Your Last Mouthful

Cardiff based food blog

Tag Archives: Cardiff

Miller And Carter Steakhouse- Surprisingly Good Steak

Leave a Comment Posted by on May 15, 2013

When it comes to eating out, a chain restaurant would be very unlikely to make my shortlist. I’m yet to find one I love but that doesn’t mean I won’t give them a chance so I was very grateful to be invited along to Miller and Carter Steakhouse in the grounds of the Cardiff Red Dragon Centre.

I have to admit, the location didn’t give me high hopes but once inside, I was pleasantly surprised. It was very busy for a Monday evening and we were promptly shown to our seats next to a lovely modern fire. The atmosphere was cosy with low lighting and candles on the tables. It had an obvious chain feel to it with staff in uniforms and their polished speeches ready, but it was nice and we felt relaxed.

Our drinks orders were taken straight away but we did have to wait a while for our food orders to be taken but it was extremely busy. The waitress who took our orders was very friendly and knowledgable. She was able to talk in detail to us about the different cuts of steak available and how they should be cooked. When I told her I usually like my steak rare but due to guidelines about eating rare meat when pregnant I had to have it well done, she politely suggested a different cut of meat to the one I had picked that was best served medium- well done. I was impressed, and I have to say she was definitely right.

Along with the steaks, there was a varied selection of alternatives available from fish dishes to burgers to pasta. For me it was all about the steak but it was very nice to see that they cater for everyone and the dishes looked very appealing.

To start, I ordered a Cherry Tomato, Mozzarella and Rocket Salad and Mr V had Black Pearl Scallops. Both were very well presented, and looked of a high quality. My salad was very nice. It was fresh and simple with a good flavour combination.

Mr V’s scallops were served on a bed of black pudding and pancetta with a balsamic glaze. The flavours worked beautifully together but the scallops were slightly over cooked. It could have been lovely if the scallops were cooked perfectly.

WP_20130408_005

For our mains, I went for a rump steak medium-well done with a peppercorn sauce. Mr V was going to have Barbecued ribs but they had run out (we were told this immediately and very apologetically) so he opted for a rare fillet steak with a Béarnaise sauce. The steaks arrived with fries, onion loaf and roasted cherry tomatoes. All steaks were also served with a lettuce wedge with a sauce of choice served as an accompaniment. I chose a bacon and honey mustard dressing and Mr V chose garlic and chive mayonnaise with Parmesan.

The lettuce arrived at our table about 10 minutes before the steaks which seemed a little odd. In fact I found the whole concept of an iceberg lettuce in a bowl with a meal slightly unusual but it did actually work quite well once the rest of the food arrived. It was nice to have something fresh and crisp with the meal.

photo-5

The steaks were very good. My rump was tender and juicy and cooked perfectly as was Mr V’s fillet. The chips were ok but I personally like to have chunky chips rather than fries with my steak but that is just a personal preference. The onion loaf was an interesting alternative to onion rings.

Fillet steak

Fillet steak

The only compliant I have was that the peppercorn sauce wasn’t very pleasant. It didn’t taste like any peppercorn sauce I have ever had before or would want to have again. It was thin and runny, not creamy like I’d expect.

Rump Steak

Rump Steak

Service was generally very good apart from when Mr V ordered another glass of wine when the mains arrived. The wine was not brought to us until after we had finished the mains and the plates had been cleared so we sent it back. That was disappointing and this is where I find some chains very lacking. Rather than having one waiter or waitress throughout the meal, each had a different role. Mr V ordered his wine from one person, when she eventually told the bar staff, a ticket was printed and put on a tray while another person made the drinks, another person then collected each tray and delivered the drinks. If any customers went to the bar for a drink, they were given preference over any waiting table orders.

Apart from this little blip we had a good night. The food was largely good as was the atmosphere. The selection of steaks were impressive and I would certainly recommend Miller and Carter to a steak lover. At just under £22 for an 8oz fillet steak it wasn’t cheap but the portions were large and the quality good.

As chains go, this is a good one and despite the location, if you’re into your steak, it shouldn’t be ignored.

My last mouthful was: The fillet steak

Service- small spoon-orange40

Atmosphere and decor- small spoon-green40

Quality of food- small spoon-green40

Diversity of menu- small spoon-green40

Value for money- small spoon-orange40

Overall rating- small spoon-orange40/ small spoon-green40

Orange spoon, Restaurant reviews , , ,

The Great Roath Bake Off 2013- Well Done Wayne!

1 Comment Posted by on April 19, 2013

Following last years success, organiser Wayne Courtney can be very proud that this year’s Great Roath Bake Off kicked last years backside!

Cakes- judgesWith fellow judges, I chomped my way through almost 100 entries. I have never eaten so much cake! The standard of entries were high but the winning cake stood out above the rest.

cakes- caramel

Lisa Watts’ Chocolate Salted Caramel Crunch cake was my favourite by far. I clocked it before the judging began because it looked so delicious and it tasted even better than it looked. It scored very highly on all four of our judging criteria- taste, presentation, quality of bake and texture.

The savoury category was a welcome break from all the sugar and the winner was Bill Ward with his Pork Pie. Pork Pies don’t usually float my boat but this one was packed full of well seasoned meat and light and crispy pastry and was a clear winner for me.

cakes- pie

There was also a Professional Bake category won by Nato & Co Portuguese with their Portuguese Tarts and a Children’s category won by Molly Spivey with her White chocolate, pomegranate and raspberry cake.

All in all a great day and I am honoured to have been asked to judge. Roll on next years event!

cakes- cakes

Charity and Community, General, News , , , ,

My Kit Kat Obsession- What You Got Cardiff?

1 Comment Posted by on February 7, 2013

A few months ago, a Kit Kat to me was a relatively ordinary (although enjoyable) chocolate bar that I used to have in my school lunch box as a child. I had no idea of the variety available around the world. I wasn’t even wholly aware of the extent of Kit Kats available in the UK.

On an hours lunch break I decided to scale the shops of Cardiff and I found a total of 9! I was pretty surprised that there were so many.

I started my search on a bum note at the Korean and Japanese Supermarket on Woodville Road. This seemed like the natural place to start bearing in mind the ridiculous array of flavours available in Japan. I couldn’t see any in the snack section so I asked the man behind the counter who said ‘yes’ and disappeared out the back. Hopes most definitely raised they were immediately dashed when he came back with a Katsu Curry!

A selection of the 9 Kit Kats I found in Cardiff

A selection of the 9 Kit Kats I found in Cardiff

Venturing into the town centre I raided all the confectionary shops I could find and returned happy with the selection which I have sampled and photographed for my collection.

Over the next few posts I will review these in two groups. The Kit Kats that are sticking around in the shops and the limited edition ‘Chunky Champions’. After tasting what the UK has to offer, I hope to move onto some of the Japanese beauties I’ve been reading about!

You can read my previous Kit Kat Obsession post here.

General, My Kit Kat Obsession, opinion , ,

A Mexican Experience With Oscars Wednesdays

Leave a Comment Posted by on November 20, 2012

After a few invitations to Oscars of Cardiff that I was unable to make, I was very pleased to finally make it to one of Oscar’s Wednesdays. Back by popular demand, every Wednesday through October and November, Oscar’s are offering a special ‘themed’ menu in addition to the Evening Menu. Accompanied by Hannah, writer of Love To Dine Blog, I attended Tacos and Twister Night for a Mexican themed meal.

When I arrived, Hannah was already there and I had to fight through a packed restaurant to meet her. I couldn’t believe how busy it was for a Wednesday night! I’m not sure whether it was because it was Halloween so people were out to avoid the trick or treaters or whether this was standard for an Oscars Wednesday. If it was, they have a winning formula. It made for a lively atmosphere and even though it seemed full to capacity, staff were still efficient and friendly. The decor was very much my thing. Lots of colours, big lights and seating at different levels. It was quite quirky but also cosy.

The Mexican menu was £12 for 2 courses and a shot of tequila or something else if you prefered. You could also take part in the Chilli Chicken Challenge for an extra £5. We didn’t take the challenge although I wish I had really. However, the two courses were plenty and we also had a few side dishes which we really didn’t need, the greed set in!

We started with flat breads and dip which were very nice. The flat breads were cut into manageable pieces and covered in guacamole and sour cream.

Flatbreads to start

To follow we had a choice of taco. I went for Piri Piri White Fish and Hannah had Beef Brisket. The fish was cooked beautifully. Tender, juicy with a hint of spice.  However, I’m not sure it was very ‘Mexican’. It was served with the same sour cream and guacamole that came with the starter and the taco was actually a flour tortilla. It was still tasty though and while it wasn’t traditionally Mexican, it was still top quality food.

Piri Piri Fish

Dinner with another food blogger meant there was no way we were leaving without dessert! I chose the Lemon Tart with Blackberry Ice Cream. It was the perfect way to finish the meal. The tart was fresh and light and the ice cream was delicious. Hannah had the Oscars Chocolate Macaroon Mess which also looked amazing, although I’m glad I went for the lighter option.

Lemon tart for dessert

I was impressed by Oscars and would love to go back and try their Evening Menu. I think Oscars Wednesdays are an excellent idea. A theme makes for a fun dining experience and is just that little bit different. This one was a very fair price too at just £12 (minus the dessert). The fact that you can still go for the Evening Menu means that everyone in a party should be happy even if they don’t fancy the theme for the evening.

My Last Mouthful was: The Lemon Tart with Blackberry Ice Cream

Service-

Atmosphere and Decor-

Quality of food-

Diversity of menu-

Value for money-

Overall rating-

General, Green spoon, Restaurant reviews , , ,

Cardiff Street Food Festival

1 Comment Posted by on November 7, 2012

Saturday 17th November will see Cardiff’s first Street Food Festival put together by Cardiff’s very own Ethical Chef, Deri Reed.

Deri’s idea is to open up a whole new food scene for customers who can get fantastic food cooked right in front of them at very honest and transparent prices. The idea is to bring all the traders with similar passions and beliefs together. Deri is hoping it can become a regular event in the future.

I think it’s a great idea and certainly one that Mr V and I have discussed ourselves. Being frequent travellers to Asia, the street food scene is something that we feel could be adopted in the West. Some of the best food I have ever eaten has been cooked on the streets in South East Asia and anything similar that can be replicated here excites me.

Good luck to Deri, we hope it is a success. If you’d like to go along Cardiff Street Food Festival takes place on November 17th at 6pm, Mackintosh Sports Club Car Park in Roath.

 

General, News , , ,

To The Door In October

1 Comment Posted by on November 1, 2012

One of the perks of being a food blogger is that I get sent lots of lovely things to sample.  I like to review products that I think are relevant and interesting to my readers but I can’t possibly review everything so from now on I will do an occasional run down of the things I have been sent so they still all get a mention. Some of the following products will be or may have already been reviewed, so please have a look.

Boursin Cheese- I was very kindly sent a box of Boursin cheese containing new flavours; Fig and Nut and Sun Ripened Tomato, Onion and Chive along with the classic garlic and herb variety, Black Pepper flavour and some Boursin minis. As popular cheese brands go, Boursin is one of my favourites. I really enjoyed the new flavours, especially the fig and nut variety as it was sweet and earthy with a crunchy texture. The tomato flavour was quite unusual but for me, you can’t beat the original garlic and herb.

Flavrbox- I have already reviewed Flavrbox and you can read it here. I loved getting a whole box of different products. Very exciting!

Honey- Jeannie from Fields and Hedgerows sent me some of her beautiful honey. I will be writing a review about this so I won’t give too much away here. Watch this space!

Moon cake- My current favourite Chinese Restaurant .CN recently celebrated The Chinese Moon Festival and were kind enough to deliver some Moon Cake for me to try. Made with bean paste, this cake was seriously good. It’s not too sweet and should be enjoyed with a good green tea. My kind of cake!


Kallo products- I was very lucky to be sent a selection of products from Kallo including chicken stock, beef stock and vegetable stock, gravy granules and some corn cakes. I’ve been using the stock when making my winter soups and snaking on the corn cakes. They are similar to rice cakes and are very low in calories and taste a bit like popcorn!

Pu erh Tea- I was very touched this week because one of my Twitter followers @cyberjourney gave me some tea Pu’ erh tea to try that he brought back from his holiday in China after reading my recent blog post on tea. He also gave me some Yak jerky!

Thanks to everyone who was kind enough to send me their products to sample. I am very grateful.

Food product review, General, To The Door , , , , , ,

National Cupcake Week: Emma-Jane and the Cupcake Factory

Leave a Comment Posted by on September 16, 2012

Monday 17th September until Sunday 23rd September is National Cupcake Week!  To celebrate Emma Jane’s Cupcake Kitchen have gone all out with a Willy Wonka inspired ‘Emma Jane and the Cupcake Factory’ theme. To get the week off to a good start, they will be open on the Monday 10am – 6pm as well as their usual opening hours. There will be free samples and all flavours will be the Cupcake of the day (Only £1.50 each!)

Don’t miss the amazing Wonka window display complete with chocolate butter cream river and cupcake tree, it really is worth a look! Emma Jane has also created 4 NEW Flavours, Everlasting Gobstopper, Blueberry, Fizzy lifting Cola and Fudge Mallow delight.

Everlasting Gobstopper is a blue bubblegum flavoured sponge and pink bubblegum frosting topped with a mini gobstopper! (Not suitable for small children)

Blueberry is a delicious sponge full of fresh blueberries and blueberry frosting topped with real blueberries

Fizzy lifting Cola is a cola flavoured cupcake, both sponge and frosting, and is decorated with popping candy and fizzy cola bottle

Fudge Mallow delight is a fudge and marshmallow sponge and marshmallow frosting topped with fudge pieces, a marshmallow and fudge sauce!

Best of all, there will be a Golden Ticket Raffle each day. Every customer that makes a purchase will be given a raffle ticket and entered into our free prize draw. The draw will be held every evening and the lucky winner will get a Box of 6 cupcakes!

General, News, The best offers and deals , , , ,

It’s a Cake Off! Cake Decorating at Red Hot World Buffet

1 Comment Posted by on September 11, 2012

Last week Red Hot World Buffet in Cardiff launched their new ‘Cake-away’ service and to celebrate the event, I was invited along to take part in a cake off!

Head Pastry Chef, Darshan Choudhari has designed eight cakes ready for customers to order and take away to enjoy at home. The cakes are have been designed so that there is something for everybody from a classic Strawberry Cheesecake to a more exotic Pineapple Passion.

Photo by Lauren Mahoney

I joined Cardiff bloggers, Helen Limbrick, Babettesffest and Cardiff Food Project along with two competition winners to sample some of the cakes and to decorate our own. The morning started with a demonstration from Darshan on how to make the perfect baked strawberry cheesecake which he made look effortless and then it was over to us! With tables full of icing, cream, ganache, unlimited supplies of fruit and the all important chocolate and other toppings, we were left to get creative.

I do enjoy baking but nevertheless, my impatience usually gets the better of me and my decorating skills wain slightly after a time. Neat and symmetrical is not my forte so I decided to go for ‘effortlessly random’ which is a stance I usually take when dressing and doing my hair on account of my lack of skills to make anything match and look ordered.

It was great fun being let loose on all the toppings and I think I got carried away with my three layer chocolate cake covered in ganache and coated with cream. Sickly was not the word! To cover my sorry attempt at icing, I topped my cake with randomly placed fruit and chocolate pieces and dashed almonds around the outside to hide the mess I had made with the cream.

I have to say, I don’t think my attempt was all that bad. Obviously it wouldn’t pass as a professional offering but considering the resources and the time, I was fairly happy. Saying that though, I did get pipped to the post by a small child!

You can view the range of cakes on offer from Red Hot World Buffet on their website.

Cooking classes, Events, General, News , , ,

Purple Poppadom- Still a Firm Favourite

Leave a Comment Posted by on August 10, 2012

If you’ve read my previous review or follow me on Twitter you will probably be aware of my love for Purple Poppadom. I think chef Anand George is a genius with his interpretation of Indian Nouvelle cuisine, turning Indian food into fine dining with a touch of fusion.

You can imagine then, that I was more than happy to sample the new Deep Blue Taster Menu when I was invited recently. Purple Poppadom’s menus change with the season and Deep Blue is their summer offering featuring a range of fantastic fish dishes.

The menu is extensive and I wanted to try everything so I love the idea of a Taster Menu. With this menu, we had the option to pair it with beer which was a great idea. A different beer came with each course and they really did compliment the food perfectly.

Our first course was a trio of starters; Salmon Mel (Salmon marinated with mustard, honey and cooked in tandoor), Golden Green (Cubes of mango and avocado with lamb lettuce and baby spinach with a passion fruit and chilli dressing) and Tune Pillow (Delicately spiced pattice of tuna, encased in crispy breadcrumbs).

The Salmon was amazing! It was beautifully cooked in a sweet sauce and worked very well with the other two starters on the plate. The Tuna Pillow was crunchy on the outside and sot on the inside, housing some delicate flavours. The sweet mango salad was also excellent. All of this was accompanied by Brooklyn Lager from the USA.

Moving onto the middle course, we were presented with Spirit Of The Sea (Swordfish loin marinated with coriander, mint and spices, grilled in tandoor, accompanied by a South Indian style risotto and a chilli garlic oil) paired with a Beer Lao bringing back memories of my travels through Laos.

This was a lovely dish. The swordfish was meaty but still beautifully tender, soft and moist. The coriander flavours were wonderful and worked well with the subtle tasting risotto which was beautifully soft and creamy with a welcome crunch of onion. This was my favourite course.


After a deliciously refreshing Green Apple and Chilli Sorbet, we were presented with Petits Filets and Kalamari (Pan fried Kerala style marinated sardine fillets on salad leaves, tomato and mustard dressing served with golden crispy battered squid) paired with a Cwrw Celt Welsh beer.

This was a light refreshing dish with a perfectly cooked sardine with a nice crispy skin. For me, this was the weakest dish but still perfectly lovely. The salad and the dressing had more of a mediterranean flavour than an Indian feel to me. However, the Calamari was cooked perfectly. Often like a rubber band, this was nothing of the sort. Tender, and beautiful, cooked in the most delicious batter! I’m not sure it really belonged with the sardine dish though.

For the main, we had The Halibut Islands (Tender white halibut supreme) which came with a choice of sauce. We chose Alleppey Sauce, a blend of raw mango and ginger. Ginger and Mango are favourites of mine so I knew this was going to be good. Again, the fish was cooked to perfection and the meaty fish was complimented by the sharp mango and heat from the ginger. It was delicious and the colours were beautiful.

The main was accompanied by a fresh and crunchy Stir Fry Vert (Asparagus, baby corn, mangetout, french beans, cashew nut and coconut tempered with mustard and curry leaves) and basmati rice. The beer for this course was an Erdinger Weiss which really brought out the fruity flavours of the curry. My only niggle here is that it would have been nice to have some naan bread with this course as there was plenty of sauce.

Finally, we were presented with a very eye-catching selection of desserts. Tandoori Pineapple, chef’s signature dish; a Chocolate Filled Poppadom on a Caramalised Banana and a Mango Brulee. The previous menu included a Rose Brulee which was one of my all time favourite desserts so I was interested to try the Mango version. It was delicious and definitely the stand out dessert for me but nothing is going to touch the rose one in my opinion.

The Chocolate Poppadom was very nice and the flavours worked well with the banana and the Tandoori Pineapple had a very unusual flavour but I’m not sure it was really for me. Overall though, I was impressed with dessert, they are always very innovative.

The thing that always strikes me with food at the Purple Poppadom is the outstanding presentation. Everything is beautifully designed and every plate looks the same. Each little Taster was exactly the same size and shape on both mine and Mr V’s plates throughout the night and everything was cooked to perfection.

The Taste Menu is £39.95 per person or £47.95 with beer. For the quality and volume of food included, I think this is a fair price and in my opinion, the Taster menu is definitely worth doing because you get to try so much. However, if the Taster Menu’s not for you, there are plenty of other options and they even do Take Away.

Aside from the food, the experience is heightened by the staff  who are clearly very proud of the success they are having. Manager Ramon is a fabulous host and makes everyone feel very welcome. We dined on a Friday night at 7pm and it was already full to bursting. I can understand why and if you haven’t been yet, why the hell not????

My Last Mouthful was: Spirit of the Sea

Service-

Atmosphere and Decor-

Quality of food-

Diversity of menu-

Value for money-

Overall Rating- 

General, Green spoon, Restaurant reviews , , , ,

Grill and Shake- A potential family favourite

Leave a Comment Posted by on July 24, 2012

A few weeks ago, I was invited along to The Red Dragon Centre’s newest restaurant Grill and Shake. With Mr V otherwise engaged, I took along Mrs J for a huge meal which we were told by friendly owner Mab, was free from calories just for that night. If only that were true!

Grill and Shake has been open for 6 months and is now established and in a position they are happy with. The first thing that I thought as I entered was how great this would be if I had kids. The colourful decor, fun lighting and cartoon character branding would really appeal to children and this was apparent as most of the people dining that evening were families.

We took a seat and ordered milkshakes while we browsed the extensive menu. Judging by the size of the portions, we decided to share a starter. Besides, the milkshake was a meal in itself! The restaurant was described as All American Tex Mex but with an Arabic twist. The thinking behind this was based on the restaurants ‘character’, a sheikh who travels to America to experience the culture and to meet his idol, John Wayne.

It was hard to choose what to have as the menu included cuisine from all over the world as far as I could see, with dishes you would consider to be American, as well as dishes with Middle Eastern flavours, oriental dishes and Moroccan mains. Although there was a lot of choice and something for everyone, I was a bit confused by the menu, the message did seem a bit muddled.

As the milkshake was so filling we decided to share a starter and went for the Shrimp Quesadilla. It was a good size and very tasty.

For our mains, we decided to pick one of the burgers as Mab spoke so highly of them and went for The Works (A beef burger topped with turkey, bacon and sautéed mushrooms). The other main we chose was the BBQ Beef Ribs and Chicken.
The burger was huge with a big portion of chips and it also came with a nice side salad as did the other main and the starter. Everything was very fresh apart from the disappointing bap.


The ribs and chicken was a great dish. It was huge and I have never had ribs that huge! The chef told us all the meat is Halal and cooked with the fat on to enhance the flavour. The ribs were fatty, tender and meaty. Lovely! The chicken was also very well cooked and I especially enjoyed the home-made onion rings.

Absolutely stuffed, we were persuaded to have a dessert and chose to share a sticky toffee pudding. It was very good indeed! Soft moist cake, swimming in gorgeous toffee sauce. All the desserts are home-made but with portions as big as these, I do wonder how many people make it to dessert.

As I read the menu, I came across so many things that kids would love and it is clearly a child friendly restaurant. However, the children’s menu was slightly disappointing. It certainly appeared to be healthy but it was rather uninspiring and if Mum and Dad were chopping through ribs and hot dogs, I think there might be a few tantrums from a child served up fish pie or cottage pie. Again this gave mixed messages about the theme of the restaurant as neither of these are particularly American dishes.
Prices are very reasonable, especially when you take into account of the size of the portions. I think Grill and Shake has the potential to be a very popular family restaurant but I just think it needs to sort out it’s message slightly. Is it an All American restaurant? A fast food restaurant? A restaurant selling cuisine from all over the world? It isn’t really clear.

I think that Grill and Shake will really appeal to people who like to dine in chains as although it isn’t yet a chain, the owners would like it to be and have great plans.  It certainly has that chain feeling about it but it also serves very good food and once it tweaks its message, I think it could become a successful chain restaurant.

My Last Mouthful was: The BBQ ribs

Service-

Atmosphere and Decor-

Quality of food-

Diversity of menu- (too diverse)

Value for money-

Overall Rating-

For more reviews please see www.yourlastmouthful.com

General, Green spoon, Restaurant reviews , , , ,

← Older posts

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 4,078 other followers

%d bloggers like this: