A very popular family-run restaurant close to the railway station in Barry. It's a family favourite and seven of us went there recently for a special celebratory meal.
Despite the name, the food is actually very solidly in the meat-or-fish-with-veg tradition. The style, if anything, is French. Although there's a decent a la carte menu, most diners opt for the set evening menu, which offers over half-a dozen choices each of starter, mains and desserts, for around £22.
Starters include French onion soup (with croutons and cheese), prawn cocktail, deep-fried brie, melon with port, garlic or gruyere-stuffed mushrooms and calamari. Mains focus on fish, lamb and steaks, with a limited vegetarian selection (they advise veggies to ring in advance, and I can testify that they do a mean mushroom stroganoff). Portions of both courses are very generous, and you get a good selection of vegetables. (Excellent cauliflower cheese and sauteed potatoes).
You may actually struggle to fit in a dessert, and after the excellent savouries, I found them a little bland, with limited effort on presentation: the cheesecake and tiramisu were fine but not exceptional, whereas the lemon roulade and chocolate fudge-cake got top marks.
It has a small but decent wine list, and we had a fabulous Chilean Sauvignon Blanc for £15 - one of the nicest wines I've had in months - and a very serviceable Merlot. (The house white was rather less exciting, though - and not much cheaper, so go for something else).
The only quibbles really are that the location - a row of single storey shop units - is not very prepossessing, and the interior is a little bland, though perfectly comfortable - dimming the lights would help a lot. But that didn't spoil our visit, nor, evidently, that of our fellow diners.
The service was very good throughout - efficient, friendly and obliging. They were very busy indeed, with four parties as well as other diners (booking ahead is essential at week-ends) but we weren't kept waiting at any stage - and nor were we hurried. Our meal came to a reasonable £30 a head for three courses with wine and service (optional - good!). Overall, a very safe bet if you want a nice meal out in Barry. read more