Yelp Cardiff

8/3/2016

Cardiff seems to have a good scene for independent coffee shops and this one is no exception. A comfortable, friendly coffee shop with a surprising amount of (quirky) seating and big bright windows.

I went straight for their own cold brew coffee (that comes in a lovely little bottle) which was excellent, nice and mellow, leaving me refreshed and suitably caffeinated. I'd expect the hot drinks match the quality.

I wish I'd had a little more time to be able to settle in or go back, seems a good place to set up for a few hours, and when I left I wished I could take it back home with me to…Read more Cardiff seems to have a good scene for independent coffee shops and this one is no exception. A comfortable, friendly coffee shop with a surprising amount of (quirky) seating and big bright windows.

I went straight for their own cold brew coffee (that comes in a lovely little bottle) which was excellent, nice and mellow, leaving me refreshed and suitably caffeinated. I'd expect the hot drinks match the quality.

I wish I'd had a little more time to be able to settle in or go back, seems a good place to set up for a few hours, and when I left I wished I could take it back home with me to do just that! I suspect that if I had more of a chance to try everything they have this would get 5 stars.

8/1/2016

Oh, this  place.

I was brought here as a surprise birthday present (I hate surprises, they make me horrendously nervous feeling unprepared, but this was an excellent one).

We arrived later than we hoped, and were greeted with a warm and cheerful welcome, and directed to where we could find dinner in the area so late, which was gratefully received advice! We carried our bags up the narrow winding steps and awed over the room before rushing out for food.
The cabin room, where we stayed, has the best views, and to appreciate this further, the four poster bed is raised to chest height on…Read more Oh, this  place.

I was brought here as a surprise birthday present (I hate surprises, they make me horrendously nervous feeling unprepared, but this was an excellent one).

We arrived later than we hoped, and were greeted with a warm and cheerful welcome, and directed to where we could find dinner in the area so late, which was gratefully received advice! We carried our bags up the narrow winding steps and awed over the room before rushing out for food.
The cabin room, where we stayed, has the best views, and to appreciate this further, the four poster bed is raised to chest height on me (I'm 5'4"/5"), so you wake up to a view out to the estuary.

The bathroom was lovely, with an excellent modern shower, all the rooms were adorned with ships in bottles, paintings, shells and various seaside memorabilia.
The bed was comfy, there was a fridge outside on the landing with milk, and space to put your wine and bubbly, and a noisy lighthouse biscuit tin.
You can take your bubbles up to the roof, and enjoy the bulb room, or the outside area with the hot tub, and tardis- you heard me right.

I had an excellent night's sleep, and breakfast was amazing. Sharing a long table with the other guests, everything was lovely, including the true B&B judge, decent, not slimy, high pork content sausages, yay! And it was checked if we all liked dogs before a very friendly collie joined us. There is a fair amount of ghost banter, which isn't my thing, but we kept politely quiet, because it's interesting to hear all the same.

I would definitely recommend this place, but you definitely need a car to get here and do the surrounding things- but a reasonably short drive to beautiful cardiff is great.

8/1/2016

Should you ever find yourself in Newport, Wales - and there's absolutely no reason to think you should unless you live there or are lost - then you will find a lunchtime trip to Ridgeway Bar and Kitchen a wholly satisfying affair.
We stopped here on the way from London to Pembrokeshire. It's half way and it was lunchtime and call us mad but we weren't fancying the Little Chef. A quick look online had some bizarre suggestions for good places to eat just off the M4 including a Mcdonalds and a service station where you could buy sandwiches. We needed to dig deeper. Eventually we found a…Read more Should you ever find yourself in Newport, Wales - and there's absolutely no reason to think you should unless you live there or are lost - then you will find a lunchtime trip to Ridgeway Bar and Kitchen a wholly satisfying affair.
We stopped here on the way from London to Pembrokeshire. It's half way and it was lunchtime and call us mad but we weren't fancying the Little Chef. A quick look online had some bizarre suggestions for good places to eat just off the M4 including a Mcdonalds and a service station where you could buy sandwiches. We needed to dig deeper. Eventually we found a write up for a small place in the Newport suburbs which didn't sound grim.
The write up did it a disservice. It's an excellent place. Nestled on a residential road with bungalows and rhodedendrums everywhere, you wonder how anyone but a local would ever know about this place. Perhaps that's all they need because the place full when we got there.
It's a bar/restaurant which has been done out in a sort of American pantry style, lots of whitewashed wood, all bright and airy. The menu is full of good classics, calamari, smoked mackerel pate, ham hock etc, and there's a grill section with burgers and steaks. If you ordered two courses in the right combination you could get a lunchtime deal of £12. Cue finding the most expensive things available on that deal. I had hanger steak, the missus had a fish medley and Stanley had the usual.
It's fair to say my steak was nothing short of excellent. Full of flavour as that cut always is, but with the added charcoal grill charred criss cross. Very satisfying. Crispy fluffy chips accompanied and so did a juicy field mushroom and tasty grilled tomato. I chose a bernaise sauce which was unctuous and tasty, with the nice sharp vinegar reduction. The only bit of nit picking was that it wasn't quite warm enough. Didn't stop me mopping up the lot. A simple dish executed to perfection.
The fish plate was a similar story. Small chunks of battered cod done perfectly, some very tasty calamari, a trout pate and some good bread to spread it on. Great stuff.
Stanley's hamburger was juicy and tasty and the bun had a good glaze but was satisfyingly doughy.
Buoyed by the superb mains and encouraged by the lunchtime deal we ordered a brownie and an apple crumble. Both were stupidly tasty and moreish which was lucky because the portions were generous in the extreme.
It occurred to us that the people here are concentrating on keeping the food simple but executing it perfectly. Nothing is worse than a simple dish done badly. Nothing better than a simple dish made with love and care.
The service was wonderfully friendly, two bright and breezy sisters who were happy to stop and chat even though the place was packed.
Newport may not be the most buzzy of places but the locals are lucky to have the Ridgeway Bar and Kitchen, as good a lunchtime stop off as anywhere 150 miles east up the M4. We'll be stopping here on the way back.

7/29/2016

Delicious and worth the walk from the center of Cardiff. Bit of a wait, but who cares when the fish and chips are super crisp and tasty? Really enjoyed our meal here, and our 10 year old thought it was the best she's ever had. Good stuff.

7/28/2016

This place is lovely, a really nice place to walk around in and discover bits of welsh history. Free to enter, which is a novelty for an English girl like me, as places of this vain over the border such as blists hill and beamish charge entry.
You can leave a donation, and there's a small fee for parking, but after that you're on your way.

You can take a picnic, or you can eat in one of the cafes, get stuff from the bakery.
We ate in the cafe, and had the welsh afternoon tea, welsh cakes, scones, sandwiches, all lovely, the bakery wasn't open as late as it said on the door, which was…Read more This place is lovely, a really nice place to walk around in and discover bits of welsh history. Free to enter, which is a novelty for an English girl like me, as places of this vain over the border such as blists hill and beamish charge entry.
You can leave a donation, and there's a small fee for parking, but after that you're on your way.

You can take a picnic, or you can eat in one of the cafes, get stuff from the bakery.
We ate in the cafe, and had the welsh afternoon tea, welsh cakes, scones, sandwiches, all lovely, the bakery wasn't open as late as it said on the door, which was the only bummer, but the rest of it was great. A mock village made up of buildings of different eras, with a good number of buildings that illustrate history and culture.
Livestock, shops, gardens, vehicles, all informative, with signs in welsh and English.

It's open air, so its a family/couples/cultural friends day out for a pleasant day, you want to give yourself some time to get around it!