WILDFLOWER KITCHEN
72-74 Whitchurch Road, Cardiff. 07713 499131 / facebook.com/wildflowercardiff
Food **** Atmosphere ****
Discussion, shortly after two very agreeable hot meals at this new late-breakfast-into-early-tea type establishment, turns to the evolution of Whitchurch Road – or, more specifically, how it was virtually uncharted territory for me when I lived just off the adjoining Crwys Road, a very long time ago. There just didn’t seem to be any reason to venture up there. Nowadays, it’s arguably the best thoroughfare on which to eat hot food outside the city centre. For a place like Wildflower Kitchen – menu wholesome without being health-fash, nowt bought in apart from the soft drinks, a stated effort at sustainability – this means local competition. The operation is much in its favour, though.
Quiet at midday on a hideous Saturday, but fairly bustling an hour later, Wildflower is a pleasant jumble of randomly sourced chairs, posh floral wallpaper and, in the case of a sideboard in the corner, furniture left behind by the Greek restaurant who departed in the summer (props to my companion for spotting that one). There’s a salad bar at the counter with some nice-looking quiches, and a hot menu rendered more appealing due to aforementioned hideousness. A vegan, indeed “plant-based”, breakfast consists of avocado, beans, mushrooms, roast tomatoes, potato rosti and toast: the beans and rosti are of paramount interest, on account of having been ‘made’ here so to speak, and are singled out for praise, although £9.25 is maybe a little excessive for what you get. My Welsh rarebit (£7.20) comes with garlic mushrooms (or roast ham if preferred) and coleslaw, and crowns an inch of toast with cheese/mustard/flour alchemy that’s golden in every sense. Sated me for hours, too. A meatier fry-up, halloumi burgers and various sandwiches are also available.
We also enjoy a cappuccino, some sort of cherry cola thing made in Bristol and a chat with Celys, who opened Wildflower Kitchen in late October after three years running The Potting Shed, a cafe within Insole Court in Llandaff. There are plans for the future, as I suppose there are for most new food establishments, but these sound like a tidy combo of ethically decent and competitively appealing. NOEL GARDNER