Miller & Carter, The Hayes, Cardiff

Last Sunday, the husband and I struck up a bargain. He'd buy me lunch if I hung around with him at Cardiff Comic Con for a few hours. Pretty sure I got the better end of that deal, seeing as wandering around the Comic Con ogling cosplayers and spotting minor celebs is always a bit of fun.

Once we'd had our geek fill over at the Motorpoint Arena, we made a beeline for Miller & Carter in the Hayes, Cardiff. This restaurant has been open for a few months, but this was the first chance we'd had to dine here, and my first visit to any Miller & Carter establishment. Taking over the old Habitat unit, it's a huge open space, and in prime position on The Hayes.

Two things were clear from all my friends recommendations, big fat steaks and the onion loaf were the order of the day.

3pm on a Sunday afternoon, the restaurant was not even half full, however we were told we had a twenty minute wait. Not a problem, we went to the bar to get a drink. Five minutes later, we were in the middle of being served when our table became ready. Rather than take us to our table and then bring us our drinks, the waitress stood with us for ten minutes while the barman made our drinks, and then had to remake them because they were incorrect. Slightly awkward.

We were led upstairs to the mezzanine level, and chose a table overlooking the open kitchen area. After seeing the size of the meals being brought through, we decided to skip the starter and go straight for the main event. I ordered the 14oz T-Bone (may as well go all out...) and Mr P had the 12oz sirloin.

The prices on the outset might seem a bit expensive for steak and chips, the T-Bone at £21.95 and the sirloin £21.75, but you really do get an enormous amount of food. This includes the steak, chips, a sauce, a slice of the onion loaf and a wedge salad. We were so full after our meal, that dessert was definitely out of the question.

The steak was faultless, cooked to order (medium rare of course) and perfectly tender. The parmesan and garlic wedge salad was a really nice cooling crunchy side touch, and a decent size portion of chips on the side. Our salad arrived with our main, but it seemed other diners received theirs as a starter. Not entirely sure which, if any, was the correct way of serving, but no choice was offered to us.

I've got to be completely honest, I'm not at all sure about what the fuss over the onion loaf was all about. I was actually expecting a slice of a bread loaf, but it seemed to be just a big greasy mass of onion. More like an onion bhaji instead of a bread loaf, except soggier. Not the biggest fan of that.

I'd definitely recommend the beef dripping sauce though, a potent and beefy stock like sauce, it was just right to enhance the steak. the bearnaise however, was just too overpowering and buttery for us both.

I've got to give M & C credit for their range of 'mocktails' too. As I was driving, this time I was stuck with a virgin mojito, but it was prepared with the same love given to a normal mojito, and at £2.50, a nice change from the obligatory driver diet coke.

All in all, we had a lovely meal. It completely filled us up on a cold Sunday afternoon, for a reasonable price. The steak is what they're all about, and the steak is what they do well. A few little tweaks around the outside and it'd be wonderful. I'm not sure if it's somewhere I'd go for a romantic night out, as the food is too heavy and it's not a very private layout. The entire building is one big room, with a mezzanine level, but there didn't feel very much space between us and our neighbours.

However, for a little escape from the hustle and bustle of Cardiff and to provide some serious sustenance for a day out shopping, it's just the ticket. I'm sure we'll be giving it another go over the Christmas period.

Postcards from Tenby

I love a spontaneous adventure. We're a pretty indecisive couple sometimes, what film to watch and where to eat can take hours. This year however, we've become pros at just deciding that we want a holiday, so we're going on one.

Which is how, after a bit of a moan to each other on a Thursday lunchtime, we ended up in a lovely little B&B (Sunnybank, for those interested) with our toes in the Tenby sand by Sunday afternoon.

Tenby is one of our favourite places. It's home from home. Especially this place...

It's so picturesque, and such a jewel on the Pembrokeshire coast. Everything seemed to gleam a little bit brighter in the September sunshine. 

Two nights by the sea is the cure for all moans and groans! We were lucky enough to have a beautiful sunshine filled weekend, with temperatures in the early twenties and nothing but a few candy floss white clouds in the sky.

Looks like someone else wasn't ready to go home either...

These few days away for our anniversary were full of nothing but walks on the beach, lazy drinks overlooking the sea and huddling by the fire by night. Is there anything better?

Cider, Tea, Rum and Crab

On our last day in St Ives, we finally ran out of luck and the clouds and drizzle crept back in. What’s one to do on a day like this?

Visit the cider farm of course!

We huddled back into coats and hoodies and set off to Healey’s Cyder Farm, just outside Newquay. Here, you can wander in and out of the small barns on the farm and poke your nose in on all the busy worker bees bottling and packing the lethal ‘Rattler’ cider.

I couldn’t help but get distracted by all the animals dotted around to pet and dote on…

But the Mr found something else to coo over…

We jumped on the back of a tractor trailer to take a tour of the orchards, and spotted a few other furry beings.

No, not those furry beings.

All that bumping and jiggling around on the tractor had made us hungry however, so we snuck back to the café to sample one very Cornish delicacy that we hadn't yet managed to wolf down.

Cream Tea!

After all agreeing that clotted cream was most definitely meant to be on the bottom, we dusted off our crumbs and headed back for a mid afternoon snooze.

Led by our stomachs once again, we headed back into town to try one place which has been on my radar ever since we decided on our trip. The Rum and Crab Shack.

The name pretty much sums it up. The food revolves around a number of seafood dishes, everything from a spicy gumbo to a whole lobster, and everything in between.

The drinks menu is unrivalled by anything I’ve seen before. There is a set menu dedicated to all the rums available, split into categories such as light, dark and overproof etc. It almost sounds like a challenge to try each one…maybe next time!

For those not quite ready for a rum, there are a number of craft and speciality beers both on tap and bottled, and of course a number of cocktails. I had to try a mojito at the rum shack, after all!

Being my birthday treat weekend, as soon as I saw the menu I knew I was going all out. Steak and ½ lobster for me please! I look pretty happy with it, eh?

Unfortunately the lighting (and maybe the rum) didn’t help my amateur photography, but just look how juicy this steak was!

Everything was cooked to perfection, I thoroughly enjoyed every mouthful! The lobster was so meaty and covered in a lovely light butter, and the steak was, quite honestly, the best steak I've ever had in my life. It's going to take one heck of a steak to beat that bad boy.

Being a bit of a veg freak, I loved the fact that the salad was such a main feature of the dish, rather than being an afterthought. It's such a pet hate of mine when a really excellent dish is let down by some wilted leaves from a supermarket bagged salad. But don't panic, there were chips too.

Everyone's food was just as huge as mine, so there wasn't a lot of room for dessert, especially after the morning's cream tea. A digestif however, is always a good idea!

Cheers!

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Hub, St Ives

Looking out over the harbour in St Ives is the uber cool restaurant and bar 'Hub'. Stripped back with the usual urban decor, Hub emanates a chilled out atmosphere, enhanced by the ground floor windows that completely open up, giving a full landscape view of the sea.

With the promise of good New York style big American food, and a poster advertising Tiny Rebel Brewery beers outside, we were sold, and fought our way inside.

Hit with the threat of an hour wait once we walked in, we grabbed a table and hung onto it for dear life. Being a Bank Holiday, St Ives was looking crazy busy, and we had already struggled to make reservations in other restaurants. Figuring a couple of cocktails would ease the delay anyway, we studied the immense menu.

The Hub specialises in gourmet burgers, hot dogs, and just generally a bucket load of smoky meat. Being the huge glutton that I am, I wanted everything on the menu. Luckily for me, The Hub does a fantastic slider tray. A mini version of the pulled pork bun, cheeseburger and hot dog, you get a little bit of everything including added fries, pickles and a whiff of a salad. 

The wait for food wasn’t as long as we expected (or we were numbed by the excellent mojitos on offer) and out came this cracking lot.

Vegetarians avert your eyes now.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the epic slider tray. Let's take a closer look shall we?

I am not ashamed to say I needed a little help finishing these bad boys off, the tray was so huge! The 'Boston Bun' (the pulled pork roll) was by far my favourite. Packed full of juicy pulled pork, and plenty of sauce to dribble down your chin. I know amongst all of the outstanding meat on show that this might sound odd, but the buns are incredible, and really make the burgers and rolls shine. The Hub uses a local artisan baker, and they are fiercely proud of their fresh local produce. Quite rightly too, when it tastes this good!

The round up of the other mains...

 The 12 hour slow smoked Cornish beef brisket topped with meltingly gooey Swiss cheese.

The 'Double Double', a fantastic tower of pulled pork and sauerkraut hiding under a smoked pork hotdog, and balanced precariously on a bed of hand-cut fries. 

We also ordered a bowl of pulled pork nachos for the table, as we all wanted a bite, but no-one was ready for the commitment. We needn't have worried, they were huge. Chunky tortillas topped with pulled pork and grilled cheese, with healthy helpings of guacamole, sour cream and salsa.

It's fair to say, we were completely stuffed. All of our meals were of such a high standard, especially considering how busy the restaurant was. The prices were excellent value for the size and quality of the meals, and also the seafront location.

I'm looking forward to a repeat visit, especially to work my way through more of the cocktail menu!