Somerton Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: Raising the bar for local Indian eateries since it opened in 2007 (there's also a Penarth spinoff), this reliably packed venture – often drawing the local academic set – has a winning menu of thalis and other Keralan fare not always to be found at your average subcontinental.

2021 Review: In less than 20 years, Danny Meyer has transformed his New York City hot-dog cart into a global fast-food brand giant with eight outlets in London – including a Covent Garden flagship that was revamped earlier this year. Ratings remain remarkably solid for “a chain that does what it’s supposed to do”.

2021 Review: “A real gem”, this low-key but popular city centre venue provides “hearty Italian family fare” – mainly pasta and pizza – backed up by “great service”.

2021 Review: “When all you want is an old-school burger”, these US-based arrivals of recent years really “hit the spot” – you can “build your own”, with “tons of accessories”; plus “seriously addictive fries”, “thick milkshakes”, and “more soda flavours than is reasonable”. “The eat-in experience is as depressing as McDonald’s”, though, in fact perhaps more so – “some branches have a strangely gloomy ambience” – but fans feel that “if you don’t mind 1980s-rock, a trip can still be surprisingly fun”.

2023 Review: This “little gem” of an Italian restaurant – “close to the Millennium stadium, so perfect to help you celebrate or forget” – has a “pleasingly old-fashioned and independent atmosphere”, created by the three friends who have run it together for nearly two decades – Antonio, Selim and Luca. The small menu of “superb, authentic dishes” is not reliant on pasta and pizza, which makes a welcome change.

2023 Review: Whole legs of lamb and great ribs of beef roasted Spanish-style on the parilla are the star turns at this spacious venue from Tom & Owen Morgan – and even the bread arrives charred. With its “great food and service”, the outfit celebrates the Hispanic cuisine the brothers have championed in the 21 years since founding their Bar 44 group.

2021 Review: “When all you want is an old-school burger”, these US-based arrivals of recent years really “hit the spot” – you can “build your own”, with “tons of accessories”; plus “seriously addictive fries”, “thick milkshakes”, and “more soda flavours than is reasonable”. “The eat-in experience is as depressing as McDonald’s”, though, in fact perhaps more so – “some branches have a strangely gloomy ambience” – but fans feel that “if you don’t mind 1980s-rock, a trip can still be surprisingly fun”.

2023 Review: Hispanophile foodies Tom & Owen Morgan’s city centre tapas bar, in the shadow of the Principality Stadium, serves an “interesting range of wines and sherries” and an “amazing Spanish Sunday lunch” (among other meals). The brothers launched their business two decades ago in Cowbridge, and now have venues in Penarth and Bristol.

2021 Review: This “friendly and interesting” Pontcanna three-year-old serves up “outstanding” modern Welsh fare. Chef-owners Tom Furlong and Gwyn Myring met while working on the premises 15 years when it was an Italian restaurant, Cibo.

“Excellent in all aspects!” – so say fans of Tom Simmons’s ambitious Pontcanna HQ, who moved back from three years running his eponymous restaurant in London to open here in early 2020. In addition to the à la carte selection – he provides a seven-course tasting menu for £75 per person. His cuisine is traditionally grounded (e.g. chicken liver parfait with sourdough, braised pork cheek, turbot with caviar) rather than striving for flash foodie fireworks.

2021 Review: “A Cardiff favourite”, this 16-year-old family-run Gujerati BYO is “very much a student hangout – but the vegan/vegetarian food is always excellent”.

“Tommy (Heaney) is a great chef and a great character”, say fans of the chef’s swanky five-year old, in the Cardiff ‘burbs, which he launched after working at Bridgend’s Great House hotel (an appearance on Great British Menu boosting his profile). Sample tasting menus or à la carte, or hit up his next door oyster and wine bar, Uisce (pronounced ‘ish-ka’, meaning ‘water’ in Gaelic).

The “stunning quality of the food” served at Keralan-born chef Anand George’s flagship over the past dozen years has made it one of Wales’s best known Asian restaurants. The subtly spiced cuisine is matched by “very efficient and professional service, so a meal here is like going to the theatre”. Top Menu Tip – “the sea bass in mango (aka ‘Tiffin sea bass’, chef Anand’s signature dish) is delicious”.

A sister pub to Aberthin’s Hare & Hounds, this gastropub on the fringes of Cardiff wins praise for its “always cheerful/funny” staff and dependable cooking, not to mention its “sublime” beers. It’s not a twee, traditional place – the aesthetic is stark and modern, with bare wooden floors and tables and white walls.

2021 Review: Husband-and-wife team Phil and Deb Lewis run this cool pop-up-gone-permanent pizzeria in Canton – “I felt more on trend just by being there”. A crowdfunded sibling was scheduled to open in the restored Warden’s House on the edge of Bute Park in 2019.

Two former Gordon Ramsay and Galvin Bros staffers have joined forces to launch this ambitious restaurant and cocktail bar in the suburb of Roath. Its May 2023 debut occurred just as our annual diners’ poll was concluding – too late for feedback – but it aims to provide ‘something for everyone, whether you’re visiting post-dog-walk for a cocktail on our terrace or celebrating your 25th wedding anniversary’. The name? – as you probably know, the Silures were a powerful tribe of ancient Britain, occupying what is now south east Wales.

Josh & Hannah Byrne’s “remote country pub” punches way above its weight with a “small, exceptional menu that changes every day” of “innovative cuisine”, featuring “bold, delicious flavours” and “locally sourced ingredients, perfectly cooked”. Top Menu Tip – “the deep-fried oysters are a gem”… “even if you’re ambivalent about oysters!”