I've fond memories of Salt Bar and its dimly-lit ground floor upon which I danced to my heart's content but walking into Salt's successor, The Club House, for a meal to lift my post bank-holiday blues, it was another world - in the best way possible.
Stepping through its white washed doors in Cardiff Bay's Mermaid Quay, there's an air of 'Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Cardiff anymore' - more so a tavern on the coastline of some seaside resort, although the only thing missing is the sand on your toes.
The area is light, bright and decorated generously with rope-adorned light fixtures, seafaring tools on the walls and in cabinets, murals of aquatic beings and wooden furniture that screams holiday vibes.
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Our reservation was at 7:15pm but we arrived at 7pm - eager and hungry. Understandably, our table wasn't ready so we were advised by the bubbly front of house staff to get a drink from the bar and take a seat in their designated bar area before we headed up to the restaurant on the second floor, which had only officially been open for two days.
At the bar, we were met by two friendly staff members who seemed genuinely interested when they asked how our day had been. I opted for a non-alcoholic aperetivo - a Rhubarb Rhossini - and my dining partner had a Madri beer. We settled down on a high table with our drinks, soaking up the lovely view overlooking the bay.
At the time of our reservation, we headed to our table to look through the menu - which includes everything from brunches and roasts to mains like burgers, fish and chips and hanging kebabs, both meat and vegan - and they handily have a QR code which you can scan and see all the allergens in the different meals on offer and can filter them to tailor to your needs.
For starters we chose crispy mushrooms (£7.50) and super greens hummus with flatbread (£6.95). The mushrooms were wonderfully piping hot - which makes me think it was made fresh - and doused and fried in polenta crumbs they had a good crunch. While the mushrooms' earthy taste was overpowered by the fried polenta coating, on larger pieces it shone through beautifully.
Well-seasoned, the mushroom starter had a saltiness akin to that of fried chicken - minus the vat of grease. It came with a delicious truffle mustard mayonaise pot that I devoured - the mustard seeds were the key flavour for me and I didn't mind - and a watercress and sweet pickled onion side salad which complemented it well.
The hummus was herby and packed a parsley punch - if you're a fan of the leafy green and its friendly counterpart, coriander, you're in for a tidal wave of fragrant flavours with this starter. The flatbread accompanying the houmous was flaky on top and soft in the middle.
Soon after our plates were cleared by our smiley waitress, who consistently checked in to see if everything was ok with our meal - it was, very - our mains arrived. We both opted for one of The Clubhouse's famous hanging kebabs - a popular dish that is also available at its sister company, The Botanist.
My dining partner only had eyes for the lamb kofta kebab (£14.25) while I decided to try the vegan meatball option (£15.25). Both came with well-seasoned and moreish chips that offered the chance for an upgrade - we went for one standard 'properly seasoned' and one buffalo loaded fries (hot sauce, cool ranch and blue cheese - for an extra £2.50).
The regular chips were well cooked, crispy, salty and seasoned with rosemary which added an extra bit of pizzaz to an otherwise bog-standard chip while the buffalo loaded one was a blue cheese-lover's dream. Not ridiculously pungent but it had that bitter aftertaste its so loved for. Once past the melted layer of blue cheese, there's a mighty kick from the hot sauce and seasoning. For me, it wasn't my idea of chippy heaven, but my partner wolfed it down with an almighty 'mmm'.
The hanging kebabs were flavourful and came with different oils to enhance the experience. While trying to decontruct the kebab (which consisted of five pieces of your chosen meat/cheese/other and roasted vegetables) for eating from the skewer while still suspended in the air is doable, our waitress recommended we lay it down on the plate to save any spillages - as someone wearing white, I was grateful for the suggestion.
As we tucked in, the lights began to dim for some aesthetic ambience and while at first I worried it was a tad too dark, the roped lighting made it quite cosy, so I didn't mind.
The lamb was tender and drizzled with harrisa jam and garlic oil, which provided a sweet chilli-esque kick to it without knocking the smoky, earthiness of the lamb out. The pepper and onion slices were soft and well cooked and gave a fresh contrast to the heaviness of the meat.
My vegan meatballs were delicious, full of herby flavour and, weirdly, a bit confusing - that's not a negative, by the way. They were tasty. I say it because I couldn't quite place specifically what flavour I was tasting. Was it herby? Smoky? Salty? All of the above in equal measure. Adding to my confusion, the gritty texture of said meatballs was so meaty, I couldn't believe it wasn't meat...
The roasted marinara sauce which coated the skewer gave a lovely zing - alongside the roasted peppers and courgettes sandwiched between the meatballs - to the meatballs' saltiness and was complemented by the mixed herb-infused oil I drizzled along it.
Despite starting to resemble a meatball myself due to how full I was, I wasn't going to leave without satiating my (very) sweet tooth. My partner and I went for the lemon tart (£6.95) - to share - which came assembled on a mouthwateringly tangy pool of raspberry sauce next to a scoop of raspberry sorbet atop a handful of honeycomb; a combination of flavours I could get used to.
The tart was surprisingly... un-tarte (for want of a better word) and was melt-in-your-mouth creamy with a zesty spritz of lemon in the aftertaste. The raspberry sauce and ice cold sorbet complemented the creaminess of the slice and the honeycomb was delightfully sticky (though my teeth thought otherwise) and crackled as it hit my tongue. This, for me, regardless of how full I was, was the piece-de-resistance of the meal and the one dish I cannot stop thinking about.
As for the service, it was faultless. The waiting team were attentive throughout our meal, checking in on us and everyone around us seeing if there was anything else we needed - and we were always met with a smile. And although the team had only been welcoming and working with bookings for two days since the grand opening, it seemed like a well-oiled machine.
My only gripe is that the music was creeping up to borderline loud. Maybe it was where we were sat, maybe it was my sensitive hearing and, don't get me wrong, it was the perfect balance for a restaurant-come-bar... but any louder and I may have struggled to hear my dining partner, but that's just me.
All in all, the meal was beautiful, the service was class and the experience, which really honed into their ethos of being an escape from the stresses of every day life, was one I am eager to do all over again - complete with lemon tart, of course.
For more information on how to book, visit The Club House Cardiff Bay's website.
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