Opening a good restaurant, bar or cafe in an underserved suburb of Cardiff appears to be a recipe for independent hospitality success.
With the number of restaurants now competing in areas like Pontcanton,
Roath and Cathays, it’s on the fringes of the city where there are still gaps
in the market.
Mesen has built up a great reputation in Rhiwbina. Dusty’s looks to have settled in well at their new home in
Llanishen. And State of Love and Trust in Lakeside has quickly established
itself as one of the city’s best wine and craft beer bars.
Radyr is the most recent Cardiff suburb to have an exciting new independent hospitality business open on its doorstep in the form of Buds.
Billed as serving “brunch, small plates and patisserie”, Buds is co-owned by Andrew Minto, an acclaimed patisserie chef who won Bake Off: The Professionals in 2021, and Kate Parsons, the chef behind the excellent Nomad Kitchen.
The first thing that strikes you about Buds is the ridiculous number of delicious looking cakes and pastries on offer. Their macarons, cookies and cream layer cake, cinnamon buns, lemon meringue tarts, Biscoff cheesecake and s’mores pie would keep me occupied for a very long time.
But, we were here for lunch, so it would have been rude not to eat something savoury first.
On Bud’s menu there’s a selection of brunch dishes such as a fried breakfast (£13), steak benedict (£13) and French toast with bacon (£10) as well as a few really good sounding lunch dishes, including a bacon cheeseburger (£13) and fried chicken sandwich (£13). There aren’t currently any small plates on offer so I wonder if these will arrive with a possible evening opening in future?
Having been advised by a good friend that Bud’s breakfast bun (£10) was the best they’d ever eaten, I couldn’t really order anything else. It was really bloody good. A golden, light, soft and slightly sweet house baked milk bun was a first-class vehicle for a bevy of fried treats – good quality sausage, crisp streaky bacon, a fried egg, and a golden slick of melted American cheese. Saucing came in the form of a schmear of thick and sweet chilli jam. It was a very good condiment but it perhaps lacked the crucial acidity that ketchup or brown sauce provide.
On the side was a crisp cube of excellent hash brown. I’d gladly eat a whole stack of them.
Miso mushrooms on toast (£8) was a much more straightforward affair but every component hit the mark. Soft crumbed, buttered granary toast was piled high with golden mushrooms twanged with the savoury hit of miso.
We decided to share a market salad bowl (£9) so that we had a bit of greenery to go with our meal. I agreed on the proviso that we could order it with fried chicken (£4) on top. I’m glad we did, because it was top notch – the meat was impressively juicy due to its buttermilk marinade, and it was coated in a rugged grease free crumb.
The rest of the salad was very good – a sweet and earthy beetroot pickle was the standout whilst I also really enjoyed a crisp celeriac remoulade and mixed leaves topped with a fruity vinaigrette. A disproportionately large pile of mange tout was the only component that I wasn't fully sold on.
Whilst the savoury dishes were delicious, I couldn’t wait for dessert.
It’s no underestimation to say that a chocolate and salted
caramel tart (£4) was the best example of its type that I’ve ever eaten.
Gloriously rich, it combined a thin and hyper crisp chocolate pastry case
filled with thick salted caramel, a layer of silky-smooth chocolate ganache and
nod towards lightness in the form of a piped cloud of chocolate mousse. If
you’re into chocolate and caramel, then this an essential Cardiff dessert.
A funfetti cookie (£3.50) was a proper chonky boi. Crisp on the outside with a soft centre, it was flecked with lightly caramelised white chocolate chips and multicoloured sprinkles. It’s the kind of cookie which people queuing down the street for if it was peddled by a vibey Soho establishment.
We had a cracking lunch at Buds and it’s great to see it so busy after just five weeks of opening. If I lived closer, then I’m sure I’d be down there regularly to guzzle their sweet treats.
I’ve no doubt Buds will be another Cardiff suburban success
story. I wonder what the next one will be… are Thornhill and Pontprennau set to become home to exciting independent hospitality businesses?
The Details:
Address - Buds, 7-9 Park Road, Radyr, Cardiff CF15 8DF
Web - http://budscafe.co.uk/
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