Weekend in Cardiff

Friday evening and the sun is shining in Cardiff, so we head off early down to the Bay for a drink before dinner. It’s getting quite busy down there with the Bank Holiday weekend, but we find a place in the garden of the Eli Jenkins. Then at 8pm, we head into our restaurant for the evening – Bayside Brasserie.

The restaurant is up on the first floor, with big picture windows offering views of the bay and of the Millennium Centre. The tables are finely dressed with cloths and napkins and there is a big chandelier in the centre. Our table is by a window at the side – not the best view, but interesting enough.

Staff are attentive and bring menus and wine (a lovely Alan Scott NZ Sauvignon Blanc- £23) promptly. We order – and within ten minutes the starters arrive. B has the pan-fried scallops with a salad –very delicate scallops, top marks. I have the strips of calamari – rather more ordinary.

Main courses follow hot on the heels of the starters. B has the pan-roasted chicken with white bean and bacon fricassee – very interesting. My tenderloin of pork wrapped in Parma ham comes with a very strange black pudding mash – tasting of nothing, but looking rather revolting; the pork is good though. We’re both rather full, and feeling a bit disappointed that by 9.15pn, we’re through our meal and looking for something else to do with the evening. There are times when you want prompt service, but on a Friday away a more leisurely evening is what you’re after, though the meal was good value at £77.

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On Saturday we have a late lunch after the Wales-Barbarians match with my brother and his wife. He’s researched La Tasca on the net, so we head off there, in the so-called “Brewery Quarter” – ie the old Brains brewery building. The menu is slightly different from the one we have in Croydon – though as it has many “new” things on it, maybe the Croydon one has changed too.

We were expecting it to be busy, as there were 52,000 at the match, but when we are shown upstairs it is surprisingly quiet. It’s pretty sultry though – hot and humid- so we move to a table nearer the window.

We end up with each couple ordering dishes for themselves. We have king prawns, prawns in garlic, chorizo and empandas to begin with. The prawns are all very good, and the chorizo fine. The empanadas don’t have the same crisp pastry that our local Argentinian does, but the filling has quite a kick to it. We follow up with some Serrano ham and a paella “La Tasca” – with chicken and prawns, and mussels (well , one mussel actually). Excellent flavour though, so we hoover up all the rice. We have the rose Faustino with it.

At £40 a head for the whole thing, this was a very good lunch.

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Later that evening we head off out again, not that we’re really hungry. As it’s now pouring with rain we head for the nearest place, again in the Brewery Quarter – Spice Quarter. This stylish Indian is upstairs and is tastefully decorated with dark woods screens etc. As it’s quite late, there aren’t many people in, so we get a good table and prompt service, bringing a house Merlot and a mix of poppadoms.

We share the North Indian garlic chilli chicken – complete with 3 chillies on the menu – and a Delhi special lamb with chilli, ginger and coriander with rice plus a bhindi massala on the side. Both dishes are full of flavour and very rich - £50 for the lot was very acceptable.

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On Sunday, B’s uncle and his wife collect us and drive us to Penarth, to El Puerto in the Old Custom House, by the marina and the Cardiff Bay barrage. This is an elegant old building, nicely restored to house the restaurant, and its sister the Marinara upstairs. It’s a surprisingly big place, and so despite there being several large groups in, it doesn’t feel cramped or too busy.

We order some wine and drinks, and then head to the food bar. The thing here is that you go up to the bar to order your food, which is cooked (generally simply) for you and brought to the table. The food bar has all the meat and fish laid out for you to inspect, and the range of options is huge. I change my mind three times before settling on the calamari followed by the lamb noisettes, with the venison, duck and sea bass all being tempting. B passes on the starter and orders “crevettes” – in practice 6 huge king prawns. Our hosts have avocado and prawns, followed by duck breast, and asparagus spears followed by venison – half a herd.

The avocado was beautifully ripe, and apparently the asparagus were good too. Unfortunately, my calamari were a little on the rubbery side, with not very impressive batter. We all enjoyed our main courses, though the “seasonal vegetables” were barely touched. As we were treated to the meal, I don’t know how much it cost, but the individual prices looked very reasonable.

Service was very good and attentive, bringing fresh drinks, replacement napkins etc very promptly. So overall I’d say it was a good place for a relaxed informal lunch, especially if you had good weather and wanted a walk across the barrage.