Maria Mellor is normally found editing Gair Rhydd, but for now she’s popped over to the┬áQuench Food world. We’re all friends (and office buddies!) at Cardiff Student Media! Here’s what she made of new Cardiff eatery The Goods Shed.

By Maria Mellor

As a student I wouldnÔÇÖt really venture too far out of town unless it was for one of my incredibly infrequent trips to the bay. Because of my lack of wanderlust when it comes to the outer regions of Cardiff I had no idea about the couple of hotels situated just off Tyndall Street – shameful I know.

 

When I was invited to review The Goods Shed in Novotel, I therefore had no idea what to expect. You get to Novotel and realise that it is actually inside the hotel and have to go through their carpark and front entrance to get inside. Once youÔÇÖre there though youÔÇÖll find a pretty informal set up with a gorgeous aesthetic of wood, exposed brickwork and cool light fittings hanging from the ceiling.

 

 

I went there twice in total – once for their opening night and another time to do a full review. I can confirm that both times I was very impressed. They have bar staff that know how to make over 200 cocktails and at a standard price of ┬ú7 per cocktail IÔÇÖm sure they wouldnÔÇÖt mind going off-menuÔǪ I certainly did! Over my two visits I tried a pornstar martini, a pina colada, some sort of mango and lime cocktail and a couple of apple and blackberry cocktails (donÔÇÖt judge, they were all amazing). The friend I brought along for the restaurant visit had a mojito that she said was one of the best sheÔÇÖd ever had.

 

The food follows this same standard too with a full array of different choices: pizzas, burgers, curry, salads, all of which are top quality. The restaurant itself used to be an old goods shed (as the name suggests) where trains going all around the country would store their wares. Accordingly the menu has a cute theme of different foods from all the places those trains would have visited. We tried a range of smaller versions of dishes to get a feel for the entire selection. For starters we tried the HampshireÔÇÖs BBQ Baby Pork Ribs (full size: ┬ú6.95), the Smoked Haddock and Salmon fish cakes (full size: ┬ú6.50) and a Plymouth Calamari Fritter with lemon mayo (full size ┬ú5.90). They were all lovely and simple, but I think my favourite had to be the fishcakes as a wonderful take on a signature dish. The calamari fritter on the other hand wasnÔÇÖt really my type of thing and in my opinion tasted more like mozzarella.

 

Our main meal came out next. Oh. My. Gosh. We were given smaller versions of the Braised Welsh Lamb Shank (full size: ┬ú16.50), a Birmingham Balti Chicken Curry (full size: ┬ú12.50) and the Cornwall Char-Grilled Sea Bass (full size: ┬ú14.95). I was in food heaven. The roasted vegetables, gravy and pureed potato that came with the lamb shank were all great, and I do love a bit of sea bass. The curry was rich and flavourful, while the chicken in it was tender and moist. If I wanted to find fault with the main meal it would not be because of the food, but perhaps the plate the lamb came in. IÔÇÖm not sure if it always comes in the same dish but we were gives a sort of black oven dish thing that looked very nice aesthetically but felt horrible to scrape fork against to try and shovel mashed potato. Maybe thatÔÇÖs just me! I hate that kind of thing, but like I said itÔÇÖs just nitpicking and otherwise it was a wonderful meal.

 

Our very friendly waiter then asked if we had room for dessert. Having just eaten enough food to feed three people each, we had our doubts, but had no regrets when we tasted it. In our little sample we had one of their Welsh Bara Brith pudding, an Exeter Lemon and Lime cheesecake and a little pot of penderyn custard. My friendÔÇÖs favourite was the bara brith, mine was the cheesecake, but we both agreed that the custard was great and ended up pouring it into our spoons and finishing the lot.

I think price-wise you do pay for what you get. All the food and drinks were of a great quality and so are priced a little higher than your general chain restaurant prices. For students I think it would be wonderful to take your parents there when theyÔÇÖre in town and they could even stay in Novotel for easy access!