Family dining at Cosy Club Cardiff – featuring the new summer 2018 menu
Thanks to Cosy Club Cardiff for inviting us to put their new summer menu to the test
One day, I’m going to head to Cosy Club Cardiff on my own and sit at one of the tables alongside the huge glass windows and people-watch across the Hayes all day. The first floor bar and restaurant is such a great place for observing the shoppers and workers of Cardiff go about their business. Not in a stalky kind of way, I promise. But more in an “I’m curious about what other people get up to” kind of way.
In the meantime though, Cosy Club Cardiff is a great place for socialising while in town with a central location and a sophisticated yet informal atmosphere. At 7300 sq ft, it is the largest of the 22 Cosy Clubs to date. It feels decadent but not pretentious. The décor is eclectic and you could easily get lost in thought gazing at all the old posters, paintings and drawings on the walls and the oversized chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Personally I’m not so keen on the taxidermy animal heads as you walk up the stairs… but the atmosphere is generally, well, cosy.
And I feel neither too young nor too old there which is a rare thing indeed for a nearly 40-year-old in town these days.
I mostly visit with friends (the cocktails are amazing) but during the day it’s really family-friendly and a great place for reasonably priced good-quality food.
Having just got back from a long weekend away and with the fridge and cupboards bare, we were thrilled to be invited along today to put Cosy Club Cardiff’s new summer 2018 menu to the test.
New menu
The updated menu includes several new dishes such as Thai green curry (both chicken and veggie options), crispy duck salad, pan fried seabass, baby back ribs. There are both vegetarian and vegan options for the aubergine tagine and courgette and mint risotto, plus there’s a new tapas menu too.
We arrived at 5.45pm just in time to meet Cardiff Daddy after work. The place was nicely busy but not overly so with a mixture of groups of colleagues post-work, couples and friends post-shopping and a few other families.
We were shown to our table near the back of the restaurant and our three children age 8, 6, and 4 were given colouring pencils and children’s menus, which doubled as activity packs with a picture to colour a word search and a dot to dot picture.
Children’s meals
Children’s main meals cost a reasonable £5.95. Choices include macaroni cheese with garlic bread; fish fingers with fries and peas; breaded chicken lollipops with fries and baked beans; 100% beef burger with lettuce and tomato, fries and baked beans; and a mezze plate of hummus and falafels topped with carrot tapenade, pickled red cabbage, tzatziki and tomatoes served with pitta bread.
If you are visiting earlier in the day, there’s also a cooked breakfast option (£5.95); buttermilk pancakes (£5.95); sausages, baked beans and chips (£4.95) or cheesy beans on toast (£3.95).
After much debate all three children opted for macaroni cheese – one of their ultimate comfort foods – accompanied by two large slices of garlic bread. The children’s portions are generous and six-year-old Little Man was the only one to clear his plate.
Main courses
Cardiff Daddy ordered the Thai green chicken curry (£14.95) which looked great presented on a silver platter containing coconut and coriander rice, prawn crackers, spring rolls and sweet chilli dipping sauce. He says it was tangy rather than overly spicy with lots of veg and generous chunks of chicken. He can’t comment on the prawn crackers however because the children swiped them and he’s too kind to say no.
Cosy Club Cardiff has a separate vegan menu with six main meal choices (yes – six! Thank you Cosy Club for such a good choice) plus tapas and brunch options. I was tempted by the super food bowl (£9.95) which I’ve had previously and is all kinds of yummy goodness on a plate; the aubergine tagine (£10.50) and the Thai burger (£8.95).
The courgette, edamame and mint risotto (£9.95) won in the end (I had the vegan option but vegetarians can have feta with it too). It’s served with toasted seeds and a beetroot and rosemary hummus which was so delicious I could have eaten a plate full of that alone. The courgettes and edamame beans made it feel light and summery but it was lovely and hearty too. That said I was glad I ordered a side of thick-cut chips (£3.50) to go alongside it.
Dessert
For dessert, Little Man chose the chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce (£2). His brother and sister had the fruit sundae with ice cream, berry sauce and banana (£2.50). This looked great in the sundae glass. Unsurprisingly, all three children polished off their treats.
I had the only vegan dessert option of a chocolate and orange torte (£3.95) which was dark and rich but perfectly balanced by the sweetness of the accompanying raspberry sauce.
Cardiff Daddy had one of the new additions to the menu – the salted caramel cheesecake topped with butterscotch sauce and sweet and salty popcorn (£5.95). It looked fantastic and he loved the way the crunchy chewiness of the popcorn balanced out the smoothness of the cheesecake.
My children were disappointed he didn’t choose the Nutella and vanilla cream doughnut topped with candy floss and raspberry dust (£6.25).
I guess it’s an excuse for us to visit again!
Cosy Club Cardiff, St David’s Shopping Centre, 1 Hills Street, Cardiff, CF10 2LE. Visit the Cosy Club Cardiff website for more information.
For more ideas of family-friendly places to eat in Cardiff see the Family Dining section of Cardiff Mummy Says.
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