From coffee shops and cocktail bars to burger joints and brunch spots, Cardiff has welcomed, with open arms and hungry stomachs, a vast array of delicious new dining and drinking spots this year.
With chain restaurants, such as Fat Hippo and indie joints like hot sauce bar Reaper open and many more opening in the city in the first half of the year alone, it's safe to say Wales' capital city is one well-fed foodie city.
Here, we round up a list of the restaurants and bars that have graced the capital city since the new year - and the exciting new food havens yet to come.
Read More The 50 best restaurants in Cardiff in 2022: The best places to eat in the city
Wingstack
Promising "Wings & Tings with Stacks of Flavour", this independent fried chicken shop specialises in chicken wings and burgers. With a wide menu, including eight different flavours of chicken wings - with flavours of the month - three different chicken burgers (that you can swap out for vegan cauliflower burgers) and various loaded chips to choose from you are sure to find something you like. You can see what we thought, here.
Where : 86 Whitchurch Rd, Cardiff CF14 3LY
Reaper
Spice lovers of Cardiff need to visit Reaper's new HQ in Canton, which is open on weekends. Housing 12 unique hot sauces, such as coffee and habanero and pineapple and jalapeno along with 12 new seasonings to try with their dirty dining menu, which features a deep-fried mac'n'cheese patty and their signature vegan Kentucky fried Cauliflower burger, this is a unique food offering Cardiff is proud to have. The menu also includes items like mix’n’match chicken wings. If you can’t handle spice, fear not - their range of sauces also cater for the faint-hearted, with non-spicy sauces too.
Where: Unit 6 Paper Mill Rd, Cardiff CF11 8DH
Rosa Thai
You may have visited this Thai restaurant in Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool. But earlier this year, Rosa's Thai opened its first restaurant in Wales - on the busy Church Street, which is home to many beloved independent and chain restaurants. The company was set up by chef Saiphin, who grew up on a mountain farm in Khao Kho, northern Thailand. When she and her husband moved to the UK, Saiphin started selling home-cooked meals at offices and markets. They set up a permanent stall on London's Brick Lane in 2007 before starting up their restaurant in 2008 on Hanbury Street. The menu offers a range of options, including curries, noodles, and stir fry dishes. Around 30% of the menu is also vegetarian and vegan. It also offers seasonal specials, which currently include a tom yum noodle soup, salt and pepper crispy tofu, oyster mushroom tempura, and stir fry chilli tofu and green beans. Read our review, here.
Where : 5-10 Church St, Cardiff CF10 1BG
Par 59
Brought to you by Wales' football legend Gareth Bale - who already owns popular bar Eleven's - this isn't just any old bar. It's a bar, restaurant and mini-golf venue which stemmed from a partnership between the famous footballer and the popular events organisers DEPOT. Only accepting those who are age 18 and above, the site comprises of two nine-hole mini-golf courses - one named 'The Gambler' and the other 'The Valentine'. You can even drink while you putt as each golf hole has a drinks station. Keeping in with the golf theme, caddies go around and take your orders while on the course if you're peckish. Par 59 houses street food vendors Dirty Bird, which provides a dine-in menu.
Where : Imperial Gate, Basement Unit at, St Mary St, Cardiff CF10 1FE
Heidi's Bar
Taking over what used to be the much-loved bar and nightclub Soda, Heidi's Bier Bar - which has locations in Norway, Finland and Denmark - brings an "authentic après ski atmosphere" to the Welsh capital. Being the first UK branch of the popular beer hall, it offers a selection of draft beers served in traditional one-pint dimpled glasses and four-pint drink towers. For those looking for something stronger, Jägertrains are available with shots served in a pair of skis - naturally. At the time of opening, the Bier Hall's Head of Marketing & Partner, Dennis Kastbjerg, said: "“We promise there is nothing like Heidi’s in Wales. It will be just the tonic people need to forget the challenges of the past couple of years. In a Heidi’s, the spirits are always high, the party is wild, and everywhere you look, you see happy people. You can’t help but have a good time!”
Where : 4-6 Mill Ln, Cardiff CF10 1FL
Cora
This is the first restaurant by renowned chef Lee Skeet, who trained under Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing and also became a head chef in his own right at the Michelin-starred Hedone in London. The restaurant is situated in Pontcanna above the equally as delicious cafe, Milkwood, and exclusively seats just 12 people. It opened in January 2022 following a sell-out run of pop-ups and supper clubs at his flat in Cardiff Bay, which he named 40 Days, 40 Nights, which sold out 650 tickets in a matter of days and was met with rave reviews. The restaurant serves a single tasting menu of seasonal British produce, focusing on seafood, cooked single-handedly by him. His restaurant made news recently - and it wasn't just because of its delicious food. Read more on that here.
Where: 83 Pontcanna Street, Pontcanna, Cardiff CF11 9HS
Tonight Josephine
This bubblegum pink cocktail bar is quite possibly the most flamboyant bar to hit the city. With a backdrop making for the most fabulous Instagram post, Tonight Josephine currently has three bars in London and one in Birmingham and is known for its lavish cocktail menu and extravagant bottomless brunches. Describing itself as a 'sassy' cocktail bar, it was named after Empress Joséphine Bonaparte, the first wife of Napolean, and hosts themed brunches (Mamma Mia, Moulin Rouge, Pop Icons - to name a few) in a glittery, neon-filled bar, which serves a large selection of cocktails, alongside wine, beer and non-alcoholic drinks.
Where : 46 Caroline St, Cardiff CF10 1FF
Kafe Makasih
Husband and wife team Ruth and Roger Hanson who hail from Blackwood, started Kafe Makasih as a street food venture some years ago and won the title of People’s Choice winners at the British Street Food Awards in 2019 and 2020. Earlier this year, it took up a permanent residence at the old site of The Early Bird Cafe on Woodville road, serving Malaysian fusion cooking - for breakfast, lunch and dinner - inspired by the couple’s travels around Malaysia. This is Makasih's first permanent home, after serving their delicious food over the years at venues and events across south Wales including Corporation Yard, Sticky Fingers and the Abergavenny Food Festival.
Where: 38 Woodville Rd, Cardiff CF24 4EB
Fat Hippo
If you're a burger lover, you need to visit Fat Hippo - who claim to have the best burgers in Cardiff. It opened in May, taking over the former site of Bub’s Bar and Kitchen, and serves a vast selection of impressive burgers - whose fillings are creative (for example the PB+JJ, which has peanut butter and jam in it) and deliciously dirty. "Good old fashioned, roll up your sleeves + get it all over your face" food, their starters are equally as extravagant as their mains: frickles - fried pickles topped with sour cream and Hellacious Hippo Hot sauce, trash browns - deep-fried tater tots, liquid cheese and Cajun onion strings, and wachos - waffle fries, smashed beef, liquid cheese, guacamole, sour cream, Hellacious Hippo Hot sauce and jalapeños . You can read our review here.
Where: 17 Church St, Cardiff CF10 1BG
The Underdog
Brought to you by the team behind Kongs - a much loved bar which not only houses booze but ping pong and old-school arcade games - The Underdog serves simple cocktails, New York style pizza and selection of beer and has a striking interior filled with neon lights and pool tables. Set on the second level, above Kongs, it serves 80s nostalgia and has a happy hour every day between 4pm and 7pm.
Where : Hodge House, Guildhall Pl, Cardiff CF10 1EB
Little Kochi
The idea for this Indian restaurant was borne after Little Kochi's founder Albin Sunny, whose family hails from Kerala, cooked south Indian food for a friend of his, who'd never tried dishes from the region. His feedback, Albin told us (read more on it here ), was so incredible that it gave the 25-year-old graduate the idea of opening his very own restaurant in Cardiff specialising in south Indian cuisine. Opening in late May, the restaurant oozes authenticity with delicious food and drink from the south Indian region being served - the food is cooked by Keralan chefs (one of whom came from the kitchens that cook for the Indian Premier League), who use spices that have come directly from Keralan farmers - and its interior is just as marvellous.
Where : 78 Albany Rd, Cardiff CF24 3RS
Slamburger
Slamburger opened its sixth restaurant in the UK on City Road at the start of the year, and is known for creating halal versions of burgers that are close to popular burgers from McDonald's and Burger King as well as making their own. Its impressive menu boasts nine different grilled burgers from the Beef Whooper to the Piri Double Chicken Wooper and 15 gourmet and classic burgers. There are also chicken doner kebab options, kid's meals including the choice of chicken nuggets, and a wide range of sides available, giving customers plenty of choice.
Where: 149-151 City Rd, Cardiff CF24 3BQ
Karak Chaii
Selling luxury high-quality chai tea, Karak Chaii also serves all-day breakfasts, smaller desi-style streetfood dishes - such as the Bombay Sandwich, Chilli Paneer and Keema Matar and Masala Chip - four types of Rotis, as well as a variety of desserts. Speaking at the time of the opening, Franchise Training Manager Maryam Hassan said: "Karak Chaii means strong tea, we really place emphasis on our tea being the best in the industry. So because it is in our name we really pride ourselves on the quality of our tea."
Where : 228 City Rd, Cardiff CF24 3JH
Daffodil
This gastro pub, which is part of the Croeso Pub Company that also runs the Bluebell, Philharmonic, Brewhouse and Retro, focuses on local Welsh produce and boasts a "relaxed bar, restaurant & hidden garden". From sweet breakfast dishes to crisp boozey cocktails, it is pub grub at its finest.
Where: 33 Windsor Pl, Cardiff CF10 3BZ
Coming later this year
Buffalo Bar and Koi
Opening where the original much-loved Buffalo bar once brought in the punters for a boogie and beverage, Koi - a japanese restaurant which will be on the building's ground floor - and Buffalo Bar, on level two, which will keep in line with what Cardiffians remember of the original joint (a music venue and dance) is set to open in the next few months and is being brought to the city by the team behind the popular cocktail bar Pennyroyal.
The ClubHouse
Opening in Cardiff bay, where Salt bar used to reside, the nautical-themed restaurant and bar will be gracing the waterside this summer. Offering good food and good cocktails, it'll fit right in with the surrounding eateries and drinking holes around the quay.
Flight Club
New darts bar Flight Club - not to be confused with fight club - which already has locations in Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol and London, is set to open this autumn. According to their website, alongside bespoke cocktails, sharing boards and pizzas, the new club has "reinvented darts for the twenty-first century, developing a range of fast and exciting multi-player games, built to bring people together and designed to keep you unexpectedly hooked, insatiably entertained and full of joy."
Ivy Asia
Hopefully opening later this year, the Ivy Asia, which was set to open in Cardiff city centre this spring has once again been pushed back ( see more here ). Due to open next door to the current Ivy restaurant on The Hayes, the restaurant will serve "theatrical drinks and cocktails alongside a delicious menu of tantalising dishes, the vibrant restaurant will inspire and excite you from the moment you step inside," according to its website, and takes inspiration from "a number of Asian cuisines". Their current sites in London and Manchester serve small dishes such as tiger prawns and sushi.
Gin Ne Sais Quoi
If you've wandered around the city centre recently, you would have seen that building work has started on the new pink perfect cocktail bar, Gin Ne Said Quoi, which originated in Swansea. Coming to Mill Lane later this year, the velvet interiors, neon signs and flower walls will make for the ultimate girly get-together.
Maison Entrecôte: Chez Barker
Brought to you by the family behind Coffee Barker and Gin and Juice, Maison Entrecôte is hoping to open this autumn and will bring a slice of Paris to Cardiff. The French bistro will be tucked away in the beautiful and historical Castle Arcade, adding to its European charm. Read more on it here.
Fowl and Fury
This popular pop-up street food business serving up Nashville hot chicken is set to open its permanent restaurant by the summer. Fowl and Fury, which began trading as a pop-up in the street food spot Sticky Fingers in the middle of last year, has turned into a roaring success in the capital, renowned for dishing up Cardiff's hottest chicken tenders. The new cafe, run by husband and wife duo Jamie and Natalia Rees, will be in the former site of Cafe Portugal on Wyeverne Road in Cathays. Read more about it here
Pasture's speakeasy
The regularly booked-out steakhouse Pasture on the capital's High Street is expanding its venue to include a new small plates restaurant and speakeasy bar. Taking over what used to be Fly By Night on the same street, the plans are currently going through the planning and licensing stages but it is hoped that the speakeasy will be up and running by the end of August or the start of September.
The Cocktail Club
The Cocktail Club is set to open at the site of the former Karma club on 75 St Mary Street. Its popularity is evident as bookings are already open for the bar which, according to The Cocktail Club 's website, will welcome customers from June 30. "Expect top-notch cocktails, banging tunes, bartenders ready to entertain, a happy hour not to be forgotten and most of all a night you won’t forget," the website reads.
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