Llanishen 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.

Consistently good ratings again this year for Tom Watts-Jones’s modern gastropub on the fringe of Cardiff (part of a small local group). Chef Tom Woodham’s bistro-esque cooking is too ambitious to be termed pub grub; and as well as the à la carte menu there’s a tasting option if you want to push the boat out.

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.

Tom Simmons is moving into his fifth year at his versatile Pontcanna venue, which incorporates elements of bar, brasserie and restaurant, with menus to match. “The menu choice is well thought through”: the main foodie event is a seven-course tasting menu for £85 per person where chef channels the energy of West Wales, where he grew up, into some “consistent and fine cooking”; but, equally, you could dine here from the à la carte on posh fish ’n’ chips or Carmarthenshire lamb’s loin. “Lovely and very professional service” completes the picture.

“Tommy (Heaney, of Great British Menu fame) never fails to deliver”, say fans of the chef’s hip, high-end suburban outpost, launched in 2018 with partner Nikki. The fish-centric seasonal cooking takes in an “excellent and reasonably priced set lunch” as well as more elaborate tasting menus, while a “great atmosphere” (low lighting, guest DJs) adds to its charms. Their no-booking oyster and wine bar, Uisce, is next door and also well worth a look.

The “upmarket and tasty Indian cooking” “never disappoints” at Keralan-born Anand George’s well-known fixture in a first-floor location away from the city centre, which is “worth trekking to” for an experience that’s “a cut above the normal suburban curry house” – “a must whenever we’re in Cardiff, for its attentive service, impeccable cooking and wonderful food”. (All of the good number of fans who comment on it are from different parts of Britain… none are from Wales!)

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”.

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.

This “lively spot” in the shadow of the Principality Stadium offers “great service” and a “good choice of tapas and wines” – “a lot of places promise ‘tapas’, but Bar 44 delivers authentic dishes and an excellent sherry list” (including three served directly from the barrel). It’s the flagship of the 44 group of Spanish-inspired venues, founded 22 years ago by siblings Owen, Tom & Natalie Morgan.

Inside swish city-centre boutique hotel Parador 44, this moody, Iberian-themed restaurant featured on Channel 4’s ‘Remarkable Places to Eat’; as per the name, the “brilliant” food revolves around the Argentine-style asador grill, resulting in a veritable “meat feast” (“the slow-cooked lamb was memorable”), though squid and cauliflower also feature on the “very interesting” menu, alongside almost wholly Spanish wines and a tempting ‘del dia’ lunch deal.

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: “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”.

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.

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”.

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 “buzzy hotel restaurant” in a “lovely sunny setting overlooking its vineyard” is “great to know about if you’re in the area”. Chef Andy Aston wins good ratings for cooking that is notably “good-value” for its quality.

2022 Review: “Worth a detour to the old docks” – a converted red-brick Victorian railway building “down by the Barry Island waterfront” is the new (May 2021) home for one of Wales’s best-known chefs, who closed his former Penarth HQ in July last year. It’s an attractive contemporary setting with 30 covers for a menu that’s not as chefy and expensive as his former Michelin-starred one – more affordable and in a style you might describe as ‘brasserie plus’. A range of steaks is a feature, and early reports speak of “classy cooking by James Sommerin's team from a short, well-realised menu”.

2023 Review: “Always excellent food” has built a strong reputation for local lad Tom Watts-Jones’s well-regarded pub in the Vale of Glamorgan. Chef’s CV includes stints at London’s St John and also The Anchor & Hope. There are numerous menus here, including an à la carte or nine-course tasting option.