Most restaurants serving international cuisine try to make them as authentic as possible but, as hard as they try, you more than often feel like you're in a restaurant on your doorstep that just happens to serve really good pizza/moussaka/bhajis. So when it was announced that a new Parisian-style bistro was being opened in Cardiff by the Barker family - who are behind such favourites as Gin & Juice, Coffee Barker and Rum & Fizz - I was interested to find out if it lived up to the billing.
Maison De Boeuf is based in Castle Arcade - just along from the aforementioned Gin & Juice and Rum & Fizz in the former Madame Fromage presmises - and with little bistro tables and chairs outside all these businesses, it really does have the air of a French quarter. But it's when you step through the doors of the new restaurant that you get the feeling that you really could be in Paris.
With dark wooden floors and ceilings and walls lined with mirrors - some covered in elaborate writing advertising the drinks on offer - you feel like you've stumbled upon a cosy little diner that's hidden away in a corner of the French capital. The chandeliers, side lamps and twinkling tealights on the bistro tables, which are covered in white paper cloths, give off such a cosy and romantic vibe. Adding to the atmosphere is the gentle French music playing in the background.
