Laguna, Park Plaza, Cardiff - Afternoon tea review

Birthday afternoon tea with Mrs G and the mother in law is fast becoming an annual ritual.

In fact, it’s pretty much the only day of the year I eat a proper afternoon tea. The reason being, it messes with my strict 3 meal a day regime.

I mean, what are you supposed to do with a meal in the middle of the afternoon?

Miss lunch or dinner to make room for all those cake and sandwiches?

Add in a fourth meal to my already calorific diet?

You can see my conundrum...

Last year we visited the charming Pettigrew Tea Rooms in Bute Park. This year was the turn of Laguna at the Park Plaza hotel.

Served 1-6pm daily, £15 buys you an afternoon tea with a choice of speciality tea or coffee. £25 will add in a glass of Veuve Clicquot rose champagne.

Sandwiches were made with fresh, crust-trimmed bread and a good selection of fillings – smoked salmon, egg mayo, ham & mustard and cucumber, dill & cream cheese. All the fillings, however, were meagre in quantity.

Scones & Welsh cakes were excellent. Warm, fresh and accompanied by generous dollops of clotted cream and jam.

The cake selection was also on the nail. A fruit tart made with crisp pastry, vanilla custard, fresh berries and kiwi fruit was the pick of the bunch. Enjoyably chewy mini meringues could have done with little more of their delicious, sharp lemony filling. Lastly, a mini custard slice and a cream topped chocolate mousse were both delicious.

Other than the stingy sandwich fillings, there were a couple of other niggles. Firstly, whilst the pot of English breakfast tea I ordered was perfectly decent, it wasn’t a patch on the excellent loose leaf teas on offer at Pettigrew Tea Rooms or Waterloo Tea Gardens.  

Secondly, service was seriously patchy. In spite of the dining room being largely empty, once our tea had been served we were pretty much forgotten. As a result, it was a struggle to catch anyone’s attention to order additional drinks.

Overall, we really enjoyed afternoon tea at Laguna. I’d definitely go back if I ate afternoon tea more than once a year...

The details: 

Address: Park Plaza Hotel, Greyfriars Road, Cardiff, CF10 3AL

Telephone: 02920 111 103

Web: http://www.lagunakitchenandbar.com/

Also read - Sunday lunch at Laguna, Park Plaza http://gourmetgorro.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/laguna-park-plaza-sunday-lunch-cardiff.html

Spice Berry, Indian restaurant, Cardiff City Centre review

Anand George’s influence on Indian cuisine in Cardiff cannot be underestimated.

His former restaurant, the excellent Mint & Mustard, still has many dishes on the menu from the time when he was head chef; the Chocomosa and the Tiffin Cup winning sea bass for starters.

At his current restaurant, Purple Poppadom, he’s refined his concept of “nouvelle Indian cuisine” even further and raised the bar once again for Indian food in Cardiff.

His style can also be experienced at a third restaurant and this brings me to today’s review...

Spice Berry has Chef SundaraMoorty Krishnasamy at the helm. Krishnasamy has worked at both at Mint & Mustard and Purple Poppadom and unsurprisingly, the result is a remarkably similar dining experience to both.

I’m certainly not complaining - it means the City Centre now has an awesome curry house and another independent restaurant to disrupt the chain dominance.  

I’ll get the minor criticisms out of the way first so I can bang on about how much I enjoyed last night’s meal.

Firstly, Spice Berry’s Caroline Street location above a kebab shop isn’t the first place you’d think of for a decent meal out. However, one taste of Spice Berry’s food and Chippy alley is quickly forgotten.

Secondly, pre-dinner poppadoms (£2.50) were disappointingly lacking crispness. In contrast, a chutney selection comprised of potent lemon, delicate mint & ever present mango was on the nail.

To start, I ordered the Spice Berry veggie trio (£5). Soft, creamy, saffron marinated Tandoori Paneer and a crisp Dahi Chat with a sour tamarind & creamy yoghurt filling were both frigging lush. A potato and lentil Navadhaniya patty, spiced with ginger and coriander, would have benefited from a slightly crisper exterior.

Mrs G ordered the Chicken Tikka (£5.90) - three tender pieces of delicately spiced chicken.

A Spice Berry non veg trio (£7), consisting of a chicken samosa, sheek kebab and chicken tikka, was also highly rated.

For mains I went for the Lamb Shank (£11.50). The tender and well proportioned shank was splendidly spiced. It was accompanied by a medium hot creamy curry sauce and finely diced potatoes tempered with mustard seed and aromatic curry leaf.

Mrs G’s Paneer Makhani (£8) was also top notch. Soft cheese was bathed in a rich, creamy, mildly spiced tomato based curry sauce.

A Kerala Kozhi Curry (£8.75), a traditional Keralan chicken curry, was heady with coconut and fragrant curry leaf.

Saffron pilau rice (£3.75) was light and aromatic.

Raitha (£2.25) with cucumber and red onion was declared the best Mrs G had ever eaten.

A soft Keema naan (£2.50) was filled with a red and green pepper flecked spiced lamb and chicken patty.

Dessert was the most déjà vu inducing course of the evening...

I ordered the Chef’s dessert platter (£6.50). Tandoori pineapple flavoured with honey and saffron, a textbook fragrant mango crème brulee and a Choc n Roll (essentially a cylindrical chocomosa) were all bloody lovely and nigh on identical to those served at Purple Poppadom and Mint & Mustard.

Spice Berry is an ace restaurant and a welcome addition to the City Centre. The food they serve is refined, interestingly spiced and prettily plated. 

Next time I’m in the mood for some Indian food on Caroline Street it’s reassuring to know my options now extend beyond chicken curry off the bone with chips from Dorothy's.

The details:

Address – Spice Berry, 30 – 32 Caroline Street, Cardiff, CF10 1FF

Telephone – 02920 099 199

Web - http://spiceberry.co