Have you heard of The Potted Pig in Cardiff??
It has long been a restaurant on our lists as we had heard the food was amazing. M had been here for a family meal before turning veggie and the meat was amazing, but L hadn't managed to make it there yet. After hearing they were going to start opening on Monday evenings as well as the rest of the week we knew it was time we went together and luckily for us they invited us to try out their menu.
It has long been a restaurant on our lists as we had heard the food was amazing. M had been here for a family meal before turning veggie and the meat was amazing, but L hadn't managed to make it there yet. After hearing they were going to start opening on Monday evenings as well as the rest of the week we knew it was time we went together and luckily for us they invited us to try out their menu.
On arrival we were greeted by the manager Tom who was lovely, he took us on a quick tour of the restaurant which is situated in an old bank vault.
It's underground and they still have many of the original features, they even keep the wine in one of the vaults which still has the gate. It's a really interesting and quirky place!
After this we chose a drink from the menu, they have a HUGE range of gins and we couldn't wait to get stuck in and try them all. They have so many gins to try that we definitely need to go back, their knowledge of them all was great and they had plenty of suggestions of what to try and the recommended tonic etc.
L opted to try out my favourite gin Brockmans which was paired with the fentimans botanical tonic whilst I couldn't resist trying Ophir as I've been eyeing it up for ages. They really do the perfect gin serve and each gin is paired with the perfect garnish and is season dependant! Mine came with a warming cinnamon stick and was amazing!
After browsing the menu we chose to have two mains and two deserts so we could do our usual and taste multiple dishes!
The menu includes a variety of meats including beef, pork, venison, chicken and ham as well one fish and one vegetarian option and does change regularly. They also offer sharing options for larger parties but these need to be pre booked.
We chose to have the pan fried cod with crushed potato, samphire, poached egg, tarragon oil and butter sauce, and also the sweet potato, chickpea and spinach tagine with coriander yogurt and almond salad. They both sounded amazing and we couldn't wait for them to arrive!
When they did arrive we were not disappointed at all!
The poached egg and cod were cooked to perfection, the cod pretty much melted in my mouth. I've never had samphire before but I really enjoyed it, and the crushed potato and tarragon oil and butter sauce was so so good. I would have licked the plate if I could have, it was outstanding and I would recommend it to anyone.
The sweet potato, chickpea and spinach tagine with coriander yogurt and almond salad was amazing, I wasn't sure what to expect at first but this was so tasty and well flavoured and the coriander yogurt really finished it off well! This was a great vegetarian dish and felt well thought out!
Next up we ordered desserts....they had a great range of desserts too and we chose the lemon posset and the vanilla rice pudding with spiced apple sauce and honeycomb.
The vanilla rice pudding was unbelievable, it's a dessert that has many family memories for me so it's very nostalgic and although I couldn't finish it all it was amazing and comforting without being too sweet.
For dessert I couldn't resist the Lemon Posset, this came with lemon curd and meringue and was a great one to finish the meal as it was light so I didn't feel stuffed but really hit the sweet spot!
We ended the night on a Sipsmith Sloe Gin and it was so tasty. We would have had a lot more gins if it wasn't a Monday but unfortunately we're too sensible for a lot of mid-week drinking now!
We even remembered to take a quick selfie whilst we got settled in.
I think my only criticism would be to have additional vegetarian/vegan options as this would cater for a wider customer base. The food is fantastic and I'm sure they could come up with additional amazing dishes for those with ethical or medical requirements as the veggie/fish options both contain dairy too.
Have you been to the Potted Pig? If you haven't been before there is absolutely no excuse now it's open on Mondays too! It's perfect for a birthday or celebration meal and I'd recommend for anyone who was looking for a great meal to give it a try.
L and M xxx
