and cutting acidity of preserved turnip brought balance the dish. 

Exceptionally tender and well-flavoured Rhug Estate venison was joined by the silkiest of chestnut purees and a tart, intensely-fruity and salty damson puree, sweet charred onions and a glossy sauce. Arguably the only unnecessary element on the plate was a piece of overly-salty and under-shroomy hen of the woods mushroom. 

Dessert was the only less-than-excellent dish of the meal. A light and creamy mousse flavoured with the merest hint of floral jasmine was topped with excellent soft-textured sheep’s milk ice cream and a bright and citrusy clementine and olive oil soup. It was all very tasty but it felt like it needed both a bigger oomph of flavour and more texture contrast. 

But, it was lovely accompanied by a glass of light and fizzy moscato d’asti (£5.50) which was twanged with honey sweetness and stone fruit. 

Petit fours ensured the meal ended on a very high note. Crab apple pâte de fruit was soft and wobbly with a lovely fruity tartness and a pebble of soft and buttery caramel was sprinkled with salt. The star of the show however was a warm and toasty brown butter cake with a soft crumb and crusty caramelised edges that was dotted with sharp plum puree and fragrant coriander seeds. 

Our meal at Gorse was one of the most memorable we’ve eaten in Cardiff this year. Tom Waters is a huge talent and he’s certain to make a big name for himself on the capital’s restaurant scene. 

When he pops up again, I highly recommend booking in pronto. Handily, he's just announced two more dates at Ground this December. 

The details:

Web - https://www.gorserestaurant.co.uk/
Telephone - 07864 923 231