Purple Poppadom, restaurant review, food blog

My wifes family and my mum joined us for dinner at my favourite Indian restaurant in Cardiff. As they are Indian it was going to be a real test of the quality and innovation behind Chef Anand George's culinary expertise!

The Purple Poppadom is situated on Cowbridge Rd and is above a butchers shop. Not the most obvious or salubrious of places for Chef Anand George to set up his own restaurant, having moved from Mint and Mustard, on Whitchurch Rd.

It was a Sunday night and the restaurant wasn't particularly busy. It would have been nice to have been offered some poppadom's (£3.50)whilst we were supping on our wine, but for some reason they were not offered. We finally realised the error and quickly ordered some, unfortunately they hit the table at the same time as our starters and so were rather superfluous to requirements.

Our starters on the whole came in trios, a fantastic idea as it really is three different starters on one plate. My Prawns in the Pink (£7.95)were absolutely delicious. The prawns were perfectly cooked, seasoned and spiced and an absolute joy to eat. I had three different versions of prawns, Crispy tiger prawn , Kaffir lime marinated tandoori king prawn and Prawn Balchao – Goan style prawn.

My wife's Crab from the Pot (£9.50) consisted of crispy soft shell crab dusted with curry leaves and garlic, a spiced cake of crab encased in crispy breadcrumbs and a warm salad of crab meat and sweetcorn spiked with turmeric and coconut shell crab. All perfectly cooked and well seasoned and normally my favourite.

My brother in law chose the Boeuf a Trois (£7.95), which came as a spiced beef samosa, a Chapli kebab of minced beef and possibly every mans favourite a homemade twist on a beef and beer pie. I didn't get to try any which is a testament to just how good a starter it was, or that my brother in law doesn't like me!

We also tried the vegetarian starter of Fresh from the Creamery (£5.95) which consisted of three different cheese elements and was a very cheesy but tasty starter! On the plate we had Paneer ,an Indian cottage cheese with a hint of saffron and finished in the tandoor, Caws Aur, a golden triangle of grated ‘Tintern’ Welsh cheese interlaced with green chillies, cashew nut and fresh coriander, and finally a warmed goats cheese with a peppered beetroot and spinach salad.


I'm not going to go through all our food as their would be too many to go through and make this blog far too long. All I will say is that all our starters were some of the best food I have tasted in a long time.

Our mains arrived in good time and our wine was replenished although we did have to ask several times for our water, which really annoyed me, as they only had four other tables to look after.

My Tiffin Seabass(£14.95), Anand George’s signature dish, was perfectly cooked, three meaty slices of sea bass, pan seared and served on a bed of curry leaf infused mashed potato, with a tongue tickling raw mango, ginger and coconut sauce with beetroot pachadi. Wow, I'm not surprised its an award winner. An amazingly tasty dish that was just heaven on a plate.

My wife's Seabass Pollichathu (£14.95)was wrapped in banana leaf with a Kerala masala of shallots, garlic and curry leaves, cooked in its own juices and served with prawn risotto. So delicious, it was polished off before I took a photo!

My mum enjoyed the Murgh Chatpata Kolaphur (£10.50) and told me she thought it was a really well balanced dish and not too spicy and not too creamy for her. Phew!

 

My brother in law's Swordfish loin (Spirit of the Sea £13.95) marinated with coriander, mint and spices, grilled in the tandoor served with a South Indian style risotto and chilli garlic sauce was probably the best swordfish I have ever tasted. Perfectly marinated and seasoned. We're friends now!

We also ordered a variety of delicious naan breads(£2.50), Dal(£4.50) and Saag Khumb(£4.50), Saffron Pilau Rice(£3.75), but in all honesty you don't really need them. We ate them and I could hardly move. Saying that, we still managed to squeeze in dessert though; it was my birthday after all!

I had the Chef's selection of desserts (£8.00), which basically gives you one of each of the three desserts on offer.

The Chocomosa Anand (£6.50) is a light crispy pastry parcel filled with a melted Belgian chocolate ganache with homemade vanilla ice-cream, Rose petal creme brûlée and Tandoori Pineapple which has been quickly seared and served with coconut ice-cream.

The samosa (£6.50) is wonderfully crispy and oozes dark chocolate, the creme brûlée (£5.50)deliciously creamy and full of flavour and the tandoori pineapple (£5.95)is simple, yet refreshing.

Purple Poppadom is a wonderful gastronomic experience that I find difficult to fault. Chef Anand George has brought subtly and finesse to Indian food that has brought Purple Poppadom an Indian restaurant of the year award in its first year, and I would say it has truly earned it. Six of us ate and drank for £250, which for the quality of the food is good value for money, in my eyes. My only criticism would be that their front of house service just doesn't have the same attention to detail as the chefs put into their food. I have eaten here since and encountered the same problem, the staff forget to bring you water and this becomes extremely tiresome as I had to ask six times over the course of two hours. Full marks for the food let down by forgetful service.

Details:

Address: 185 Cowbridge Rd E, Cardiff, Canton, Cardiff, Cardiff CF11 9AJ

Tel: 029 2022 0026

Opening times:

Monday - Saturday

12pm-2:30 pm, 6pm–11pm

Sunday 12pm-2.30pm, 5pm-9.30pm

Tuesday hours 00:00–14:30, 18:00–23:00  -  See all

 

Al Timon, Venice, Italy

Al Timon, Venice, Italy

We were staying at the Domus Orsoni, which my wife had seen in a newspaper travel review of Venice. A lovely little Bed & Breakfast just above a famous mosaic foundry situated in the quiet Cannaregio district, Northern Venice.

Our host on arrival, Flavio, was particularly friendly, warm and welcoming, and gave us several recommendations on where to eat and drink.

We decided to visit all the places he recommended on our first afternoon so we could choose somewhere for our gastronomic extravaganza.

We popped into Al Timon, which was packed with locals and tourists alike. Al Timon is tiny but the sight of the cichetti (mini-bruchetta with different toppings) sitting on top of the bar and some great looking wines was just too tempting to pass up, so we stopped at the bar, had a couple of cichetti and two glasses of Barbera, chatted to the bar staff and booked a table there and then. The wood-beamed ceilings, random antiques, temperature-controlled wine cabinets and cool soundtrack formed a relaxed but quality impression and we couldn't wait to come back later.

In the evening we returned and were greeted once again to a full bar and there were even people standing outside and drinking in the rain! The atmosphere was gently buzzing and they bent over backwards to accommodate us. Our lovely waitress translated the menu for us and was charming throughout. 

 

We decided to try something new and potentially controversial to some, horse Chateaubriand. Whilst we waited, I foraged four different cichetti from the bar and a bottle of Barbera d'Alba. The wine was fantastic quality and at £18 was a bargain too.

The cichetti were mexican prawn, prosciutto ham with roasted artichoke, sausage meat with sage and roasted pork. All four were delicious, though the Mexican spiced prawn wasn't as spiced as we would have liked, we could have easily eaten many more!

Horse Chateaubriand for two served on a wooden platter surround by grilled marinated vegetables and chips. It tasted as good as it looks! The Chateaubriand came cooked blue, seasoned very well with salt, pepper and rosemary. 700 grams of horsemeat is a big meal between two, the equivalent of ordering 3 steaks back in the UK. The array of vegetables were lovely: steamed spinach, cannellini beans in rosemary oil, roasted red peppers and skin on chips. All were well cooked and seasoned, although the spinach would have been great seasoned with garlic. Interestingly, they offered to cook the meat a bit more when we'd eaten half the plate.The flavour of the horse meat medium rare definitely came through much more, well worth doing. A leisurely hour later we had just about finished, our taste buds satiated and stomachs full.

We were offered grappa and limoncello to finish off with as we had to refuse the dessert menu, slightly gutted about that!

Overall we had a great evening in a relaxed, informal, slightly chaotic environment, where if you take the time to get to know the staff, you can have a really authentic Venetian experience and some great food and wine.

Our bill came to £80 which is about average in Venice and we thought it was well worth it. We also left a 10% tip as the staff had been friendly and accommodating throughout.

Details:
Reservations essential for lunch and dinner

Al Timon
Cannareggio
Venice

Open Tues-Sun 12-10.30pm
Cards accepted

 

Smokehouse Wales, Food Blog, Restaurant Review

Smokehouse Wales has been open now for almost a month and we finally managed to get ourselves table! We happened to walk past and see that they had started opening for Sunday lunch. We popped in and were able to grab a table for three.

Smokehouse Wales is on the site of Diner 77 that was apparently a Cardiff institution, I always saw it as an out of date restaurant that was waiting to close down. Thankfully, Smokehouse Wales has taken its place and is a welcome addition to the culinary scene in Pontcanna. On entering the Smokehouse you are greeted by the smell of fresh wood. It's everywhere: the walls, the floors, the tables, the chairs. It smells amazing. We walked in at just gone 12pm and it felt a little as though they weren't quite ready for us. The waiter had to check and see if we could have a table and thankfully we could.

The menu is simple - smoked meat! Actually they do have a couple of vegetarian options but don't get your hopes up - smoked cheese only goes so far, as does Veg chilli for that matter. It's a smokehouse, it's not meant to do vegetarian food!

Whilst looking through the menu we were given a small dish of pretzels to help stave off the hunger. For drinks we had a couple of Cokes and some water. It was good to have bottles of coke rather than watery post-mix out of a gun.

Our mains took about 25 minutes to arrive, which did put us on edge a little but when the food arrived, it looked fabulous.

I had the pulled pork with BBQ (£10.95) sauce, chips, onion rings, poppy seed apple coleslaw and mixed smoked beans. Our dishes came served on lovely chunky wooden blocks and provided a bit of theatre.

My pork was moist, smoky, succulent melt in the mouth and covered in BBQ sauce. The chips, chunky and crisp, the onion rings homemade crunchy and not mushy. The homemade BBQ beans were lovely and smokey but the coleslaw was a little disappointing. The coleslaw wasn't seasoned well enough and the poppy seed didn't add anything to the flavour. I would have expected a fresher herb infused coleslaw bursting full of flavour.

My wife's half rack of ribs (£13.95) was enormous (apparently it was an end cut so we benefitted nicely) and came with the same accompaniments as my pork. The ribs were smothered in BBQ sauce, large and satisfyingly messy to eat. The mini saucepan of extra BBQ sauce, which really was finger licking good, was essential if you wanted to smother your ribs and yourself in sauce heaven! The meat was tender, smokey and had enough bite left in it to feel like you'd just finished off your first dinosaur.

Our friend's attempt to eat healthily resulted in a halloumi salad(£5.50), smoky BBQ beans(£2.95) and Smokehouse coleslaw(£2.95). Halloumi is a squeaky cheese to eat and was no more than satisfactory. I'm sure they could do better for a salad and only need look at Kemi's Cafe round the corner for inspiration.

This was a quick lunch so we weren't hanging around for dessert, but I did want a coffee to keep me going. To my horror they haven't had their coffee machine installed yet and couldn't even provide me with a Nescafé for a quick caffeine fix! Aaarrgghh! I got over it. Eventually.

Smokehouse Wales are in their first month and therefore still finding their feet. The food on the whole really was excellent with only a couple of mediocre offerings. The meat is clearly the star turn and is everything you'd expect from a smokehouse. The lack of a coffee machine is really poor considering all the social media hype they created before opening, you have to be ready to provide the whole experience. Unfortunately they're not quite there yet, but I must say they show great promise and I look forward to going back and having a full blown pig out in the near future. They have spent a lot of money on making the place look and feel good and the quality of everything in the place does stand out. I wish them every success and look forward to doing a full review in the near future when their "full blown menu" is published.


Details:

77 Pontcanna St, Cardiff, CF11 9HS

https://www.facebook.com/SmokeHouseWales

Open: Sunday 12-5pm
Monday-Thursday 6pm-9pm
Friday 6pm-9.30pm
Saturday 12-3pm 6pm-9.30pm

Tel: 02920 344628

Lilo, Kebabs, Food, Blog Review

Lilo's Kebab House is one of many Middle Eastern restaurants on Cardiff's City Rd but is one that I have been back to many times. The restaurant is a mass of people and noise just like in a bustling souk, jostling waiters and noisy managers shouting out instructions, organised chaos that appears to work. Lilo's has been full each time we have been and this Monday night was no exception. Yes, a Monday and they were full, not many restaurants can say that in Cardiff. We have booked on a couple of occasions but they never check and just give you the next available table. This can be 20-30 mins after you arrive depending on when you go!

We were greeted at the door by the manager who was dressed in a suit and appears to mainly greet and say farewell to customers. We were hurried to our table and given menus. We knew we needed to order our drinks quickly as they take time to make. Lilo's is a non alcoholic affair and do freshly made fruit cocktails. There always seems to be plenty of staff around but just one poor guy squeezing the life out of all the fruit. Hence your drinks quite often turn up after your food has arrived! A little frustrating so always order as early as possible.

I love the fruit cocktails (£2.50), I think they are a really good effort at trying to provide an alternative to a coke which is what most restaurants offer. My favourite tipple is the Pineapple, Orange and Mint Juice. Part of the fun is getting a massive brightly coloured curly straw - when I was a kid this is all that was needed for it to be an awesome meal out whatever the food was. Sometimes I feel that not much has changed! Yes, dating myself there a little but hey - each to their own!

The main event though is obviously the food. We ordered a first course of Baba Ghanoush, Hummus, Tzatziki and a plate full of freshly made naan breads to share, half eaten plate above!. This is the sort of food I love. Ripping apart a warm freshly made naan bread and mopping up a trio of dips is a relaxed and friendly start to any meal. The Baba Ghanoush (£2.95) is made from mashed aubergines that have been  roasted and mixed with olive oil and various seasonings. The smokiness of the roasted aubergine comes through perfectly. The Hummus Beruity (£3.25)is made from cooked, mashed chickpeas mixed with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic and was lightly dusted with chilli powder for a bit of extra kick(not sure if that's a pun on Beruit's turmoiled past). Tzatziki (£2.95) is made from yoghurt mixed with cucumber, garlic and salt. Tzatziki has always been a favourite of mine having spent the summer working in Crete when I was younger, there is nothing better than a gyros topped with tzatziki. This Greek starter in a Middle Eastern restaurant fits perfectly and although it didn't have enough garlic in it for my liking, although it  would probably suit most palates.

Unfortunately I forgot to take proper photos of the starters as we devoured them on sight!As you can see out of four naaan breads (£2.00) only one has survived for a photo call. We had to order another round of nana bread - bad idea - as you fill yourself up on bread but they're so good we couldn't help it.

For mains I chose Chicken Shawarma (£6.50). Shawarma is meat that is put on a stick and turned over heat or in layman's terms a kebab. Our chicken shawarma's had been well marinated and seasoned before being cooked over flames and were quite simply delicious. I always have mine with rice as I find eating them with chips a little offensive, although my wife seems to have no problem eating her Lamb Shawarma (£6.80) with chips and I always end up stealing some anyway. So not really that offensive! The meat on both of the shawarmas was succulent, tasty and perfectly cooked.

My mother in law chose Chicken Biriyani (£6.25)which was an unusual choice I thought in a Kebab House, but proved to be a winner. The rice was well seasoned and the flavours that came through really were top notch. Biriyani is an Indian dish that is made from rice, numerous spices and has various meat or vegetables in, and is usually accompanied by a vegetable curry on the side. The biriyani was lovely and spicy and might just be my next favourite dish on the menu.

Having absolutely stuffed ourselves on naan breads and two courses there was absolutely no chance we would be getting dessert. Desserts are not really something I think about when going out for a kebab and I couldn't even tell you whether they offer any.

Lilo's Kebab house is a Middle eastern restaurant that offers cheap, simple food in a fun and relaxed environment. I see the organised chaos and managers shouting at staff over the heads of their diners as an authentic Middle Eastern experience and that's fun! The staff don't have much personality and really are just plate bearers and order takers and if they forget something confusion comes first but you do get what you asked for in the end. I value it for the comfort food it provides me with, which comes at great value and am therefore happy to recommend it for that. Four of us ate a two course meal for £48.20.

74 City Rd
Roath
Cardiff
CF24 3DD

Tel: 02920 450089

Bill's, food blog, restaurant cafe review, Cardiff

Bill's is the most recent addition to the dining scene in Mill Lane and opened in October 2012. Mill Lane has become a dining destination gradually over the last four years, with the bars being beaten back to a secondary presence on the street, which is a blessing!

It certainly looks the part from the outside: a modern British cafe offering all day fare, but a massive step up from your average greasy spoon. Bill's is another chain to hit Cardiff and the owners are also responsible for Cote, although for how much longer who knows, as Richard Caring has recently sold his stake in the business for £113m. Not bad!

Bill's has brought a touch of class to the cafe sector and is as much a restaurant as it is a cafe. The outside looks smart and the fact that it always seems busy is a good sign and one that made my decision for me, when deciding on where to eat in the centre of Cardiff for a last minute lunch. On entering Bill's we were welcomed by a queue of six people waiting to be seated. The hostesses/managers were constantly sitting people and welcomed most with a smile. I was seated promptly on my turn and led to a small table in a corner with a comfortable looking banquette seat. Unfortunately my seat was not that comfortable as my bum was spread on the gap between two cushions, of which I could do nothing about. I squeezed myself into the corner to try and make it more comfortable and not encroach on the couple sitting next to us. Yes they do squeeze you in.

There was a lovely buzz of activity and people socialising all around us in Bill's. From the clientele you could tell that these were people who did lunch and were not hurrying back to work. A very middle class establishment that sells itself on quality rather than price.

The menu has a good choice of dishes and is the same for both evening and lunch, which can be a difficult balance to find, especially when most their competitors offer lunch deals to attract people in. Our waitress took our order in good time, I ordered a berry smoothie (£2.95)and my friend an apple juice (£2.30). It took about 10-15 minutes for our drinks to arrive which wasn't great, especially at lunch time when I would expect quicker service. They appeared to have plenty of staff on to cope with being busy. As this was a quick lunch we decided to order some mini Cumberland sausages cooked in honey and mustard (£4.25) whilst we looked at the menu in more detail. Although they took 20 minutes to reach our table they were delicious. Perfectly cooked and dripping in honey and mustard. A real treat!

Our mains also took along time to arrive at the table, a good twenty five minutes, as I said before if you're in a hurry this is not the lunch for you. My friend's chicken skewers with salad, pitta and coriander yoghurt (£8.95)was simple, healthy and deliciously succulent. A really good healthy dish and a moderate size, which is just as important as it is being healthy! Yes, he is on a diet and runs miles everyday.

My chargrilled marinated half piri piri chicken with rice (£10.95) looked appetising although on first appearances I was worried it might be dry. I was wrong! It was coated in a thick piri piri sauce that clung to the chicken and gave me the spice kick I wanted. Nice and crispy on the outside and succulent chicken on the inside. The rice was perfectly cooked and seasoned with good flavours throughout. An actual salad on the side would have given the dish balance as essentially it was chicken and rice on a plate and rather poor value for money.

We had two double espressos (£4.20) afterwards and asked for the bill, which took about ten minutes to arrive and we had to ask two people for it. Overall the bill came to £33.60, which was expensive for lunch in my eyes, and you can certainly find better value for money elsewhere. The service was slow but satisfactory and the staff polite, but not exactly filled with personality. It will be a while before I return to Bill's, I think there are better and more interesting places to eat in Cardiff, although I must say that Bills appears to be one of the better chains to hit Cardiff.

Open 8am-11pm everyday except Sunday 9am until 10.30pm

Bill's Cafe Restaurant
Wydham Arcade
Cardiff
CF10 1FH

029202313524

www.bills-website.co.uk

Unexpected lunch at Bar44 Cowbridge - food blog, restaurant review

On our way to Southerndown for an amazing coastal walk with my Mum and wife in tow (I am a lucky lucky man, they actually like each other) I tweeted asking for a suggestion for lunch and Bar 44 in Cowbridge came back. Initially we were heading to The Pelican in Her Piety but I've been wanting to try Bar44 for some time now as I love tapas, having been to Granada and Cordoba in recent years. Granada was a fantastic trip and the fact they give you free tapas with your first drink in most bars makes it even better.

Bar44 is located above Tesco express on Cowbridge high street, which is rather unfortunate, but has obviously overcome this on street presence as they have recently opened in Penarth.

As we were driving, alcohol was off the menu, which is a shame as the cocktail menu appeared to have a comprehensive list of classics, as well as their own interesting concoctions. We started off with just some simple bread and oil (£3.50). The olive oil is some of the tastiest I have ever tried and the addition of rock salt made it even more moreish. Soon to follow came seven dishes between three of us, as we chose off the menu del dia, which gives you a bargain 3 dishes for £10 or 6 for £18. Alternatively, you can choose off their normal menu or even the specials.

The chorizo in cider (£4.25) was just lovely. Thin slices of tender paprika pork sausage covered in reduced cider and oil - yum.

Lamb meatballs in tomato sauce were tasty but not quite as good as I've had elsewhere.

Fresh anchovies (Boquerones) in vinegar not oil (£4.25) allowed them to remain soft and milder in flavour and damn tasty. We love them but not everybody likes cold fish!

The classic Manchego cheese (£4) had a firm buttery texture and creamy sheep's milk tang to it and came with quince jelly and lightly toasted olive bread.

The pimento padrons were a request of my mum, not something I would have chosen. Apparently her favourite when on holiday in Spain. These are mini green peppers that have been pan fried and sprinkled with rock salt. Not my favourite but I did seem to eat quite a lot of them.

The cecina croquetas were stunning; crispy on the outside with a smoky air dried beef and creamy cheese filling. Some of the best we've ever come across and my wife's favourite; I was only allowed one!

Our last tapas dish came half way through ,the hake in San Miguel batter and saffron aioli. Unfortunately we devoured it before I could take a photo. Highly recommended as the batter was wonderfully light and crispy, the hake meaty and succulent, the saffron aioli delicately flavoured and not overpowered with garlic. Delicious!

Believe it or not we had desserts for lunch as well, much deserved I thought after a two hour walk. The Almond and Lemon cake served with lemon syrup and creme fraiche (£2.95) reminded me of eating marzipan a little but was delicately flavoured and definitely "a good bake". The deep fried mint leaf garnish was completely beyond me. Looked foul and should never have been allowed on the plate. The only real let down of the whole experience. For some reason it really annoyed me, more than it would do normally.

The cinnamon dusted churros with Pedro Ximenez (an amazing sweet dark dessert sherry) chocolate sauce (£3.95) were definitely the best I have ever come across. The doughnut batter was incredibly light and just melted in the mouth. I would personally have preferred a dark chocolate sauce as it would have contrasted wonderfully to the sweetness of the churros.

The service was polite and friendly although initially we weren't sure whether we were meant to order from the bar or our table, they did come and do table service. The rather poor stairway entrance to Bar 44 could do with a spruce up as could their toilets, as they let down what was a thoroughly good experience. If I hadn't known about them before I wouldn't be tempted to walk up that staircase to find out. Our bill came to £42.90 which included three coffees (£4.50) and a tea (£1.50). I felt that this was absolutely amazing value for the quality of the food and ingredients that we were served, and look forward to trying Bar44 in Penarth in the future.

Address: Bar 44, 44 High St, Cowbridge, CF71 7AG

Tel: 01446 776488

Website: www.bar44.co.uk

Closed on Monday nights

The New Conway, Pontcanna, food blog and restaurant review

The New Conway has established itself very well over the last four years as a good local gastro pub in Pontcanna and has certainly filled the void that is gastropub dining in Cardiff as a whole. So well done to its owners the Knife & Fork Ltd who also own Woods Brasserie (Cardiff Bay), The New Pilot (Penarth) and The Old Swan (Llantwit Major). I could probably list on one hand those pubs that truly live up to the title of gastropub in Cardiff, which is a shame considering the number of pubs we have. That's probably down to Brain's hold over the pubs in Cardiff, who I admit do good beer but on the whole do run of the mill food, although I understand that they are trying to change this at the moment as they have finally recognised that serving up bog standard pie and chips is no longer good enough across a diverse range of pubs in a multitude of socio-economic areas. Anyway I will be entertaining myself at a Brain's establishment in the near future to see how they are getting on!

Back to the New Conway. Its set in in the heart of Pontcanna for those of you who don't know it and in my experience normally hits the mark when it comes to the food. It is the only pub in Cardiff to gain an entry into the Michelin Pub Guide so they are definitely getting it right. After working a long stretch of night shifts I really couldn't muster the effort to get in the car and schlek across town to eat so decided on walking around the corner instead. I'm always a little hesitant to eat at the New Conway as sometimes I struggle to find something I want to eat and have sometimes been disappointed with my choices in the past. I put this down to the fact that they run a small kitchen with locally sourced ingredients and only prepare a limited amount of food for a small dining area and are always trying to experiment. So yes that is a good thing! Tremayne Haines, the Head Chef, can sometimes be a victim of his own experimentation, but on the whole produces great food at a good price.

The pub itself is small. The dining area is simple and modern, but at the same time cosy and warm just like a good pub should be. There is no table service so one orders everything at the bar and you choose what you are going to eat from a blackboard on the wall, slightly annoying but forgivable unless the bar is busy in, which case its really annoying. The New Conway rarely seems to have enough staff on to make your visit feel smooth and the manager (Phil Newbould) always seems to be running around, in a professional and hospitable manner. I do feel that he is a shining example of a hospitable and knowledgeable host and the New Conway are lucky to have him. No I don't know him, but have merely observed him ply his trade.

It took my wife and I a while to choose from the menu as it always does, the dishes never really jump out at me and I do have to think about what I want, that's probably a good thing though. We didn't try anything particularly adventurous but we wanted good ingredients, cooked well and ultimately provided comfort food, and I'm happy to say that is exactly what was delivered. Being exhausted we decided on no starter but dessert was definitely happening.

I chose the Calves Liver (£12.50) with bacon, onions, mashed potato and red wine jus. The calves liver was cooked to perfection, firm on the outside and a juicy medium rare on the inside - delicious and certainly put a smile on my face. In fact for me the whole dish was pretty much perfect and I don't say that very often. I can't remember the last time I ate mashed potato that was perfectly seasoned and suitably mashed. The butter, the seasoning and the smoothness of the mash just left me beaming and very much in food heaven; we don't really eat mash at home - not allowed the butter or the calories for that matter! I try to leave that for eating out. The calves liver came with two rashers of perfectly crisped streaky bacon, flavourful lardons, onions and red wine jus and a couple of pieces of kale. My only small criticism would be that I would have wanted more veg and really just seemed a poor token gesture. It would have been better altogether just to have left them off the plate and the bartenders recommend a side order of veg, which we had ordered. Just as well it turned out, lovely fresh vegetables perfectly cooked.

My wife went for their  special of the day BBQ pork ribs and chips (£9.00). Oh yes! They were fabulous. On arrival at the table my wife and I just smiled and said"Wow! They look great". We were hungry, and a pile of ribs smothered in BBQ sauce with chunky chips just looked like happiness on a plate. Fortunately they tasted as good as they looked. Plenty of ribs, good meat (although they could have been more tender) and spicy BBQ sauce, yum yum yum! The chips were good quality thick chunky and heavy and really hit the spot. My wife being the garlic fiend that she is ordered some aioli (garlic mayonnaise) to go with the chips and I have to say that for us it was rather lacking in garlic so for me was little disappointing, there again my wife pointed out that we do like more garlic than most. If a recipe asks for two bulbs we normally double it at least!



The manager brought us extra napkins and a finger bowl for the ribs, which were definitely needed and a nice touch. As I said before the manager was running around the pub flitting from bar service to food delivery and really could have done with one more member of staff for a smoother experience. We did have to wait about 25 minutes for our food and the kitchen buzzed the floor staff three times before they were able to get off the bar to get our food and it was a similar story for other diners. Good food is worth waiting for, but not because they don't have enough staff on. This is usually down to the owners who  limit the payroll on a weekly basis in order to make sure they make enough money. On the other hand maybe they were just a little busier than expected on a Wednesday night. If they could just be a little more prompt it would make the experience more enjoyable, their again table service would then make the whole experience a more expensive one as well! You get what you pay for.

Anyway on to dessert. We shared a dessert as we were starting to flag a little. Sticky toffee pudding  (£5.00) with dates and vanilla ice cream is fantastic, when its made properly, and we were not disappointed. The dessert was well presented, although I initially thought to myself, I want more sauce I was wrong! This dessert was so well balanced, soft light sponge littered with pieces of date, not too rich, was sublime. The toffee sauce again wasn't overly sweet and the vanilla ice cream matched the sticky toffee pudding so well that it lasted about two minutes. I couldn't help myself and my wife sensibly marked out her half before I completely devoured it. I have been known to finish a dessert within minutes; I don't share desserts very well, she blinks and its gone!



I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this visit to the New Conway and its probably the best meal that I have had there. The total bill came to £36.80 and included two pints of beer(£6.80). I left a tip of 10% as the staff and manager worked hard to ensure everybody was being looked after. Well worthy of its entry into the Michelin Pub Guide.

The New Conway
58 Conway Rd
Pontcanna
Cardiff
CF11 9NW

02920 224373

Opening Times: Sun 12pm-10.30pm, Mon-Thurs 12pm-11pm, Fri & Sat 12pm-12am

Web: http://knifeandforkfood.co.uk/conway