South Kitchen, Roath, Cardiff Yemeni restaurant review

I’m all in favour of compact restaurant menus.

It’s normally a sign of a focus on a few things done well.

At one point Burger & Lobster had the city’s most compact restaurant menu with just three dishes on offer. Whilst it’s long gone, and was pilloried by many at the time, I still think their burger is one of the best Cardiff has ever seen.

Nowadays, the accolade of the city’s most compact menu most likely belongs to South Kitchen, a Yemeni restaurant on Albany Road.

There’s a choice of just two main dishes - lamb mandi or chicken mandi.

It’s clearly worked well for them so far as they’ve recently relocated from their original base in Adamsdown to the former home of Ichiban, a venue with a bigger kitchen and dining room.

On my first visit at six o’clock on a weeknight I bagged the last table. When I attempted a second visit around 6pm on a Wednesday, there was no room at the inn. So, I went even earlier a few nights later and thankfully it was much quieter.

South Kitchen’s dining room is split into traditional Arabian-style floor seating and conventional sit-down tables. However, wherever you sit, your dining space will be covered with a disposable plastic sheet. It’s clearly a sign that mess is inevitable. 

On my first visit, I ordered the lamb (£15) and I was swiftly brought a large stainless-steel plate piled high with rice and meat.

Beautifully tender, slow-cooked lamb with wobbly fat nudged off the bone with ease – I think there was a bit of shank and some ribs. There was a much lighter touch with the spicing and caramelisation compared to Hadramowt’s version, but it was still very good.

A vast amount of fluffy rice was compellingly perfumed. I kept on going back for more and more. Thankfully, there was more and more. 

There was also raw white onion, a slice of lemon and birdseye chillies. I gave the former a miss, but a squeeze of lemon brought welcome zest whilst a nibble on the chilli bought a kick of capsaicin.

A pair of dips brought bags of flavour too. A super fresh and cleansing blend of tomato, parsley and chilli had pico de gallo vibes. Creamy yoghurt with a nutty and peppery twang of tahini and hit of garlic was enjoyable but a slightly acquired taste.

On my second visit, I ordered the chicken (£10). A yellow-skinned half bird was soft of flesh and delicate of seasoning; I made a right mess teasing it off the bone with my hands. It was lovely but I think the lamb edged it for me.

If you’re looking for a restaurant with a compact menu, either because you like to see a few things done well, or just because you’re not very good at choosing what to order, then South Kitchen’s Yemeni cooking is well worth a look.

The Details:

Address - The South Kitchen, 167 Albany Rd, Cardiff CF24 3NT

Telephone - 07547 396432

Gorse, Cardiff Michelin-starred restaurant review, 2025

Stop the clocks. Ring the church bells. Launch the confetti canons. Mint the limited-edition coins. Publish the commemorative blogpost.

Cardiff has its first ever Michelin-starred restaurant.

Repeat, Cardiff has its first ever Michelin-starred restaurant.

For many of you this won’t be news. After all, Pontcanna’s Gorse was awarded the accolade back in February 2025.

However, I’ve only just got around to visiting since they’ve been awarded the star. And after years of questioning if and when Cardiff would ever be recognised by the tyre people, the time has finally come.

Whilst the Michelin Guide and its brand of fayne dayning has become increasingly irrelevant to many. For certain hospitality professionals, journalists and ‘foodies’, it’s still the benchmark accolade for recognising the highest standards of hospitality.

Having followed Gorse since its initial pop-up days in 2022, I’m very glad to see it become Cardiff’s first ever Michelin-starred restaurant.

Tom Waters’ cooking feels modern, distinctly Welsh, and refined yet approachable.

If this is Cardiff’s destination restaurant then I’m sure it will leave a very good impression for visitors to the city.

So, what’s changed since our visit to Gorse in June last year?

Well, it’s a case of evolution rather than revolution with marginal gains in the standard of cooking. Desserts felt particularly strong this time around when perhaps they’ve been less memorable than the savoury dishes.

It looks like there might be another member of staff or two to share the load. It's a lot harder to bag a reservation. And there’s been an almost inevitable increase in the price of the tasting menus. The seven-course menu now costs £95 instead of £75 whilst the ten courser costs £125 instead of £100. Still, Gorse’s tasting menus compare very favourably pricewise with others in Wales.

This time around we went for the seven-course tasting menu with paired wines (£75).

It’s hard to say exactly how good value the smaller tasting pours of wine represent compared to drinking by the glass or bottle, but it was an excellent selection that matched well with each dish. The standouts were a trio of whites, a herby Thymioloulos Malagouzia and Assyrtiko blend, a crisp Loimer Gruner Veltiner, and a lemony and slightly buttery Restless River Chardonnay. The only disappointment was a White Castle 1581 port style wine that lacked the richness and punch of fruit of the style it emulated.

But first, a bowl of cold spring vegetable tonic - a palate livening cold broth full of fragrant fresh veggies with bright acidity.

Then, a trio of snacks, the standout for me a crisp cornet filled with thick and earthy preserved mushroom puree with pickled juniper.

Both a rye cracker topped with roasted yeast cream and a dollop of smoky pike perch roe...

and a buckwheat tart filled with raw trout and salty pearls of trout roe very much hit the mark too.

The evolution of a familiar dish saw meaty raw bass accompanied by a creamy, sinus tickling horseradish cream, discs of cleansing apple and herby lovage oil.

It was great to see celeriac on Gorse’s menu. One of my favourite vegetables, it only ever seems to crop up as a remoulade or the occasional soup. Here, a spoonably soft wheel of the celery-fragranced root vegetable was bathed in a creamy and lightly tangy buttermilk sauce pocked with chervil oil.

A delicately cooked, meaty piece of turbot was treated with the love it deserves. Bathed in an oregano scented buttery sauce and accompanied asparagus, it was a corker of a fish dish.

Gorse’s signature Bum Bread™ inevitably showed up at some point. With a loaf of the warm, glossy, light-crumbed and slightly sweet bread served per person, it ensured there was no fighting. This time it was accompanied by a plain cultured butter. I think it was an improvement on their seaweed butter, allowing the excellent bread to take centre stage.

Welsh mountain mutton, a protein which features far too infrequently on restaurant menus, had a superb depth of flavour, tenderness and layer of melting fat. A glossy sauce dotted with pickled mustard seeds, a clever morel mushroom stuffed with mutton sausage meat, silky wild garlic puree and asparagus completed the excellent plate.

Dessert felt like it came around too quickly. And I perhaps had a pang of regret that we hadn’t opted for ten courses.

First up was a riff on strawberries and cream. Creamy chamomile custard hid a layer of thick strawberry puree and was topped with a quenelle of strawberry sorbet. The scent of preserved rose came in somewhere but I’m doubting the details after all the booze.

The star of the sweet courses was a glossy, toasty and wobbly set oat custard with a lightly smoked raspberry jam and apple caramel. Crème caramel is one of my favourite desserts in the world, so this was right up my street.

Finally familiar treats came in the form of a squidgy brown butter cake topped with blueberry puree...

and a cube of clever carrot jelly with lemon verbena sugar.

This was another excellent meal at Gorse and it’s great to see Tom and the team win the accolade they fully deserve. In a way, the star is also a recognition of Cardiff’s hospitality scene as a whole, which has improved immeasurably over the last fourteen years that I’ve been writing this blog.

If you’re looking for a special meal in Cardiff, then you won’t go wrong with a visit to Gorse.

The Details:

Address - Gorse, 186-188 Kings Rd, Cardiff, CF11 9DF
Web - https://www.gorserestaurant.co.uk/
Telephone - 02920 372055