Posts

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
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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 (Purple
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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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Happy New Year... Ugh.

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January is here and dear God it’s just fucking awful isn’t it? The nights are cold, the days are short and there’s absolutely no promise of a Prosecco and Gout filled fortnight off of work and/or real life at the end of it to see us all through. I mean we could, but I for one am still walking around with swollen feet and a blurry memory of everything between December 21st and January 3rd so it may be for the best. Anyway, what’s this post about then? Well, to compound the ongoing misery of the new year, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that hospitality continues to be and in a lot of instances has already reached its breaking point. In the last few weeks we’ve lost the likes of Rocket & Rye, SY23, The Conway and as recently as writing this post, Kindle announced their closure too. Alongside these, some further afield some high profile closures in the form of Copper & Ink (London), The Pig & Whistle (Beverley) and Greens (Manchester) have shone yet another light on the ve
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