BILLS | FOOD REVIEW
Pilotage Building, Stuart Street, Cardiff Bay. 029 2049 9957 / www.bills-website.co.uk
I loathe the majority of chain restaurants, with their uniform menus, cheery spiel that drips from the mouths of youths on work experience and the expected feeling when you depart that you have been well and truly shafted. Personal feelings aside, I do actually have a fondness for Bills: in particular, their olives in a can and their tasteful smattering of ever-so-popular shabby chic décor. The fact that it was actually started by a genuine food lover from a grocery shop, to a cafe and eventually to a successful chain of restaurants, does elevate it from the hordes of identikit chains in the UK.
As with most things, it’s a case of trial and error, and as the menu suggests it has been honed over the years. The potato and rosemary bread with olive oil and balsamic is a favourite, as is their marinated olives. Diving straight in, we had a couple of bramble mojitos and Bill’s beers, before being presented with Bill’s BBQ platter: a half-rack of BBQ ribs, mojo chicken skewer, Cumberland sausage, smokey beef and bean chilli topped with yoghurt, onion rings, fries, watercress with a comp beer. Yes, that was one meal. I assume it was satisfactory as my partner demolished it fairly quickly.
On a lighter note, I started with marinated chicken skewers with cous cous, salad with tzatziki and warm piadina bread. Pan-fried sea bass also arrived in a sea of caper salsa and a parsley potato rosti. Desserts were shared by the gang: treacle tart and a pecan pie with four spoons.
Never a bad meal to be had at Bills: service is polite and professional and dining in a comfy shabby chic/vintage junk shop/tea room ensemble is always a pleasure, if that’s your thing.
words ANTONIA LEVAY photo MORGAN DIVINE
