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Seoul House Yakinuku, Cardiff

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As I arrive at Seoul House, I spend some time sat in the car trying to figure out my surroundings. There are barely any signs of life here. A pleasant enough looking guest house has a few windows cracked open but otherwise it’s deathly quiet. The accompanying restaurant next door looks tired, all of the lights are off and had I not emailed ahead to confirm my booking I’d have probably come to the conclusion that it was closed, maybe even permanently so. I persevere, encouraged by some recent-ish posts on tripadvisor of users who have seemingly had a similar experience to mine and are telling me that I should carry on. I make my way inside, there are wind chimes on the inside of the front door that generate a faint jingle as I tentatively push it open. The floor is mostly made of white gravel, punctuated with paving slabs making for a charming effort at what I assume is an attempt to replicate a Japanese style zen garden. The air is musty, the carpets surrounding the gravel are faded an...
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Picton & Co, Cardiff

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As we meander towards Cardiff Bay for our second visit to Picton & Co; we talk about how odd it feels to be heading to Cardiff Bay for a night out. What should be a real jewel in the crown of the city has long felt lacking in personality and has become synonymous with a real sense of unfulfilled potential. I could sit here and lambast the various chains and tourist traps as a primary cause of its palling nature but to do so would be a major disservice to what is actually an ever growing list of independents who are acting as beacons of hope in and around the smog of uninspiring outlets and bang average bars that take up the prime real estate that looks out across the barrage and beyond. The latest independent to step up to the plate is one of the more high profile openings in recent memory. Picton & Co, a new salon-cum-deli/small plates restaurant/cocktail and wine bar/deli and perfumery isn’t exactly the combination of industries you’d expect on most given days but a quick gan...
Location: Picton & Co, Unit 9, Mermaid Quay, Cardiff CF10 5BZ, UK
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Brother Thai, Cardiff

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Full disclosure; it has been a while since I last ate at Brother Thai. It’s longer than I’d like to admit really but in the interest of keeping myself honest I’ll tell you now that it has absolutely been well over two years, probably three. We discuss the reasons why over dinner and come to a two fold conclusion. The first being that back then, when wages were low but dreams were big, I think rightly or wrongly we had deemed it quite expensive at the time. The second is the fact that Cardiff has its fair share of very good options when it comes to Thai food in the city and so when the craving does come around then more often than not it’s the likes of Moo Moo’s or Malai Thai which usually get the nod for me. It’s only really after some posts and a great video from one of Cardiff’s most ardent supporters of its independents (Hey Hollowlegz ) do I realise that actually, i’m being a bit of a tight arse who’s far too stuck in his ways and promptly see to it that I get booked in. A quick pe...
Location: 35 Whitchurch Rd, Cardiff CF14 3JN, UK
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Tukka Tuk Canteen, Cardiff

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I think it’s fair to say that when it comes to the hospitality sector; Whitchurch Road has taken more than a bit of a pasting since the turn of the year. The sudden closure of some well known names who made their street their home over the last decade contributed to quite possibly the least satisfying “I told you so” of all time as the shock to the system began to set in and everything that we had been consistently told was going to happen by those within the hospitality sector was actually starting to happen.  It was here that I was about to tell you how there were some glimmers of hope shining through and that one of them was coming in the form of Tukka Tuk Canteen but just as I had finished writing my closing sentences of this post, the news came through that it too had been forced to shut its doors permanently in what is a genuinely heartbreaking development. The canteen was a passion project that was representative of another evolution in the culinary chops of Anand George (Pu...
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Bodega, Cardiff

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  If you take a minute to read up on Amber Vista, the pseudo-nostalgic label assigned to the redevelopment of the old Lakeside shopping parade you’ll see words like desirable, vibrant and thriving doing some heavy lifting. I guess it probably doesn’t quite have the same level of gravitas if it was described as the place next to where I spent a wonderful afternoon in my youth drinking a jumbo sized bottle of VK in some bushes post receiving my GCSE results and I guess a tagline of "Lakeside; it’s by the side of a lake and that’s quite nice." doesn't quite have the same ring to it. Anyway, if that doesn’t sell it to you then some other selling points on the website are mostly limited to being just the 4km away from the city centre and the fact that the hospital is just down the road which judging by the commotion as we’re walking over that’s coming from local gastropub The Discovery might just prove to be pretty useful asset for a punter or two this night. Amber Vista is al...
Location: Cardiff, UK
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Opheem, Birmingham

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It's my Birthday and I'm in Birmingham but I've only gone and been a big bloody idiot and had my Birthday on a Tuesday this year so I'm hindered somewhat by a lack of options in that some of the places I've been told to go to are either shut or a little too far away for a pre-gig munch. We settle for what is a pretty good pizza at Otto Pizza. It's a on the specials board and has a load of Aubergine and cured meat.  It's good but it's a visit that's cut short as I have to dap it back to my hotel room and soothe my howling dog child who is quite clearly unhappy at being left in a lovely warm hotel room with a massive bed, a chesterfield sofa and all the toys she could ever need, what a dickhead. For our full day in Birmingham we spend a good couple of hours wandering around the Chinese Quarter where we devour some great sausage buns from Uncle Cake and take a chance on a tray of dumplings from sign-less shop on Bromsgrove Street. It's a chance that...
Location: Cardiff, UK
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