Ember, Pontcanna, Cardiff set menu review

In an alternate timeline, I’m a man who lunches.

During the working week, I’d go for a spot of bird spotting before enjoying a set lunch at one of Cardiff’s best restaurants with a glass or two of wine. Of course, I’d then head home for an afternoon nap.

In this parallel universe, one of my regular haunts would be Pontcanna’s Ember. 

With a daily changing set lunch and early evening menu offering three courses of Dave Killick’s cooking for £30, including bread, there aren’t many better deals on offer in the city. 

And with its cream and contemporary art bedecked dining space, it’s a stylish yet informal place to lunch. 

Whilst Ember’s main menu offers sharing plates like braised Welsh lamb shoulder with green sauce (£48) or British seafood stew with fermented chilli (£32) as well as a selection of fresh pasta dishes, their set menu is more focused on the latter. It makes sense, with pasta being cheaper to make compared to more expensive meat and fish. 

To drink, glasses of grassy Sentidiño Albariño (£8) and appley Vinho Verde Loureiro (£6.50) were both delicious.

Piping hot focaccia had an excellent crisp crust and airy structure, and it was delicious dredged through a silky smooth, hummus-like, white bean and roasted garlic dip. But it was perhaps slightly too drenched in olive oil and its crumb a tad dry compared to the last time around.

Both starters were belters. A gorgeously juicy and light crumbed piece of boneless buttermilk quail was cooked with care when it’s so easy to dry out. It was accompanied by a coarse and zesty salsa verde and char-licked baby gem. 

A mountain of shatteringly crisp light-battered courgette batons sat on a terracotta pool of smoky, nutty and savoury romesco sauce. It was an understated yet whopping flavoured dish.

Both our pasta dishes were big hitters on the flavour front too. 

Linguini was bathed in a sweet white and earthy brown crab laden sauce with a big wallop of chilli and garlic, savoury hit of anchovy and fragrance of parsley. A dusting of pangritata provided welcome crunch.

An even bigger portion of fettucine was bathed in a creamy sauce flecked with wild mushrooms and courgettes and dressed with slithers of salty air-dried ham, more crunchy breadcrumbs and a flurry of savoury cheese. 

Our desserts were both befitting of one of the last hot days of the summer.  

A warm, light crumbed lemon sponge had excellent caramelised edges, a bit like a madeleine. Combined with sweet macerated strawberries and thick coconutty fig leaf custard, the pudding had a luxury trifle vibe. Mrs G was planning on giving me most of it, but it was so delicious that I barely got half… 

Across the table, the lightest and crispest of meringues was topped with thick vanilla-scented whipped cream and crowned with finely diced sweet peaches and raspberries. Slivers of fresh mint add a compelling freshness to the dish. 

We had an excellent lunch at Ember. Their technically accomplished yet understated cooking, warm service, and stylish setting make it one of Cardiff’s best openings in recent years.

In an alternate timeline, I’d be going back next week for lunch to see what’s new on their set menu. 

The Details:

Ember’s set lunch and early evening menu is available from Wednesday to Friday 12.00-2.30pm and 5.30-6.30pm.

Address - Ember, 5 Romilly Crescent, Pontcanna, Cardiff CF11 9NP

Web - https://www.embercardiff.co.uk/

Telephone - 029 2297 2274

The Shed, Swansea Marina restaurant review 2025

Considering the ridiculous number of restaurants on my “to visit” list, the chances of us ever revisiting anywhere outside of Cardiff are very slim.

So, it says a lot about how much I enjoy a restaurant if I’ve visited it multiple times.

The Broad Chare. Upstairs at Landrace. Osip. Le Champignon Sauvage. Noble Rot. These are the obvious ones that spring to mind, but there really aren’t very many.

The Shed in Swansea is the latest restaurant to be added to this elite group.

Since visiting shortly after it opened in February last year, The Shed has garnered a clutch of glowing reviews in the national papers.

The reason why it was probably so quick to grab national attention is because it’s owned by Gorseinon native Jonathan Woolway, the former long serving chef-director at St John in London, arguably the UK’s most influential restaurant of the past 30 years.

Located in a former grain warehouse in Swansea Marina, The Shed’s unembellished industrial aesthetic very much belongs in the St John mould. So too does their understated yet flavour-focused seasonal cooking.

A rich seam of Welshness runs through the Shed’s menu, from the produce to the dishes. As expected, I wanted to eat everything on it from black pudding with fried egg (£13) to braised Gower lamb with mint sauce (£29). And its priced fairly enough so that regular visits could be a possibility, especially considering they serve a set lunch menu offering three courses for £28. 

On the night we visited Jonathan wasn't there, but the team calmly worked away in the open kitchen.

Wines, a much bigger selection by the glass than when we last visited, were all lovely. A summery Quinta Raza Vinho Verde (£7.20), vanilla-scented Don Placero Tinto Rioja (£7.20) and nectar-like Ginestet Sauternes (£5.20) were a few of the highlights.

Cockle croquettes (£8) were a lovely bit of nostalgic comfort food. Briny cockles and bechamel in a golden crumb were elevated by a generous dash of malt vinegar and an assertive dust of white pepper.

Patti pan (£13) was a new one on the both of us. It also now happens to be Mrs G’s new nickname. Soft sweet squash pieces were nicely charred and served on leaves dressed in a fragrant mint vinaigrette and creamy ewe's curd. It was the ideal light dish for a hot sunny day.

Sardines (£12.50) are one of my favourite fish, but I know having to fillet them puts a lot of people off. Here someone had gone to the trouble for me and I didn’t find a single bone. All the accompaniments enhanced the oily fish - a vibrantly herby and acidic mojo verde, zingy pink pickled onions with a good crunch, and sweet and fiery pickled red chillies.

Onto mains, and a very good yet smallish skate wing (£27) was uniformly caramelised all over and accompanied by toothsome French beans and a big flavoured nutty, sweet, smoky and spicy romesco sauce.

I love rare breed Mangalitza pork, so I didn't look past the roasted chop (£28) when I saw it on the menu. However, when it arrived, it was disappointingly well-done, dry and chewy. I enquired as to whether that was how it was supposed to be cooked, the manager checked with the kitchen, informed me that it wasn't, and a replacement was knocked up.

This time it was served with a blush of pink, and it was immeasurably better for it. Gorgeously caramelised with a brilliant intensity of flavour and a crisp cap of fat, it was a knockout chop.

Kaliboos cabbage was another new vegetable that I hadn’t tried before. Appearing like a cross between a hispi and a red cabbage, it was served as a lovely sweet spiced braise. Meaty cooking juices, pokey wholegrain mustard and apple sauce completed the dish.

A side of Welsh rarebit (£8) was inevitable. A textbook example with its cheesy beery mustardy topping, a nice bit of tableside theatre saw it grooved with a knife and splashed with Worcestershire sauce.

Mrs G loved the Shed’s bara brith (£9.50) so much last time that there was no decision to be made when it came to dessert. Served warm with a knob of butter melted into it, the loaf’s soft crumb and crisp edges were bang on. Accompanied by pieces of salty and funky Teifi cheese, it was a lovely sweet savoury dessert.

I was in the mood for something naughty and a bowl of baked cookie dough (£11) from the specials board very much fit the bill. The combination of rye, hazelnut and dark chocolate was just on the right side of sweetness with extra indulgence coming from a scoop of fragrant honey ice cream.

Despite the hiccup with my main course, we had another excellent meal at The Shed and a third visit is inevitable. It really is a privilege to have a chef of Jonathan Woolway’s calibre running his own restaurant in south Wales.

The Details:

Address - The Shed, Unit 1-2, J Shed Arcade, Kings Rd, Swansea SA1 8PL

Web - https://theshedsa1.com/

Telephone - 01792 712120