I’ve got a lot of respect for any hospitality business that manages to survive for more than a year in the current climate.
So, it’s remarkable that Llandaff’s Summer Palace has been in the hands of the Chim family for almost forty years.
Located in a rabbit warren of grade II listed buildings close to Llandaff Cathedral, Summer Palace was buzzing on the wintry Saturday night we visited. Every table was occupied with generations of families and friends, and a steady stream of people arrived throughout the evening to collect takeaways.
It also says a lot about the popularity of the place that we booked three weeks in advance of our meal and had to slightly adjust our preferred time to secure a table. The well-oiled front of house team was clearly used to the crowds too – we had swift and friendly service throughout the night.
Summer Palace’s menu mainly comprises of British Chinese restaurant classics but a few notable points of interest in the chef’s specials include stuffed three delicacies (£15.95), mapo tofu (£13.95) and steamed seabass with shredded ginger (£19.95)
We mostly kept it old skool with our ordering.
Crisp prawn crackers (£4.50) were accompanied by a sweet chilli sauce with a good honk of garlic and throat tickling warmth.
Ice cold bottles of Tsing Tao, of course hit the spot.
There was no doubting the freshness of lettuce wraps (£8.95) – the iceberg lettuce leaves were as crisp as you can get.
Their filling of pork mince, crisp vermicelli, diced carrot and spring onion was a bit light on flavour, so I made good use of the spare sweet chilli sauce from the prawn crackers to pep it up a bit.
Sesame prawn toast (£6.95) was a bang on iteration of this naughty classic. Crisp fried bread, sweet minced prawns and toasted sesame seeds were all on the money.
Onto mains, and textbook crispy chilli beef (£12.95) was the standout of the meal. Crisp as you liked batter-coated beef slivers were coated in a sweet, sticky and zingy chilli flecked sauce.
Sizzling lamb satay (£18.95) saw a spitting hot skillet laden with tender nuggets of meat and crisp vegetables coated in a spice-thwacked thick and nutty sauce.
If it wasn’t for the high seasoning, then Singapore vermicelli (£9.50) would have been an unmitigated success. The mountain of comforting curry spiced noodles was flecked with sweet prawns, roast pork, fresh vegetables and omelette pieces.
So there we have it, we had a very tasty meal at Summer Palace with fair prices and excellent service. Is it reinventing the wheel? No, but with nearly 40 years of history, it’s more likely that Summer Palace invented the wheel.
The Details:
Address - Summer Palace, 2-4 High Street, Llandaff, Cardiff, CF5 2DZ
Telephone - 02922 973055 / 07368 231281
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