Penarth Restaurant Guide

“Absolutely delicious Basque/Spanish food, and not a paella in sight!” – Owen & Tom Morgan’s asador grill specialist, inside a boutique hotel a dropkick from the Principality stadium, offers “some of the tastiest food in Cardiff” alongside an “excellent all-Spanish wine list – we had a very delicious Ribera del Duero red with our ex-dairy cow steak”. But note, “you do really have to like the smoky style of cooking (we honestly felt a delicate sole was not suited to the treatment given)”.

“Consistently excellent” Italian food is the draw at Calabrian-born Antonio Cersosimo’s city-centre restaurant, a fixture for 20 years – “it’s been going for such a long time, is locally owned, independent and you get a real view into genuine Italian dining and food”.

For “well-priced, authentic tapas and Spanish wines” (they also offer sherries from the barrel), you’d travel far to better the flagship of the 44 group, also with outposts in Penarth and Clifton Village, Bristol. Those who haven’t been for a while report it “has much improved of late”, with “swish service” and “beautifully presented” food – no wonder the atmospheric, cellar-like space is “extremely popular” nowadays.

Nisha Katona’s Liverpool-based operation has two branches in London (Charlotte Street and Westfield Stratford) offering her “very tasty” Indian street food – “with the occasional hint of raw spice”. The Lancashire-born former barrister launched the business in 2014 and now has 28 outlets around the country, whose “enjoyable, authentic food” is “really great for a chain”.

Keralan-born Anand George’s “outstanding, innovative” cooking has attracted a large following over the last 15 years for this first-floor venue whose “tasty menu is a cut above the usual curry-house fare in terms of variety and quality”. The chef, who trained with India’s notable Raj group, also owns a trio of more casual street-food-style outlets in Cardiff under the Tukka Tuk banner.

Set up by GBM’s Tommy Heaney and partner Nikki in 2018, this hip and haute suburban venue is “a breath of fresh air in Cardiff”, where the “happy, bustling atmosphere” is at poles to fine-dining starchiness. The “dead good value” tasting menu is rounded out by decently priced set menus and a hearty Sunday lunch. This year’s worst report? “I stopped just short of awarding a ‘5’, but surely this is one of the best places to fine dine in Cardiff?”

The French-inspired cuisine is quite straightforward and likewise the relatively traditional decor at Tom Simmons’s ‘Restaurant & Bar’ in Pontcanna, whose shortish a la carte features dishes such as Beef Short Rib or Fish & Chips; and where the tasting menu for £85 per person might include Roasted Monkfish or Creedy Carver Duck Breast. For whatever reason, it inspired no feedback this year, although it was rated very good across the board in last year’s survey. Reports please!

This “excellent Chinese restaurant near the cathedral” was opened almost 40 years ago by the Chim family, originally from Hong Kong, and may well be the best-known and “best-value Oriental restaurant in Cardiff”.

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.

White-painted walls and a sparse, woody interior add to the modernised feel of this ‘Pub & Hotel’ on the fringe of Cardiff, which now more gives the impression of “an interesting restaurant, with an excellent range of beer”. The stated aim is ‘not pretentious fine dining; it’s just about good food’ – so you can choose from the bistro-esque set menu (two courses for £39 per person) or there’s a fancier nine-course tasting menu for £75 per person.

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: 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.

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.

“A must-visit if you ever find yourself in South Wales, with every dish a masterpiece” is how some diners assess Sergio and Pasquale Cinotti’s ambitious venue, which was the AA’s Welsh Restaurant of the year in 2022/23. It’s a stylish contemporary dining room complete with muralled ceiling and funky ceramic tableware. Choose your tasting menu according to whether you want a ‘short’ journey (four courses), ‘medium’ journey (six courses), or ‘long’ journey (ten courses) which are £65, £85 and £160 per person respectively. Feedback was again limited this year – more reports please!

Apparently inspired by a Patagonian hostelry that once hosted Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – this two-year-old haunt complete with bar and open kitchen includes the backing of star Welsh chef Bryn Williams. The menu is not culinarily ambitious – in his January 2025 visit, the Telegraph’s William Sitwell found it “of no abode – a random assembly of flavours garnered by the owners on their travels through the US, Asia, Europe or Wales” but nevertheless dubbed it a “winner”. Reports please!

Propelled to fame by its lockdown-era DIY ramen kits, James Chant’s cult Cardiff noodle brand (which began life as a pop-up) has had a lot of love from the national press since it launched its first bricks-and-mortar venue – taking over a former NatWest bank in Grangetown – in July 2022. Reporters this year weren’t completely convinced by the hype – if you’re “looking for some Japanese calm”, the Zen factor is undermined by the open kitchen where “everyone is hard at it” and service in particular can feel very “disjointed” – but there was consensus when it came to the “very authentic” victuals (and even sceptics admit that “this place will continue to be busy as it’s good food in an area with not too much variety, and it’s different for Cardiff”, too).

“A really fun concept” – these “OTT” spin-offs from the core Ivy brand do have “real pizzazz” and are, ironically, “better than the original non-Asia versions”. In particular, they make a “super place for a celebration” thanks most especially to their “stunning” immersive interiors, complete with glowing, emerald-green floors, cherry blossom trees, Disney-esque pagodas, lavish lighting and gratuitous statuettes (and “the St Paul’s one has amazing view of the floodlit cathedral” to boot). And, on most accounts, the Pan-Asian menu is “delicious” too and provides “a great opportunity to mix and match dishes originating throughout the continent”. Even fans, though, can caution that it’s a case of “all good… until the bill arrives”. And then there is also a large minority of purists, who plain loath them: they find the decor “ridiculous” (“it doesn’t feel fun it feels fake!…”, “bling of the worst sort” and “very ‘Bridge & Tunnel’”); and they feel that the menu is “an overpriced mess – fine in itself but overall very definitely meh? (There are far better examples of Japanese, Chinese or fusion available without the look-at-me nonsense!!)”