48 Hours in Cardiff, Wales

These trips away are a chance for us to have a proper mother and daughter catch-up. I do really enjoy this time with my mum. We have a joke between us that by the end of it I normally can’t wait to separate. Spending two days with the person that you are essentially the younger version of, who has the best and the worst bits of your own personality might start to irritate like an over perfumed soap. Obviously I don’t feel like this but I do like to wind her up.

We chose Cardiff as we both had been there before. Mum has a friend she visits who lives not far from Cardiff. I spent a lot of time in Cardiff nearly 20 years ago when my husband was working down there. I have a lot of fond memories of the city and the bay area. Although many of the specifics about the city now allude my foggy brain. So it was time to revisit and see what the city is like now.

How we got there…and back

Our chosen transport for this trip was rail. I live in Manchester and my mum lives in Shrewsbury. This meant that we could both get on the same train to Cardiff.

The train company that services this route is Transport for Wales. It is a basic train service with no first class and no reservations (and sometimes with no toilets – yes that was a recent experience!). I find that most of my journeys on this route, of which I take a few due to the fact my mum lives in Shrewsbury have some form of challenge. This day was no exception.

Upon arrival at Manchester for the 9.30 am service, it became apparent that there were only two carriages. There should have been four. Given it was midweek and after rush hour, I thought this would be okay.

One of the benefits of getting on at the first stop is that you are more likely to get a seat. And I did manage to get a set of two. It was then my job to protect that 2nd seat until my mum got on at Shrewsbury. Given the two coach situation, this became a mission, which thankfully I managed to succeed at. However, there would be no venturing off to the lavatory for me at the detriment of the seats I had acquired.

Once mum was aboard then, I could relax for the rest of the journey. The service remained packed out until we departed at Cardiff. When I did go to the toilet, I felt l had an audience with all the seats taken up outside it. It was one of those with the curved door that you have to press a button to close and then another one to lock. You always have to check twice. Then you pee at pace for fear you haven’t locked it correctly and someone will press the OPEN button and the whole train will see your business.

We were just over 15 minutes late into Cardiff. This meant a small refund for us both via the delay repay scheme.

We took the reverse route home on the train. Everything went like clockwork until Crewe. At this point I was on my own as mum had left the train at Shrewsbury. After waiting about 15 minutes at Crewe, it was then announced that the crew were needed else where. So we were “Creweless” 🤩. The train was cancelled and we had to find alternative ways to get home. This was the second time, I have been abandoned by a train company at Crewe. I now have ongoing nervous issues whenever I approach this particular station unclear as to what my might fate might be.

The cancellation at Crewe did mean, however, that I could do another claim. This time I received the full return fare, which helped to soften the blow. It did leave me wondering how Transport for Wales make any money on this route as they must be constantly paying out!

Where we stayed…

For our two night stay, we chose a two bedroom two bathroom apartment in the centre of Cardiff. We found the best price for it on AirBnB. Overall the two nights were just over £250 including the cleaning and AirBnB service charges. To get that price though we did have to take the risk of a partial refund after 48 hours of booking. We thought the risk was worth i and in the end it paid off.

Check in was from 3 pm and with the process of check in via a web form, there was no way of requesting this any earlier. We arrived in Cardiff just after 1 pm so went off to have a late lunch whilst we waited.

Once we could check in then we had to collect the keys from the local Spar. That all went well. The apartment was the just around the corner on “Chip Alley” aka Caroline Street. Known as Chip Alley due to the volume of takeaway establishments.

Overall the accommodation was fine for our needs. In someways it had a lot more than we needed. For example, it had a full kitchen and we had plans to eat out on both nights that were staying.

The decor on the face of it was aesthetically pleasing. It was modern with mainly neutral colours. There was a bit of mustard going on but I could just about handle this colour burst. One of my essentials when selecting a property is that there are white bedsheets and towels. Anything else has the opportunity to hide true cleanliness. Thankfully these were present and correct.

There were two bathrooms, one was an en-suite. The second was the main bathroom, which had a bath and then one of those multifunctional taps which also has a shower head. There was no shower curtain. So unless we wanted to turn the bathroom into a wet room then our only option for showering was to use the en-suite.

The bathroom and en-suite although clean had seen better days and were slightly shabby. On closer inspection the carpets and skirting boards also showed signs of wear and tear.

With the central location in Cardiff, we couldn’t completely escape noise especially at night. Mum suffered with this more as she was in the master bedroom, which was directly above Chip Alley.

My room had an interesting view over a graveyard which, was in the backyard of a neighbouring property.

The price of the property definitely helped make up for some of these foibles.

What we had to eat and drink…

1. Coffee Barker

We went to Coffee Barker twice during our two day break in Cardiff. Our first visit to the cafe was upon arrival in Welsh city. As we had nearly two hours to kill, we wandered from the station up St Mary St to High Street. It was a pretty dismal day. It was the kind where you open up your brolly and it’s turned inside out instantaneously. For some reason my mother found this hilarious. Probably because she has the good sense to wear a jacket with a hood and I did not.

Coffee Barker is located in the Castle Arcade. The Castle Arcade is part of the three Grade II listed Victorian and Edwardian arcades in Cardiff. All of the arcades have some amazing original architectural features, which make the arcades quite special.

The interior of Coffee Barker was filled with low seating (armchairs and sofas) and (coffee) tables. This created a perfectly relaxed setting.

By the time we arrived, unfortunately they had already sold out of jacket potatoes. Had they not, then one of those would have been first choice for us both.

Instead we both decided to order the Tuna Melt Paninis.

They were presented with a good side salad portion. The Paninis were also fairly substantial. Served on a super soft panini roll, the tuna mix was nicely blended with mayonnaise, red onion, tomato and pepper. For me there was a little too much red onion as I have a low tolerance of onion but after the removal of some, it was delicious and cheesy. For drinks we had a cappuccino and a hot chocolate, which were both good.

On our second day we returned for brunch. Our intention was to go to somewhere new. When we arrived at the other place they were bleaching the slabs outside the cafe. So that was a bit off putting.

For our brunch, we ordered Scrambled Egg with Chunky Toast.

We chose to share a couple of sides of tomatoes and mushrooms too. The scrambled eggs were plentiful but could have been more moist than they were. I was glad of the wet that the tomato added.

Overall the breakfast was pleasant.

2. Cocktails at Lab 22

On both our first and second nights in Cardiff, we decided to call in at Lab 22 for cocktails. Lab 22 was conveniently about two doors down from our AirBnB at 22 Caroline Street.

The bar has an unusual menu of cocktails, which when I was researching places to go for drinks had intrigued me. On the website there was the following intro to the bar: “A prevalence towards the different and daring. Constantly striving to push boundaries of mixology and set the standard for cocktails in Cardiff. Mixed drinks, but not like you’ve had them before.”

When you arrive at Lab 22, you need to head up the stairs to the bar. They had gangster rap pumping out of the speakers. Interesting choice which hinted that mum (and potentially myself) were not their chosen demographic.

On both evenings that we went it was fairly quiet. We had the choice of where we wanted to sit so chose a nicely positioned table in the window. The service was quick and friendly with an explanation of the menu provided.

Over the course of the two evenings we ordered four different cocktails. I can only remember the names of three of them for definite, which were:

1. Make Me Famous – this was Tanqueray Gin, Passionfruit Wine Vanilla and Disco Dust. The disco dust was like a fizzy sherbet, which was spread around glass containing the drink. The passionfruit wine along with the sweet dust gave the drink a deep sweetness.
2. Concrete Daisy – containing Espolon Tequila, Orange Lillet, Urban Honey, Spruce Tips. Came with a honeycomb wafer on the glass.
3. Transparency – this was Kingston White Rum, Pineapple, Coconut, Colada Crisp. This was a very upscale version of a Pina Colada and came with a wafer thin biscuit on top of the glass.
4. I think the last one was possibly Convergence – Bombay bramble, vanilla, sour cherry tea. This one came with a lovely meringue on top. If it is the right drink!

3. The Potted Pig

Having left it too late to book into the steak restaurant Pasture, The Potted Pig seemed like a decent alternative. It is also located on High Street not too far from Coffee Barker.

The restaurant is located in the basement of old bank vaults. Upon arrival at the restaurant, there was a lot of busyness going on as some filming was taking place. We found out it was Adam Richman previously from Man V. Food. I couldn’t recall ever knowing about him or his programme before now. However, given he is no longer hosting that, one can only assume this is for some new venture.

We decided to just order mains and save ourselves for dessert.

We were tempted by Crackling, Dijon and Cornichons starter but resisted. When we heard others crunching around us, it did feel like a big mistake.

I’m not sure whether it was the kerfuffle from the filming but it took a very long time for our food to arrive. The waiter having noticed this brought out a bowl of olives. Unfortunately for mum, this was no appeasement as she can’t stand the things so I enjoyed alone. If only they had brought out the crackling then we would have both been happy.

For mains we ordered:

Me – Roast Pork Belly, Glazed Pig Cheek, Butternut Squash Purée, Celeriac, and some long awaited Crackling.

Mum – Rib-eye, Oxtail Sauces, Pommes Anna, Chimichurri. The steak was cooked medium/rare as recommended on the menu.

For sides we ordered some mixed greens to share.

I have to say although I love a steak and when I’m away with mum I normally have it on one of the nights we go out. I am really pleased that I went with the pork. It was the right choice. The three generous squares of perfectly cooked, tender pork belly came resting on three sweet circles of butternut squash. Laid on top of these was the Glazed Pig Cheek, which was dense in flavour and texture almost acting like a rich stuffing would to a roast dinner. Finally there was a small heap of celeriac and a thick strand of well crisped crackling. It was a very comforting and yummy.

The ribeye steak came cut into strips and cooked as requested. It was juicy with a good balance of meat and fat. There was no requirement for steak knife that arrived with it. Restaurants should not need to provide if they are confident in the quality of their meat! There was a large slap of the Pommes Anna accompanied by a good portion of chimichurri. The rich oxtail sauce was served in it’s own little pot rather than drowning a perfectly good steak.

It was at this point we realised we didn’t need the mixed greens. Oh well.

Along with this we had a bottle of Chateau La Petite Roque red wine. Reflecting back on this wine selection, I can’t for the life of me remember why we chose this one. It could very well have been down to the price. We would normally opt for a Shiraz, a Malbec or Primitivo as our red of choice.

The dessert we shared some form of deconstructed cheesecake. Personally a prefer the traditional put together version. I don’t recall the exact flavour but we finished the lot!

4. Palette

After a long day looking at street art and shopping in Cardiff, we need an afternoon refreshment. The weather was not amazing given it late September but we were still in the mood for ice cream sugar hit.

On the corner of High Street overlooking Cardiff Castle occupying a tiny retail space was Palette. Inside there was only a couple of tables and the counter with ice cream and cake.

The selection of ice cream was petite and mainly consisted of the core flavours. The ice cream was made by a company called Joes.

Joe’s is a Welsh ice cream brand which was started back in 1922 with a unique vanilla flavour.

I’m glad we stumbled on this. I have since found out that there is whole Joe’s ice cream parlour in Cardiff. If I return then I will check it out.

On this occasion, although the offering was small at Palette, they had Welsh cake flavour. This had to be tried (by both of us)!

We sat in at one of the tables to eat the ice cream plus we also had a hot chocolate and cappuccino. Hot drinks and ice cream – is that weird?

The ice cream was nice and creamy with subtle chunks of raisins and cake integrated. If I hadn’t been travelling home on a train, I might have tried to buy a pot to take back with me.

5. Giardini di Sorrento

On our second night in Cardiff, we had booked Giardini di Sorrento. This was about a 5-10 minute drive from where we were staying in the centre. On the night we went it was chucking it down so once we had finished our cocktails at Lab 22, we ordered an Uber to get us to the restaurant.

I would describe Giardini di Sorrento as a cosy down to earth Italian. I found out about it from the Visit Cardiff website.

When we arrived at the restaurant we were led upstairs. I noticed that one of the tables near where we were gestured to sit at, was set up for a large group who had yet to arrive. Immediately I felt concern that our relaxed evening was about to be ruined. Sitting next to a large group, of which many of the individuals will be fighting for to be in the conversation spotlight tends not to be a good thing. As the night progressed my fears were thankfully unfounded. The group of what appeared to be university professors kept their voices to an appropriate volume.

Now for the food…

To start we ordered Pane Aglio e Mozzarella. Upon its arrival we were presented with a plate of four squares of soft lightly toasted ciabatta bread. This was generously doused in garlic, olive oil and mozzarella cheese. You will see from the picture this was served with no thrills. It was simply placed on a thin bed of rocket. It didn’t need anything else, it delivered what was expected in terms of flavour.

On this night Mum won the prize for ordering the best dish. She went for the paccheri pasta with creamy sauce mixed with pancetta and walnuts.

I was tempted to order this too but decided to go for something different. I opted for the risotto with tomato sauce, n’duja, burrata topped with one leaf of basil.

This dish was certainly not for faint hearted. The n’duja added a right kick to the dish which the burrata struggled to temper. It was difficult to focus on any other flavours as they were disguised by the spicy meat. The dish would have benefited from more burrata and basil. That being said the risotto rice was cooked perfectly.

Our chosen bottle for this meal was a Colle Al Vento Primitivo di Manduria. This was a lush, dark berry fruity full-bodied red and was perfect with Italian food.

6. Drinks at the Marriott

En route from the restaurant back to the AirBnB, we stopped at the Marriott in Cardiff for a night cap. I’ve always liked this particular Marriott. We stayed there a lot during the time when my husband worked in Cardiff. The bar was quiet and civilised. We both enjoyed our double Baileys and ice.

What we did…

Street Art and Shopping

No trip of mine is ever complete without sampling what a city has to offer in terms of street art. Before my visit, I referred to a couple of online resources to help locate some of the art that I wanted to visit. Most of the information came from BLOCAL and @cardiffstreetart.

With mum in tow, we started our adventure at a mural we had seen whilst walking between Coffer Barker and the AirBnB on the first day. Called “Golden” this magnificent skull is by @rmer.one. It’s located on Quay Street and Westgate Street.

From here we turned into Womanby Street to discover a treasure trove of street art. The first one spotted was this huge mural of the singer and songwriter Gwenno Sounders. It was commissioned by the “Get it Right” campaign, which aims to prevent piracy in music. Created again by Rmer One and along with Barny Zadok and is on the side of Clwb Ifor Bach.

Tucked away in a doorway on Womanby Street is Bili the cat by @lemboart.

Yet another one by Rmer One at @thebootleggercardiff also on Womanby Street.

At the Fuel Rock Club on Womanby Street, there is this one by @peaceful_progress.

Here are the final street murals that we saw before leaving Womanby Street.

We then headed up to City Road and checked out the location of Giardini di Sorrento, which we due to visit that evening. After this we made our way to Tavistock Street. Here we found another one of Rmer One’s artworks. Still striking, this black and white portrait of a woman has seen better days.

The final location for our street art tour was Northcote Lane. Again there was an abundance of a wonderful works.

We saw this mallard which, apparently was originally part of bigger piece of work. It was the first of a few pieces that we saw in this area by Colour Doomed and HB (Helen Bur),

Next up was “Making War,” a collaborative work by Colour Doomed and Helen Bur. They each painted the two main characters in the mural.

Next to this was some artwork by the Italian street artist RUN.

My personal favourite in this area was this next piece again by Colour Doomed and HB.

Near the end of Northcote lane was this Butterfly in the sunshine by @artbyunity.

Opposite this was the final bit of graffiti we saw that day.

After our morning street art extravaganza, we then hit the shops in the centre of Cardiff for some much needed retail therapy.

Cardiff is definitely a city worth visiting and I was glad I had the chance to go back. We had more on our itinerary than we didn’t manage to do so I may well go back again in the future.