My first restaurant review - The Canteen on Clifton

I want to say, that this review is extremely positive, I am not normally so gushing, and it takes ALOT to please me with food, but this is my favourite restaurant of all time, lol, so in future, I guarantee most reviews will not be this good, lol, unless its amazing.

When I lived in Cardiff I was spoiled by the lovely restaurants which you could walk too, but I lived in Splott, which is ok, but not exactly the greatest are to find places to eat, and I used to dream of opening a cafe because Splott was desperate for somewhere to eat, and then the Canteen on Clifton appeared, a leaflet appeared through the door, and I was so excited I couldn't contain myself, especially as it was Vegetarian (I used to be vegan), and there are hardly any vege restaurants in Cardiff.

For me, eating out is about eating food which I can't cook at home, and makes me want to explore something different.

In a short wrap, this is what makes this restaurant special to me and why I believe it is a success:

1. It has a very very relaxed atmosphere
2. The chefs are lovely, and they care so much about what people think of the food, they always ask you your thoughts on the food and if you enjoyed it, I love being able to say how much I loved it. Also the waitresses are fab, especially Jennine, lol, she rocks.
3. There is a meat dish on the main menu, perfect for the meat loving boy/girlfreind/mother/father/freind, this is always SUPERB.
4. I rarely see anything on the menu which I would make at home, so you are always challenged to try new tastes and dishes.
5. It is extremely good value for money, 2 courses are 11.50, and 3 for 13.50, it is so worth the money (especially considering the shit I ate in Dublin which cost me 80 pounds for 2 weird pizzas and a bottle of wine last week, if I can remember the name of the place I will write about it).
6. The portions are a perfect size, you can eat 3 courses and  be really full, the great thing is you have just the right amount of room for all three, I hate getting to pudding and being so stuffed I can't try it.
7. The menu has 3 - 4 choices for starters, mains and pud, which means its always cooked freshly, and this changes every few weeks, which means if you are like me and want to try everything, 3 visits and you can try it all, hahahahaha.
8. Alot of the choices are vegan and suitable for ceoliacs, (I used to be vegan and have a wheat allergy, and I could only dream of being able to have dinner out, its great for people who are sensitive to things).
9. you can view the menu online and choose what to have before you even go, lol.

So here was the starter menu:

Jerusalem artichoke and curry leaf soup

Not duck spring rolls with hoisin-plum sauce

Selection of bhajis with date-tamarind ketchup

I actually really struggled to choose, however there were some interesting bhajis, so I decided to try them, and they were amazing, the one which I LOVED was one with coconut and beetroot, it was wonderful:

These were the menu choices for main course:

Main Course;

Feijoada with barley farofa  (meat)

Bean, sweet potato and chestnut feijoada with barley farofa

Butternut squash, mushroom, sage and lemon thyme risotto

Winter vegetable tagine with jeweled cous cous

I choose the Bean, sweet potato and chestnut feijoada with barley farofa, it was in a word, a perfect dish, all the flavours were perfectly balanced, it was warm, spicy, but not hot, and smokey, and the barley side dish again was superb, it was absolutely the perfect dish for a cold evening, I didn't speak whilst I was shoveling this down, it was too good, lol.

Then onto pudding,

The puddings are always so yummy, and I have had sticky toffee pud before so I decided to try the vegan panacotta,

Dessert
Sticky toffee pudding, toffee sauce and ice cream
Banoffee pie
Coconut and cardamom pannacotta with kiwi salsa

The salsa was so Zingy, and the pannacotta had a really nice texture and was lovely and coconutty, it was really nice.

Have to admit the banoffee pie looked cracking, lol.

So sorry this is so gushing, I just wish all restaurants were as good as this.

The canteen website is here:

And the address is

The Canteen on Clifton Street
40 Clifton Street,
Splott
Cardiff
CF24 ILR

If you are visiting Cardiff, I recommend you go for dinner here, BUT you have to book in advance, its very popular!!!!

Comments

[Elly]

*goes and googles pannacotta*

[Karen]

I was so busy with my food that I didn't even notice you took pictures. lol
Just to add - I had the no duck spring rolls for starters and they were delicous. And I couldn't resist the sticky toffee - mjam.
Jen is to blame that I now love this place, too. Been twice and loved it both times!

[sue]

Gosh, are those desserts all gluten free? Wow!

[Abi]

This one of my all time favourite restaurants too!