Maison de Boeuf, Cardiff city centre restaurant review

There’s a few reasons why this blog includes a menagerie of restaurant reviews from places across the UK and beyond.

It’s not just in case you find yourself craving pork knuckle the next time you’re in Munich or roti canai when you’re waiting for a train at London Euston.

It also hopefully shows that I have a frame of reference when it comes to reviewing places in Cardiff.

There's no better example than when it comes to Maison de Boeuf, a new opening in Cardiff's Castle Arcade, which is unquestionably inspired by one of my favourite restaurants in Paris, Relais de L’entrecote. 

Having first opened in Paris's Porte Maillot in 1959 and gradually spread across the world, Relais de L’entrecote and its sibling restaurants offer a no choice menu of green salad followed by a main course of two portions of steak and chips. The steak is accompanied by a superb signature sauce which is made with a combination of green herbs like tarragon and thyme, chicken livers and butter; it's the kind of thing which would make even an old boot taste great. 

L'entrecote's success all comes down to their singular focus on doing one thing very well indeed. And then serving it to you twice. You could say it's a case of deja moo. 

So, how does Maison de Boeuf compare to the OG?

First up, a tick in Maison de Boeuf’s box is that you can actually reserve a table. In Paris we had to queue up before Relais de L’entrecote even opened to avoid a lengthy wait for a table. So, on a busy night in Cardiff where 60,000 people had descended on the city centre to see Beyonce, we were pleased to be able to waltz straight into the restaurant.

Secondly, the team behind the perennially popular Coffee Barker, Gin & Juice and Rum & Fizz have done a really good job at capturing a romantic Parisian ambiance. With its moody lighting, ornate chandeliers, crisp white tablecloths and red leather banquettes, it oozes French charm. There’s also the option to sit outside in the arcade and watch the world go by; an option which I took up in the name of decent food photography.

Maison de Boeuf’s selection of wine by the glass is the first thing which doesn’t quite hit the mark. Whilst there are a couple of French reds, whites and rosés on offer, their fizz by the glass is only prosecco and there's no champagne. And their dessert wine by the glass is a singular port with no sauternes or monbazillac. Sacré bleu.

We both kicked off with a couple of halves of easy drinking Bière Napoleon (£3.50). And I followed it up with a gluggable glass of Château Laulerie Bergerac merlot (£7.45).

Maison de Boeuf’s set menu offers a choice of one course for £20.95, two for £24.95 or three for £29.95. In the evening it seems reasonable value to me, especially with steak as part of the equation. But at lunchtime, when there's some cracking deals on offer at the city's top restaurants, it's less of a compelling proposition. 

There’s a selection of three starters available and unlike Relais de L’entrecote, none of them are green salad. 

Passing on the option of snails with garlic butter, I ordered a cauldron of French onion soup. With a good balance of savouriness and sweetness, it was chocka with soft caramelised onions and topped with a soup soaked crouton and a generous ooze of melted gruyere.

Mrs G enjoyed a twice baked cheese soufflé with a light texture that was bathed in a rich cheese and mustard sauce. Serviceable pieces of soft baguette acted as a good mop. 

Onto mains, and Maison de Boeuf does a good tribute act to Relais de L’entrectote.

Thin slices of extremely tender rump steak with a good level of beefiness were served an accurate medium pink; unusually there's no option for medium rare, only rare or medium. Hyper crisp golden fries were excellent – in fact these guys could easily open an offshoot called Chateau de Frites. And that secret sauce, whilst thicker and much less plentiful than in Paris, had a lovely herby, savoury, buttery intensity.

A bowl of lightly dressed frisée lettuce hit the mark as a side dish; it was nice to see the greenery still appear on the menu. 

Once we’d cleaned our plates, right on cue, we were offered the rest of our beef and more sauce and fries. Impressively there didn’t seem to be a limit to the amount of chips on offer as the waiter only stopped when Mrs G showed concern for my health.

A small quibble but it felt like the initial portion of steak and sauce was smaller compared to the second – it’s something which could be easily rectified by adjusting the balance between the two servings.

For dessert, there’s a good selection of classics on offer from tarte au citron to choux buns and cheese.

Both the puddings we ordered were underwhelming. However, hats off to the restaurant who were quick to take them off the bill when we shared our feedback.

Tarte tatin wasn’t tarte tatin – it lacked both crisp puff pastry and a layer of golden caramel. Instead, warm cakey pastry was topped with soft sweet apple and a dollop of creamy vanilla ice cream.

A Paris-Brest choux bun was soft and leaden instead of light and crisp and drizzled with an overly sweet chocolate sauce. But I did enjoy the bun’s hazelnut custard filling and fresh raspberries.

Overall, I enjoyed my meal at Maison du Boeuf, despite the issues with the dessert and wine list, and I think it does a good job at emulating the restaurants which it's inspired by. With its warm and friendly service and charming setting, I think it’s a decent addition to Cardiff city centre’s restaurant line-up.

The details:

Address - Maison de Boeuf, 21 Castle Arcade, Cardiff CF10 1BU

Web - https://www.maisondeboeuf.com/

Telephone - 029 2280 4462