An interesting restaurant and bar right, recently refurbished (2011) by Cardiff Bay. One half is a formal restaurant with live piano music, the other half specialises in Dim Sum - a sort of Chinese tapas. There is an extensive menu of these small Chinese dishes here, which are generally brought to your table as and when they are ready.
The dim-sum restaurant looks very pleasant - rich coloured silk cushions and a variety of modern and traditional style seating. Maybe the nicest thing is its location, on the first floor level with big pocture windows, overlooking the Roald Dahl Plas, Millennium Centre and Pierhead. When we visited there were Italian opera singers wandering around on the path below, enticing people into a neighbouring establishment. Multi-cultural to say the least! Our most recent visit was early in the week but there was still a reasonable number of customers and a pleasant atmosphere. Service was polite and efficient.
The general idea is to buy a variety of dim sum dishes, some rice and noodles, and share them. Eating is a social experience! My favorite dish was the pudding, small custard pastry doughnuts, delightfully made and very pretty. There are also a stylish rice dish, for example, served inside a fresh pineapple, or a chicken dish served inside a fresh melon.
Updated Sep 12, 2011
Address: First Floor, Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay
Website: http://www.thepearloftheorient.com/
Around 20 items to choose from and a good amount of seating, this chinese franchise in the Red Dragon Centre, is a good selection for a central chinese restaurant. The usual decor from the brand,, food has always been served to good standard and friendly staff..
Lunch is much cheaper as usual than the dinner prices.
I do think it shuts down in the afternoon from 2-4pm??
Favorite Dish: Chicken Curry,, nice and spicy
Updated Apr 4, 2011
It says it is *sophisticated oriental themed cocktail bar situated on the waterfront* in the blurb, which is exactly what it is. Handy for the theatre which is close by. I think the website picture looks better than the ones I took!
We had: wter £1.90, glass of chablis £5.80, shanghai stew £3.30 Beef cheung fung £3.30 scallop cheung fung and fried rice £8.00. Total bill came to £28.82 which is very reasonable indeed.
Favorite Dish: I like scallops, they are small tasty and very filling, not too many calories.
Updated Apr 4, 2011
Address: Unit 27 Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay
Phone: 029 2046 3939
Sean made a reservation in this restaurant after he realized some other place was full. He was a bit suspicious at first, but for no reason since the food was great, atmosphere pleasant and service quick - all this on a crowded Saturday evening.
Favorite Dish: Morgan suggested that we order different kinds of food and share. Everything was delicious so the only trouble was to decide what to try first.
(Well, as with any VT meetings the first thing was food photo session, followed by table photo session. Some kind of restaurant manager also proved himself as a good photographer).
Updated Apr 4, 2011
Phone: 029 2049 8080
Friendly staff welcome you as you arrive. A large ground floor bar area to buy a drink whilst studying the menu then up to the 1st floor dining area. A large and varied menu suitable to those new to Chineese food and those with more experienced tastes. Good value, great food, friendly atmosphere. Well worth a try.
Updated Apr 4, 2011
Address: 233 Cowbridge Rd East
Phone: 02920397531
Cosmos is a swanky Oriental buffet restaurant situated in Mermaid Quay in the Cardiff Bay area of Cardiff.
The choice here is great, you can literally choose from around 80 - 120 dishes and try out lots of different dishes which you've never tried before. I went here in the lunchtime when they are open between 12pm - 3pm. The seating area is huge but this place is so popular, it literally filled up within about 30 minutes. Booking is advisable but if you haven't booked try and turn up really early.
I managed to eat quite a few platefuls of this delicious food, my lunchtime feast consisted of a plate of starters - King prawns, chicken satay, spring rolls and onion rings (?). For my second plate I had three pancakes filled with delicious crispy aromatic duck and plum sauce. I then had a plate of sweet and sour chicken and beef in black bean sauce with boiled rice.... then I couldn't resist the lovely malaysian and thai curries; I tried a bit of each, they were very tasty indeed. .... and to finish my meal off I managed to squeeze in a selection of deserts - a small piece of gateau, a few profiteroles and some melon and grapes. Needless to say, I was absolutely stuffed after my meal and had to be rolled back to the car!! lol.
The lunchtime dining experience is priced at a fantastic £6.99 whereas the evening sitting is priced at £12.50 Mon - Thurs (5.30pm - 10.30pm) and Fri - Sat (12noon - 10.30pm). There is a lot more food available (more??) in the evenings and weekends with a Yakatori grill bar, dim sum, sushi bar, Noodle and Wok bar and Indian and tandoori bar. If you still have room after all that lot you can dip some marshmallows and strawberries in the wonderful chocolate fountain.
Favorite Dish: The curries were great but I really liked the Crispy duck too.
Written Mar 31, 2010
Phone: 029 20461333
Website: www.cosmo-restaurants.co.uk
The Pearl of the Orient is situated in the heart of Cardiff Bay's restaurant quarter. The food here is great and the service is excellent. We went here on a Tuesday evening in February so the restaurant was fairly quiet. We has one of the set menu's for two so had a bit of everything to try. My favourite dish was the beef in black bean sauce but it was all very nice.
Written Mar 21, 2010
Address: First floor,Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay, CF10 5BZ
Website: http://www.thepearloftheorient.com/
Probably the best Chinese restaurant in Cardiff, and only five minutes walk from Cardiff Central Station - The Cantonese in Riverside. It is in the heart of Cardiff's small Chinese community, on a street of Chinese supermarkets and takeaways.
Located up a flight of steps on the first floor of a modest sized house, the restaurant area id very spacious, cleverly decorated with dragons racing around the ceiling. The bar is excellent too, right on the corner of the building with views up and down the street.
The restaurant's staff, all of Chinese origin, dressed in black, are friendly, helpful and humerous.
There is a MASSIVE menu, including seafood, vegetarian dishes, chicken, pork, beef, lamb, duck, veal... and usually a rather worried lobster in a large tank of water by the door, with its claws taped-up! We had the mixed starters (6 GBP each) and I had the lamb with ginger and spring onions for my main dish (8 GBP). The service is very stylish. For example we ordered some 'aromatic duck' pancakes for starters. The crispy duck was brought to the next-door table where the waiters proceeded to shred it there expertly and fold it into pancakes.
Updated Jan 7, 2006
Address: 44 Tudor Street, Riverside, Cardiff
Phone: 029 20372163
Website: http://www.riversidecantonese.com/
This restaurant is One of the classiest Chinese restaurants in Cardiff is located down at Mermaid quay in Cardiff bay.
Beware: you may think you've accidentally wandered into an aquarium, as this place has a fish tank built into the full length of the bar!
Updated Apr 17, 2004
Address: Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay
Phone: 029 2049 8080
Website: http://www.thepearloftheorient.com/
for more than 20 yrs, wife& self visit for special occasions. not expensive or pretentious. family owned &run. good food among friends.
Favorite Dish: chicken with cashews
Written Aug 24, 2002
Address: city road,cardiff
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for more than 20 yrs, wife& self visit for special occasions. not expensive or pretentious. family owned &run. good food among friends. chicken with cashews
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