Despite the continued strides that Cardiff's restaurant scene has taken over the last few years, one weak spot is the lack of quality food pubs in the city centre.
Throwing its hat into the ring is the Daffodil, which recently opened on Windsor Place and is owned by the same company as The Philharmonic, Brewhouse and Retro.
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Overseen by Alex Howells, the man who helped set up the Hare and Hounds in Aberthin and the Heathcock in Llandaff, two of south Wales' best food pubs, the big venue has had a warm and colourful makeover. With its roaring fireplace, it’s a cosy spot to spend an evening.
The Daffodil's menu ticks all the right boxes with Welsh produce dotted across it, including Caws Cenarth cheese, Vale of Glamorgan steaks and Barti Ddu spiced rum. Dishes such as wild mushrooms and Perl Las cheese with malted sourdough, slow roasted belly pork with dauphinoise potatoes and cherry crème brulée with kirsch soaked cherries all competed for attention.
A decent selection of real ales, craft beers and wines by the glass is on offer so Mrs G tucked away a couple of glasses of fruit forward Grauer Burgunder (£5.95) whilst I saw off a pint and a half of juicy and easy drinking Beavertown Neck Oil (£5.60).
Starters were both corkers. A textbook scotch egg (£7.25) was as fine an example as I've eaten in a Cardiff restaurant. A golden crumb encased tender, well-seasoned ham hock and a runny golden yolked egg. Piccalilli with a good thump of mustard and crunchy veg was the ideal accompaniment.
A Middle Eastern-inspired dish combined crisp shreds of yielding lamb (£7.95) that were lightly coated in smoky harissa. Smooth, lightly caramelised cauliflower puree with a big wallop of chilli, addictively crunchy chickpeas and soothing tzatziki all brought something different to the plate.
An extra snack wasn't much on the eye and was a bit tiny for £4.25, but it was seriously moreish. Crisp slices of paprika rich chorizo, creamy melted Caws Cenarth sheep's milk cheese and a sweet drizzle of honey were a cracking combination.
Mains didn't quite hit the same level as starters but they were still good.
A bronze skinned fillet of flaky sea bass (£17.45) was joined by lightly charred courgette pieces, soft and sweet slices of anise-twanged fennel and apple, crunchy hazelnuts and the delicate sharpness of a balsamic vinaigrette. It was a lovely light dish unlike the other main which was a much richer proposition.
A mound of lentils with just the rich amount of bite were flecked with pieces of bacon and root vegetables and bound together with an indulgently savoury and rich stock. Perched on top was a piece of confit duck (£15.25) that looked the business and tasted good. Unfortunately, it lacked tenderness rather than tumbling off the bone as expected.
An extra portion of chips (£4.25) were deliciously crisp and fluffy but I don't think they quite lived up to the hyper-crispness of their triple-cooked billing.
Onto dessert, and a mammoth crumble (£6.50) packed with sweet and soft apples and slightly sharp blackberries was topped with a nutty granola crumb. Whilst a pot of custard was nicely creamy and scented with vanilla, it was far too thin and at least twice as much was required to go with all that crumble.
A light and creamy cheesecake (£6.50) was well-fragranced with coconut and its base, which could have been a bit crisper, had a good warmth of ginger. However I'm not quite sure what a mound of melted and cloyingly sweet marshmallows added to the dessert.
Overall we had a really tasty meal at the Daffodil. Whilst not everything hit the mark, there was a lot of quality on show and it’s a pub I’ll definitely visit again. With a few tweaks, this could be exactly the city centre gastropub Cardiff is crying out for.
The details:
Address - 33 Windsor Pl, Cardiff CF10 3BZ
Telephone - 029 2151 0047
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