We really should have planned better for our last-minute visit to Good World, a newly-opened Chinese restaurant based at Cardiff’s Leckwith Road retail park.
Because our dreary Tuesday evening visit happened to coincide with a Cardiff City home game, meaning crowds had already started to accumulate around the football stadium by the time we arrived just after 6pm.
Fortunately, Good World is tucked away above Les Croupiers Casino and was still fairly quiet. But, it filled up in no time at all with a mix of casino goers, families, friends and football fans.
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It’s not only Good World’s location which is fairly secret. Having sat down, we were presented with a familiar menu of westernised Chinese restaurant dishes such as spring rolls, chicken in black bean sauce and sweet and sour chicken.
But, from my rooting around on social media, I knew they sold more authentic dishes such as roast meats; stir fried Chinese bacon with celery; and whole sea bass with ginger, spring onions and soy sauce. A quick enquiry later and we were presented with an entirely different menu.
Wanting to order a good selection of dishes, we inevitably ordered far too much.
A pair of cold and malty Tsingtao beers (£3.30) were lovely with a bowl of complimentary prawn crackers which took the edge off my hunger pangs.
A generous trio of roast meats (£13.50) were all tasty but the standout was slices of extremely tender duck with its fat fully rendered to leave thin bronzed skin. Pork belly, topped with first class crackling, could perhaps have benefited from a bit more fat rendering whilst dinky pieces of char sui pork were a bit heavy on the ratio of sweet marinade to meat.
A platter of fillet steak with black pepper sauce (£14.80) announced itself with a loud sizzle. The thinly-sliced and impeccably tender beef was bathed in a savoury sauce with a warming thrum of black pepper and was topped with macadamia nuts that provided a brilliantly buttery crunch.
Pan fried three treasures (£10.80) really did live up to its billing - soft aubergines, charred bitter green peppers, and creamy tofu pieces were all stuffed with sweet minced prawn patties and coated in a thick, savoury soy based sauce with a good hit of black bean and garlic.
Finally, a whopping plate of crisp battered plump king prawns (£8.75) were liberally scattered with finely diced garlic, salt and a spicy tingle of green chilli. Served in their shells, it meant there was a choice of either peeling off the prawns’ shells and missing out on the batter or embracing the crunch and eating the whole thing. I of course opted for the latter and had no regrets whatsoever.
We had a really tasty meal at Good World. Whilst I’m sure their menu of British Chinese restaurant classics is probably lovely, it’s well worth asking for a look at their secret menu to experience some more authentic cooking.
The details:
Address - Capital Retail Shopping Park, 8, Leckwith Road, Cardiff CF11 8EG
Telephone - 029 2022 8866
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