Mermaid Quay, Cardiff. 029 2045 0947 / www.sabrain.com
I was sitting in The Dock in the Bay, watching the tide roll away. Well more looking across to Penarth. The Bay doesn’t get tides. I was just desperate to make an Otis Redding reference, and I imagine those who coined the new name for what once was Cardiff Bay’s Brains pub Terra Nova were too. After a £1.25m refurbishment, the new bar and kitchen has been totally transformed. Upon entry, the first thing to strike me was the huge drinks cabinet, sprawling across two storeys and resembling something out of Hogwarts (except with rather more tempting tonics).
The bar, as expected for a Friday evening, was bustling, but upstairs offered a more relaxed atmosphere, full with views across the Bay. First up were gravadlax and a twice-baked cheddar and brie soufflé. Both were delicious, with the gravadlax being extremely flavoursome served alongside a salad and a vodka-battered oyster. It was, like all the items sampled, a perfect mix between the traditional and experimental. For mains were homemade buttermilk chicken and a Celtic Pride rib-eye steak. Both were cooked to perfection, with the chicken beautifully tender and the steak delicately seasoned, without overpowering its melt-in-the-mouth flavour.
For afters, a peanut butter cheesecake and a lemon meringue pie. Both hit the spot and had lived up to the high standard of the rest of the evening. You’d be hard pressed finding a better Cardiff location, and while drinkers may revel by the bar, the upstairs restaurant is an almost entirely separate world, and the food on offer is some of the best in the city.
words LUKE OWAIN BOULT