Menu Gordon Jones, Bear Flat, Bath
On October 13, 2019 by The Plate Licked Clean‘You try and make it sound really disgusting so by the time they eat it they’re like, “F***ing hell that was amazing!” ‘I’m too busy to be serious about Great British Menu, putting stuff on record players and stuffing them in CD cases and all the gimmicky f***ing nonsense so I just turned up and
The Q Pop-up from Tom Martin: Heol-y-Cyw, Bridgend
On October 4, 2019 by The Plate Licked CleanNaming your debut event ‘Q’ is a canny move. It’s redolent with possibilities, with just the right amount of inscrutability: try as you might, you’ll struggle to scrute it. For years, ‘Q’ meant the monthly music magazine, and especially the eager wait to see which hapless soul had wandered into Tom Hibbert’s ‘Who The Hell..?’
Pho, Church St, Cardiff
On September 23, 2019 by The Plate Licked CleanAh. ‘Chain’. The ‘c’ word. After my unenthusiastic review of The Coconut Tree, a few took issue with my description of them as ‘a chain’ and all the dilution of aims and standards that often involves. They’re not materially different from our own Bar 44, they reasoned: a similar number of branches from small beginnings,
A Modest Proposal
On September 20, 2019 by The Plate Licked CleanFree food is great, isn’t it? This isn’t another jaundiced glare at the ‘Ooooh I love your food, can I have £200-worth free for me and my seven best mates please, and we’ll absolutely guarantee some lovely Insta stories?’ subculture of blogging. Like it or not, that is the ecosystem we live in: but perhaps
The Coconut Tree, Mill Lane, Cardiff
On August 21, 2019 by The Plate Licked CleanDisclosure: I didn’t pay for either of my visits here. The first was at their launch event, when I went as another blogger’s guest; the second was at a friend’s invitation. The Coconut Tree didn’t know who I was, although you may argue that our ‘invitees only’ table at the opening night would presumably guarantee
Plat Paysan by Grady Atkins, Bloc Coffee, Cardiff
On August 3, 2019 by The Plate Licked CleanGrady Atkins’ Paysan residency at Canton’s Bloc Coffee has been a big hit this summer. Former head chef at Le Gallois, (late Arbenning, now Heaney’s) and named in interviews as ‘mentor’ by the man the Guardian called ‘Britain’s Hottest Chef‘, Tomos ‘Brat’ Parry, he has vast experience of kitchens the world over. Friday nights have
This blog is a very simple thing.
I won’t try to sell you any hand lotion, exercise programmes, coffee syrups or Patagonian nose flutes. You won’t find tips on dating, ‘wellness’ or yoga mats.
I write because I love it (and food, as indicated by my increasing girth). Greed happens to be my Deadly Sin of choice, but at least it is never shy of providing me with subject matter.
A simple thing, then: all you get is me wittering on semi-coherently about places I’ve eaten at; hence a ‘restaurant blog’ rather than a ‘food blog’, although there are a few recipes scattered throughout.
From mezze to Michelin ‘fine dining’ and all points in between.
ISB Certified
