Best places to eat in Cardiff

Best restaurants in Cardiff at a glance

Heaneys - Casual dining, special occasions
The Potted Pig - Casual dining, kid-friendly
Restaurant James Sommerin - Special occasions
Anna Loka - Kid-friendly, casual dining, cheap eats
Got Beef - Casual dining, cheap eats, kid-friendly
The Deck - Casual dining, cheap eats, kid-friendly
Chai St - Casual dining, cheap eats, kid-friendly
Bully's - Casual dining, kid-friendly
Shaam Nights - Casual dining, cheap eats, kid-friendly
Park House - Special occasions
Nant - Casual dining, kid-friendly
Society Standard - Casual dining, cheap eats, kid-friendly
Purple Poppadom - Casual dining, special occasions
Tiny Rebel - Casual dining, kid-friendly

Best for: Casual dining, special occasions
Head to Heaneys in Pontcanna for a casual yet refined dining experience in a contemporary urban space. Opened by Great British Menu finalist Tommy Heaney in October 2018, the daily-rotating menu features a selection of sharing plates using innovative, expertly combined ingredients. Standouts on our visit include a starter of Marmite butter, sourdough and duck ham slices, plus mains of cured sea bass with horseradish sorbet, crispy quail ‘nuggets’ and birch-smoked Welsh lamb. Desserts are equally inventive – in one dish, a blanket of Earl Grey custard gives way to soft apple crumble with a hidden blackberry sorbet centre. 10-course tasting menu, £75

The Potted Pig

Best for: Casual dining, kid-friendly
Housed in an old bank vault in the heart of the city centre – the clue’s in the restaurant’s name as far as the menu is concerned. Their success has led to the opening of a sister restaurant, Porro, with two sites in Llanda and Roath. Mains from £20, two-course lunch £22.

Restaurant James Sommerin

Chef holding a stand with afternoon tea on it

Best for: Special occasions
The restaurant was awarded a Michelin star in October 2016. Four miles outside Cardiff in Penarth, its glass frontage allows you to dine with a glorious view of the Severn Estuary and beyond. Sommerin’s dishes are elegant and inventive, and the impressive wine list is top-heavy with biodynamic and organic options. Four course tasting menu is £60 and eight course tasting menu is £120.

Anna Loka
Best for: Kid-friendly, casual dining, cheap eats
This is the brainchild of Adam El Tagoury, formerly a Hare Krishna monk, who successfully crowd-funded his 100% vegan enterprise into existence in 2015. Try the speciality burgers made from seitan (wheat gluten) – it's guilt-free vegan comfort food. Mains from £11.50.

Got Beef
Best for: Casual dining, cheap eats, kid-friendly
After spending four years in a catering bus providing grateful festival-goers with an alternative to cheap hot dogs, Cai Pritchard honed the art of burgercraft and is now established in Cardiff’s foodie-central zone, Whitchurch Road. The Breaking Bad-saluting ‘Heisen Burger’ is the headline act (Welsh Black beefburger with blue cheese, crispy bacon & blue drunken onions) at £9.95.

The Deck

Best for: Casual dining, cheap eats, kid-friendly
This restaurant in Cardiff Bay proves that anything – from the humble omelette to the cherry Bakewell – can become a thing of beauty in the hands of a genuine artisan, and that no big chain can compete with a family of dedicated caterers. The hog & hen (sausage, egg & bacon baguette) followed by a chocolate & Malteser cupcake are sheer bliss. Afternoon tea is £27pp.

Chai St

Best for: Casual dining, cheap eats, kid-friendly
Cardiff is known for its superb Indian restaurants, a reputation that has a lot to do with Ajit Kandoran and Latheesh Kottilil, whose restaurant Mint & Mustard has been the high watermark for Asian cookery in south Wales for 10 years. Their punky offshoot in Canton is the ultimate street food destination. Mixed thalis from £13.90.

Bully's

Best for: Casual dining, kid-friendly
Twenty years ago, Russell Bullimore (no prizes for guessing his nickname) opened a classic French-style bistro to showcase the kind of food that he loved, and no one has grown tired of it since. A meticulously sourced list of wines hand-picked from appellations all over France helps to complete the authentic Gallic mood, aided no end by a randomly assembled, themeless art collection that calls to mind semi-fictional Parisian brasseries where penniless artists paid for food with their canvasses. Starters from £8.50, mains from £19.

Shaam Nights

Best for: Casual dining, cheap eats, kid-friendly
This Syrian restaurant pulls out all the stops in its drive for an immersive Arabian experience, including a swirling Byzantine mosaic of bright tiles and Damascene bronze and glass lanterns. Specialities such as lamb Kubba Labania and chicken freekeh have legions of admirers. The alcohol-free policy means the napalm-hot biryani will need to be cooled with a yogurt smoothie or a strong Syrian coffee rather than a chilled beer, but you can expect wonderful food by warm-hearted hosts. Platter for two for £31.

Park House
Best for: Special occasions
Park House has become Cardiff’s restaurant yardstick since opening in 2005, not least for its afternoon teas. A precise, contemporary establishment run under head chef, Matt Walfron, with a modern vitality to the variety of menus found in Park House’s celebrated, oak-panelled, Bruge dining room. This antique/modish marriage is echoed in the Vanilla Rooms cocktail bar, which couldn’t be more ‘now’ if they’d hired Cara Delevingne to mix the mojitos with a Little Book of Hygge under her arm. Six-course tasting menu £59 per person.

Nant

Best for: Casual dining, kid-friendly
The Nantgarw campus of the recently merged Coleg y Cymoedd (College of The Valleys) might seem an unlikely spot to hunt out grade-A cuisine, but that's the experience being enjoyed by thousands of diners who’ve given this old college a try. The in-house restaurant, Nant, is staffed from kitchen porter to pastry chef by degree course catering students. While the menu is concise, the quality has been gobsmacking. Three-course menu £9.95.

Society Standard

Best for: Casual dining, cheap eats, kid-friendly
An expansive, industrial-look interior gives this address on increasingly gourmand Whitchurch Street the retro-fit vibe of a New York art gallery circa 1989. There’s influence too from Bristol, just across the River Severn, where the proprietors Tim Moores and Dom Wood also own Urban Standard and North Street Standard. The menu is designed to be enjoyed by friends huddled around a table, sharing pork or seafood platters washed down with a pint or two of locally brewed beer. Extra points for the “Mactorious P.I.G.” sandwich. Starters from £5, mains from £11.

Purple Poppadom

Best for: Casual dining, special occasions
The name Anand George is whispered with sacred reverence in Cardiff. Learning his craft over many gruelling hours back home in Kochi, Kerala (and in some of the best kitchens in London), George set up the Purple Poppadom in Cardiff’s vibrant Canton district in 2007. His mission: to change the way Indian food is viewed. The clean, bright, modern presentation – the room as well as the plate – allows many varied flavours to breathe and bedazzle. Read all about it in George’s first cookbook, The 5,000 Mile Journey. Mains from £13.95, seven-course tasting menu £59.95.

Tiny Rebel

Best for: Casual dining, kid-friendly
The brewing company that emerged from Brad Cummings and Gazz Williams’ garage endeavour, Tiny Rebel has become a huge success. One of their most recent creations, Cwtch, won CAMRA’s coveted Champion Beer of Britain Award in 2015. The Urban Tap House in Cardiff city centre shares a similar enthusiasm-based genesis: they’ve basically built the kind of pub that they would want to spend every night in, from the simple but effective menu of burgers, pizzas, wings and all-American dude food, to the arcade machine in the corner where you can put your Donkey Kong skills to the test. Burgers from £12.50.

5 foodie places to try

Madame Fromage
Source of over 150 international cheeses at two delis in Cardiff’s Castle Arcade, the Friday night cheese tastings sell out on a weekly basis. Great name too.

Victoria Park Pie Company

Born of the same pie-making family that created the legendary ‘Clarpie’, the Clarks’ pie shop in Canton is an essential pre-rugby match destination.

The Welsh Food Box Company
If you don’t want to go to the food, let the food come to you. This Pontprennau operation specialises in getting the best locally sourced organic fruit and vegetables to your door.

Lab 22

The chemistry of cocktail creation is performed to legions of admirers in this smart bar on Caroline Street.