Family dining at Ed’s Easy Diner, St David’s Centre Cardiff

Cardiff Family dining food

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Thanks to Ed’s Easy Diner for inviting us along for food and an exclusive preview screening of Clifford The Big Red Dog

Ed’s Easy Diner is a national chain of 1950s style restaurants serving up shakes, fries and burgers. Their Cardiff restaurant is located in St David’s Shopping Centre – and it’s always busy.

We were invited along last night for a family meal in celebration of the UK cinema release of Clifford The Big Red Dog and the launch of the diner’s The Big Red Menu tie-in.

Find out more about the film below plus see my Reel on the Cardiff Mummy Says Instagram channel for a video preview.

As we approach Ed’s Easy Diner in St David’s shopping centre in Cardiff, a huge cut out of Clifford, The Big Red Dog greets us at the restaurant’s entrance. The much-loved character, who first appeared in Norman Bridwell’s books way back in the 1960s and then a series of cartoons in the early 2000s, stars in a new feature film, released on 10 December 2021.

We were at Ed’s to watch a private screening of the film ahead of its release and to experience Ed’s food for ourselves.

As we took to our seats, we were brought arrival drinks – all five of us had opted for Ed’s Famous Shakes – Oreo, Nutella and chocolate shakes for my children (£4.99 each), chocolate malt (£5.39) for my husband and vegan chocolate for me (£5.25). My husband and I could have had wine or beer, but being the big kids that we are, we went for the shakes instead. And, of my, were they amazing! Thick, cold, full of flavour, and served in metal tankards with the Ed’s logo on them. let’s just say they didn’t last very long.

For our main course, my seven year old son ordered macaroni cheese from the children’s menu, my 10 year old son had the chicken burger, both from the children’s menu. This offers a main, side and drink for just £2.99, such a reasonable price given. The macaroni could have been a little bigger, but the burger was pretty an impressive size.

My 11 year old daughter the vegetarian plant-based tender sandwich (£7.99), which consists of Vivera Southern fried plant-based tenders, lettuce, fresh salsa, chilli seasoning an BBQ sauce. My husband had the Smokey Joe’s burger (£7.99), a beef patty accompanied by bacon, America cheese, diced onions, gerkin, BBQ sauce and Ed’s burger sauce, while I opted for the Plant-Based Nashville burger (£8.99), a Quorn burger coated in Franks Hot Sauce, accompanied by vegan mayo, lettuce, Applewood cheese sauce, onion rings and crushed chilli flakes. It was slightly fiery but packed full of flavour. The burgers were a good size and the buns packed-full of various toppings. All of us opted for the seasoned fries (£3) to accompany our meals (my husband added cheese and bacon to his), and these were really good; gently flavoured, soft inside and crunchy inside. Perfect.

Other options for mains included all day breakfasts and foot-long hot dogs.

As we began to tuck into our food, the film began. We were watching on a large TV screen, each of us with our own private headphones, as the rest of the restaurant was still in use.

We’d seen the trailer of the film a few times and it was on our list to watch, so to get our own private screening ahead of its official cinema release was a wonderful treat.

It’s a really lovely film, heartwarming, funny, a fantastic child lead in the form of Emily (played by Darby Camp, the little girl from The Christmas Chronicles) who must take on the ruthless scientists who want to kidnap Clifford for their own gains. Jack Whitehall stars as Emily’s uncle cool but irresponsible uncle (it’s odd seeing him act with an American accent but I really liked him in the role.

The film is laugh out loud funny at some points, has some great chase scenes which my youngest in particular enjoyed, and some beautiful messages that it’s okay to be different and the power of love. Emily is bullied at her prestigious private school, but her love for Clifford helps her learn to stand up for herself as she realises that what makes Clifford different is what makes him special.

As the film progressed, along came our desserts and all I can say is wow! My chocolate cake accompanied by salted caramel sauce and ice cream was incredible, so deeply flavoursome. My husband and daughter had the warm chocolate brownie with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream (£4.99) and my two boys the waffles and ice creams from the children’s menu (£1.50).

The Big Red Menu is a limited edition menu which includes a Festive Feast Platter (£12.99) of rack of BBQ ribs, tenders, chicken wings and mozzarella sticks “for an appetite as big as Cliffords); Happy Holidays Cookie Stack (£4.99), a sticky marshmallow and jelly jam cookie stack; and Clifford’s Millionaire Shortbread Shake (£5.99). The cookie stack, which the people on the table behind us had ordered, looked brilliant with an icing sugar paw print on the plate.  

We wouldn’t usually have both shakes and desserts so we were stuffed by this point, not just full of food but with that lovely warm glowing feeling from watching a feel-good film.

Clifford The Big Red Dog and family dining at Ed’s Easy Diner – both highly recommended by us.

Visit the Ed’s Easy Diner website here.

For more ideas of things to do in and around Cardiff, see the Cardiff section of Cardiff Mummy Says or follow Cardiff Mummy Says on Instagramfollow and check out the Local Events highlights.

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