When it comes to eating out in Cardiff it is hard to deny that diners are spoilt for choice. The capital is blessed with a vast array of restaurants, cafes, and bars serving up everything from hearty roast dinners and stunning Asian street food to indulgent grilled cheese sandwiches and glamorous cocktails.
Chains have flocked to the city over the years with Thai tapas spot Giggling Squid, sustainable steak restaurant Gaucho, and celebrated chicken joint Popeyes are among those heading to Cardiff later this year. The capital also has one of the strongest independent food scenes in the UK with success stories found right across the city
But while going out for a meal in Cardiff is a joy doing so on a budget is an increasingly challenging prospect. The brutal conditions of the last three years have hit restaurants across the country hard with eyewatering rises in costs of raw ingredients, energy and supply issues post-Brexit, not to mention the pandemic and ongoing cost of living crisis, forcing them to raise prices while many have been left with no option but to close down.
READ MORE: The 50 best restaurants in Wales in 2023
These increased prices could, on the surface, have spelled the end of eating on the cheap in the capital. But I wanted to prove that it could still be done as I set out to find breakfast, lunch, and dinner at Cardiff's restaurant and cafes for a grand total of £15 – or an average of £5 per meal.
Having consulted the city's food experts I was warned it couldn't be done with bloggers and chefs warning me that such a challenge could prove "foolhardy" in today's climate. Nonetheless, through a winning combination of determination and naivety, I set out to do it anyway.
Could I really get a whole day's worth of food for the three notes in my pocket? Or would I be forced to break the bank or even end up going hungry? Here's how I got on.
Breakfast
It's the most important meal of the day as they say and Cardiff's food experts were full of suggestions for where I could kick off my morning the right way without blowing my budget. The city centre, surprisingly, initially looked like the place to head with the choice of porridge, toast, or cereal at The Bike Lock in Windsor Place proposed by many while fans of Wyndham Cafeteria in the historic Wyndham Arcade and the Bull Terrier café in the market also threw their names into the mix.
However one spot kept cropping up among the suggestions with several people assuring me that I'd be able to get a hearty breakfast on a budget and be left feeling full. And I knew full well from my student days that Elmer's Take a Break Cafe in Cathays' Crwys Road would be the perfect place to start my quest.
Sat between a Domino's takeaway and a packed charity shop the café certainly looks unassuming but its cheap breakfasts and warm, welcoming atmosphere saw it become the highest-rated restaurant in Cardiff on TripAdvisor. Sold on Elmer's and feeling nostalgic for a simpler time I headed to Cathays with a big appetite and a fiver in my hand.
While most students were yet to wake up by the time I got to Elmer's on a Wednesday morning the café was still full of folk tucking into their breakfasts with the reassuring smell of sizzling bacon wafting through the venue from the noisy kitchen. No doubt that 24 hours later it would be packed with hungover souls trying to revive themselves after a big night at the Students Union.
As I waited to place my order I was faced with the first big decision of my mission. Would I play it safe and go for the mini breakfast or even the vegetarian breakfast – both of which were just under budget – or splash out an extra 25p on the full breakfast? The latter option, consisting of two rashers of bacon, a sausage, egg, hash brown, beans, tomatoes, buttered toast, and a choice of drink was too hard to resist. I could always make up for the overspend later... right?
After handing over my fiver and a bit of shrapnel I waited just minutes for my food – all the while trying desperately to forget about the last time I was faced with a cooked breakfast in Cathays when I tried and failed miserably to take down a whopping 8,000-calorie meal at another local café. You can read about that here.
A piping hot milky tea was swiftly followed by a stacked plate of goodness, which I scoffed with the eagerness of a man unsure how much further his less-than-ten-pounds was going to get him over the course of the day. It was just what the doctor ordered with the crispy, salty bacon and peppery sausage ensuring it was a meal full of flavour and the jammy egg and warm buttered toast providing a comforting hug after trekking through the streets of Cathays in the cold. I'd ditch the tomatoes if I came again but other than that I couldn't fault it.
What I had: Full breakfast – Elmer's Take a Break Cafe
What I spent: £5.25
Lunch
With less than a tenner remaining my next challenge was to find an even cheaper lunch to re-balance the budget. Again I didn't have to look far for inspiration with the city's foodies providing another wealth of suggestions for where I could go next.
Staples of the Cardiff lunch scene were put forward as possible destinations, including Magic Wrap, Baguetty Junction, Fang's Oriental Bakery, Wild Thing, and Brod. The city's arcades proved popular too with Crumbs, Hanoi 1991, and Fresh, which regularly has hungry sandwich fans queuing outside it, all getting a mention.
Other honourable mentions included La Minas, Ponnuswamy, Pasha, and Inmas Continental, while vegetarian restaurant Madhav in Riverside and popular Indian venue Atma Lounge in Queen Street both got several shout-outs for their tasty yet cheap offerings. In the end, however, I decided to try my luck at Cardiff Market – the lunchtime destination for hundreds of people every day and the home of some of the city's most well-loved food stalls.
Such is the variety of cuisine on offer at the market, not to mention the affordability, it took me several laps of the place before I could make my mind up what to have for lunch. From mouth-watering dumplings at Pierogi and freshly-made pizza at Ffwrnes to Indian street food at Tukka Tuk and Thai specialities at Delish I was truly spoiled for choice.
After a good 15 minutes perusing, however, I was drawn to the huddle of people gathering around the Market Deli with my eye caught by a bulging bread roll packed with delicious-looking fillings. Bursting at the seams with Green bifteki, salad, and a mint yoghurt sauce, 'The Greek' looked too good to pass up and for just £3 fell well under budget.
It tasted as good as it looked with the spiced bifteki providing a nice bit of bite against the soft bread and cool, crisp salad while the sweet, fragrant mint and yoghurt sauce, together with the peppers and red onion, gave it some real zing. Bursting with ingredients, the roll also had a real weight to it, putting any similarly-priced meal deal sandwich offerings to shame.
I wasn't done yet, however, as no trip to Cardiff Market is complete without picking up a Welsh cake from Bakestones. Enticed over to the stall by a warm waft of aroma I duly picked up two – one jam, one lemon (sorry Welsh cake purists) – taking another 80p out of my budget. And, if you've ever had one, you don't need me to tell you that they were absolutely worth it.
However, while things were going well, with nearly six quid still left in my pocket, I knew my greatest challenge still lay ahead.
What I had: 'The Greek' roll – Market Deli; Jam and lemon Welsh cakes – Cardiff Bakestones
What I spent: £3.80 (£3 for the roll and 80p for two Welsh cakes)
Dinner
Picking up a cheap breakfast and lunch had been easier than I had expected but I was under no illusion that finding dinner for the same price would be a much harder task. I had my work cut out all right but luckily the suggestions kept on coming.
Unsurprisingly the fried delights of Caroline Street were proposed by quite a few following my journey while The Wellfield pub in Roath also got a shout-out for its offering of a chip butty and a Clark's pie for just a smidge over £5. Grangetown's beloved Lahore Kebabish and award-winning Vegetarian Food Studio were also touted while Today Shawarma in Adamsdown and West Pizza – soon to come to Canton – made the shortlist too.
But, again, one name kept cropping up with Pooja Sweets & Savouries in busy Albany Road in Roath being put forward as my best bet by several Cardiff foodies with it staying open until 8pm. Just like Elmer's the Indian sweet shop, bakery, and chaat house certainly looked unassuming but tales of its legendary cheap curries and snacks were enough for me to stake my last fiver on it.
Peeking through the window before entering I'm met with the glorious sight of tray upon tray of samosas, pakora, punjabi, kebab, spring rolls, and bhajis – each for around a pound or less. While I'd eaten well earlier in the day the window display alone was enough to get my stomach rumbling again.
It's another place where I could have spent a lot longer (and a lot more money) as I eyed up the boxes of sweet treats on the shelves behind the counter with burfi and pera milk sweets, halwa, and ladoo on offer alongside dates, nuts, and other cakes and confectionery.
However I'm told my meal will be more expensive if I choose to sit in so I take my order to go. I had £5.90 to play with which wouldn't get me very far at all in town but here I was able to fill my boots, opting for a small paneer curry (£4 with rice), three mixed vegetable samosas (£1 for all three), a spring roll (60p), and an onion bhaji pakora (30p).
Having loaded up I took it home to heat up my meal and tuck in. While the pot of curry initially seemed tiny when plated up with the rice it was a very decent portion size and it was absolutely delicious to boot. The paneer melted away in my mouth, which had already been tinged by the curry's pleasing spice, while the rice was soft and fluffy and enough to fill me up on its own.
Meanwhile the astonishingly-good-value samosas were heavily spiced and full of flavour with their crispness and bite providing a nice contrast to the far doughier spring roll and the crumbly onion bhaji pakora. I'd had my doubts about being able to find a decent dinner for so cheap but Pooja certainly delivered on all fronts. The food was excellent, the service was great, and the cost was, frankly, unbelievable.
What I had: Paneer curry, white rice, mixed vegetable samosas, spring roll and onion bhaji pakora – Pooja Sweets & Savouries
What I spent: £5.90
Total spend: £14.95
I did it! Yeah, sure, I didn't get every meal for under a fiver – in fact I overspent on breakfast and dinner – but the point is it's possible to eat out in the city for the whole day for less than £15. It might take a bit of planning but, as the suggestions I received prove, there are plenty of places that I could have gone instead for a cheap eat with a huge range of cuisines on offer too.
Cardiff is lucky to have so many unique places to eat and independent businesses are the heart of the city's celebrated food scene. While the low prices of Greggs, McDonald's and the like may be the first to jump at you, next time you head out for a meal in the capital think about supporting your independents – and remember that you can fill yourself up without emptying your pockets.
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