Cardiff - family friendly places to eat on New Year's Eve

[gaijingirl]

Hi all,

We're spending New Years in Cardiff and we'd like to go out for dinner with our 6 and 8 year olds on New Year's Eve - probably early evening before/after a film. It's my birthday but we'd like somewhere that's primarily welcoming to families (but preferably not a Pizza Express!). I wouldn't want anywhere very posh/table-cloth-y/very expensive/where our presence will piss other diners off.

As for type of food - anything is ok really - we do often end up in Turkish/Lebanese/Italian places as they tend to be good with kids. I'd love Japanese but that rarely fills the other criteria. Places that do nice fish are good too.

Does anyone have any good suggestions? We're staying near Sophia Gardens.

 

[ddraig]

quite a bit of choice on City Road, none of it pretentious, would mean a trip to other side of city though
there are a few places closer to Sofia Gardens but less choice

 

[ddraig]

City road The 10 Best Restaurants Near Lilo Grill House, Cardiff - TripAdvisor

missing Lyalena (maybe as new) Lyalena – Restaurant Lebanese, Turkish & Vegan
one of these on City rd Tenkaichi Japanese Sushi Noodle Bar & Restaurant, Cardiff – Tenkaichi Sushi and Noodle Bar in Cardiff

 

[wayward bob]

japanese, not posh/table-clothy, kid-friendly, tenkaichi on city road ticks all those boxes.

if you're around roath another vote for lilo if they're still going, mezzaluna also good we're spoiled for lebanese here

 

[nogojones]

Also the Troy on City Rd, but it looks like they might be moving. Really good Kurdish food with a picture of Öcalan on the wall troymezebar.com ‹ Charcoal Grill Restaurant – Turkish & Mediterranean Cuisine

 

[Plumdaff]

All of the above good choices - near Sophia Gardens Kimchi, good Korean/Korean BBQ place, Calabrisella - v basic cafe but v lovely food Italian pizza and pasta cafe and Bangkok Cafe - good Thai place. All on Cowbridge Road. A bit fancier - Bully's is a French place - slightly fancier but very kid friendly - on Romilly Crescent. The Lansdowne and The Conway are both pubs that are excellent for food, might be tricky on NYE though.

Other side of the city - City Rd best for Turkish/Lebanese

 

[gaijingirl]

oh great - thanks so much everyone - lots of good choices there!

certainly Central or near Sophia Gardens is good in terms of dragging the kids around on probably a very cold night!

although City Road would be a blast from the past for me...

 

[wayward bob]

i think you need to arrange a whole sampling menu tour - one city road establishment each night

it's only a 15/20 min walk from central if it turns out not to be a cold night - one thing cardiff is great for is everything's in walking distance/no huge hills

 

[gaijingirl]

i think you need to arrange a whole sampling menu tour - one city road establishment each night

it's only a 15/20 min walk from central if it turns out not to be a cold night - one thing cardiff is great for is everything's in walking distance/no huge hills

I went to university in Cardiff but it was a long time ago. I loved it. I would have stayed there if I hadn't have been offered a job overseas. I quite often think about going back.

 

[wayward bob]

I went to university in Cardiff but it was a long time ago. I loved it. I would have stayed there if I hadn't have been offered a job overseas. I quite often think about going back.

i made a bid for the metropolis from rural north wales, so it ticks boxes in all kinds of medium/manageable ways for me never felt so at home anywhere tbf

 

[gaijingirl]

Well thank you all. We spent 5 days in Cardiff and had a fab time. We were on Cathedral Road right by Sophia Gardens so we used the taff trail on our bikes in and out of Cardiff Bay lots with the kids and did the Cardiff Bay trail over the barrage etc. We had their bikes with us but not our own as there was nowhere to store them so we used the city bike scheme which worked really well for us. I was so impressed with all the cycle lanes which never used to exist when I was there. We pretty much went everywhere by bike.

Swam a few times at the National Pool which we love - great for the kids with the slides etc and great for me with the competition pool which I was most impressed with. We also did Techniquest again - last done about 6 years ago with a 2 year old. This time with an 8 and 6 year old and they loved it. We went to see Swan Lake on cheapo tickets in the Gods and snuck into the serious money seats in the stalls... I took the kids to Winter Wonderland (which is my idea of hell and it was on my birthday!) which they obviously loved.

We did the sculpture walk by Castell Coch and took the kids into the Castle itself too. We also did the New Year's Day swim on Barry Island.

We ate at Kimchi, which was fab. Huge portions though - if I go again we'll order much less!!

I really do love Cardiff. Great city.

 

[ddraig]

Great!