The Crown Social, Cardiff Parc Thistle Hotel

[Gorro]

Martin Blunos's Crown Social is set to open in Cardiff at the Thistle Parc hotel next Friday and it's a pretty big event on the dining calendar as far as the Cardiff eating out scene goes. With the recent closure of the Le Gallois, the only place in Cardiff that had remotely been tipped for Michelin stardom, the Cardiff high end dining scene is pretty bleak.

As I'm sure most of you already know, Martin Blunos was recently appointed Executive Chef of Crown Hotels (of James Sommerin fame). So it seems that he has been given the task of running what could be Cardiff's big hope for gaining a Michelin Star.

The concept is one of small sharing plates as far as I'm aware from speaking to someone on the phone at the restaurant. I'm booked in next weekend so I'll let you know how I get on.

Not sure whether it's against forum etiquette or not as I havent't posted before (??????) but I was emailed a preview of the menu below (there may be some changes apparently). Hard to tell what it's going to be like from the descriptions below but it's going to be Cardiff's most expensive restaurant by far if I need to order 2 main dishes to fill up! Not too many dishes are grabging me but I think I'll most definitely be opting for the Bouillabaise and perhaps the intriguing A Style of "Banana Split"

Starters

Leek & Potato Terrine, Roasted Garlic, Toasted Hazelnuts

£5.45

Welsh Pork Boudin, Shallot Picalilli

£5.95

Steamed Fillet of Sole, Champagne Butter Sauce

£5.95

Mushroom Fricassee, Onion Marmalade

£4.95

White Onion Soup

£4.45

Mains

Roast Chicken, Satay and Straw Potatoes

£14.45

Bouillabaisse, Croutes & Rouille

£15.50

Beef Skirt Steak, Cooked Rare, Pickled Chopped Onions

£16.95

Creamed Pearl Barley with Artichoke

£13.95

Salmon Fillet, Braised Fennel and Fishcake

£14.95

Side Orders

Dripping Cooked Chips

£3.45

Mix Baby Leaf Salad

£3.00

Boulangère potatoes

£2.95

Desserts

Bitter Chocolate Tart, Orange Cream

£6.00

Chilled Rhubarb Crumble

£6.00

Pistachio Bakewell, Chocolate Ice Cream

£6.00

A Style of “Banana Split”

£6.00

White Chocolate and Raspberry Brûlée

£8.50

Welsh Cheese & Chutneys

£6.00

[Gorro]

Ok. So I was emailed the wrong menu (other one was the menu at the current restaurant). Here's the correct one. No prices confirmed as of yet but its very extensive and more exciting looking. The menu is divided up into nibbles, starters, mains and desserts. The menu is a small plate style concept with lots of flexibility so you can mix things up.

Crisp, pulled, lamb breast

Welsh pork boudin, shallot piccalilli

Welsh egg and mustard

Sticky beef rib middles

Hard boiled Quails egg & celery salt

Beer battered Whiting, tartare sauce

Onion Madeleine, taramasalata

Ruan’s spicy nuts

Marinated olives

Macaroons

Caramel Doughnut

XXXXX

Flat mushrooms, onion marmalade, toasted light rye bread

Warm chicken oysters, crispy skin, watercress

Poached duck egg, savoury choux bun, béarnaise

Swiss Pasta, welsh streaky, morel cream

Leek & Potato terrine, roast garlic, toasted hazelnuts

Welsh pork boudin, shallot piccalilli

Seared lambs liver, cauliflower, hot caper butter

Grilled mackerel, Russian salad

White onion soup

Cheese fondue, onion madelaines

Welsh cheeses, pickles, breads & biscuit

XXXXX

The SOCIAL CLUB

Buttered tiger prawn, Crisp pancetta, duck egg, gem lettuce.

The SOCIAL BURGER

European wagyu beef, milk bap, tomato relish.

XXXXX

Creamed Pearl barley & artichoke.

Cockle chowder, lava ‘bread’

Fish stew, rouille, croutes

Pendryn glazed plaice fillets

Wagyu meat balls & pasta (5 or 3)

Slow cooked lamb shoulder, thyme sauce

Roast quail, satay, straw potatoes

Beef skirt steak, pickled chopped onions

Welsh pork belly, apples, Gwynty Ddraig cider

Crab tortellini, crab cream sauce (5, 3 or1)

Baby green leaf salad: French, Italian or lemon Dressing

Tomato & Basil salad

Dripping cooked Wedges

Buttered Potatoes

Mash potato

Seasonal vegetables

Beer battered onion rings

Cheeses & Desserts

Welsh cheese, pickles, breads & biscuit

Cheese fondue, onion madelaines

Bitter Chocolate tart & orange

New York style apple cheese cake

Warm doughnuts, vanilla milkshake

The SOCIAL SPLIT

(Take on a banana split)

Chocolate & lava bread fondant

Blood orange, thyme soufflé

Chilled Rhubarb crumble

Salted caramel, chocolate slice

Pistachio nut bakewell

White chocolate & raspberry Burnt cream 2 share

BEING SOCIABLE

A selection of 5 desserts to share

Selection of Ice creams & sherbets

Per scoop

XXXXX

Selection of tea or coffee & Macaroons

Macaroons to take away

Selection of 3

Edited February 27, 2011 by Gorro (log)

[Gorro]

I must admit I was pretty excited about our trip to the Crown Social. We’ve previously visited The Crown at Whitebrook and The Crown at the Celtic Manor and were very impressed by both. With Cardiff lacking any form of high end dining, especially since the recent departure of Le Gallois, I had high hopes for the latest addition to The Crown stable. However, would it be The King’s Speech or The Emperor’s New Clothes.

I’d had some slightly amusing email communication with one of the Front of House managers, Alex, after I’d posted the wrong menu on my blog and we were greeted warmly by him and the team on arrival. The bar and restaurant has a pretty sophisticated yet laid back urban vibe going which is a refreshing change from some of the stuffy and dated Michelin style gaffs we’ve been to previously.

We plonked ourselves at the bar, quaffed some cocktails and perused the menu. Having already digested the menu in detail at home, I was pleasantly surprised by the reasonable pricing, even though I had been reassured over email it wouldn’t be a rip off small plate joint. Nibbles average around £1.50, starters £5, mains £10 and puddings £5. Even with the suggested 3 starters, 3 mains and 3 puds per couple it still works out as £30 for 3 courses per head which you can easily spend in a number of city centre restaurants.

But would the food reach for the Michelin star heights I was hoping? In short, not yet. Service was wonderful and food was beautifully presented. However, there were some very high and very low points flavour-wise. Now I know it was only the first week of opening of the restaurant so they’re still honing the menu, but as far as I’m concerned if they’re prepared to charge full prices in their first week then they should be judged as a fully functioning restaurant.

So onto the food:

Nibbles at the bar –

1) Crisp, pulled, lamb breast – A sort of lamb scratching style affair. Nicely seasoned with salt and lemon zest but ultimately just a bit greasy. I’d rather have a bag of Mr Porky’s

2) Sticky beef rib middles – Beautifully melt in the mouth pieces of beef in a lovely barbeque style sauce. My only criticism was the slightly odd tepid temperature. Was this deliberate? Should they have been cold or hot?

Starters

1) Bread – Complementary mini loaf of wholemeal with a nifty little Crown logo floured on. Warm, soft, delicious.

2) Swiss Pasta, welsh streaky, morel cream – Unbelievably tasty. The real high point of the evening. I’m sure Switzerland isn’t famous pasta but on this basis they can definitely give the Italians a run for their money. We were informed that one of the sous chefs has previously worked in Switzerland where he picked up this recipe. The flavor combination was stunning – crisp bacon, tons of morels and a creamy morel sauce and some pasta. Lush.

3) Cheese fondue, onion madelaines – Keeping the Alpine theme going I couldn’t resist this kitsch temptation. Beautifully light and fluffy madelaines and a really good fondue. We were given enough cheese for an 80s dinner party but I was able to mop up the vast quantity with the remaining bread.

4) Leek & Potato terrine, roast garlic, toasted hazelnuts – Worked beautifully as a whole (which is I’m sure as it was intended) but without the hazelnuts or garlic in a mouthful I felt the dish was a little bland. I know chefs normally intend for you to have a mouthful of everything in one go but sometimes I get a bit lazy and just pick up one thing…

Mains

1) Crab tortellini, crab cream sauce – Crabtastic. The tortellini was filled with stacks of crabmeat and the sauce was full of brown crabmeat flavor. However, it was slightly let down by the pasta which was a touch on the dry side.

2) Roast quail, satay, straw potatoes – Succulent quail, peanuts stuffed under the skin and a lovely satay sauce. The crisp straw potatoes and coriander salad complemented the dish beautifully.

3) Welsh pork belly, apples, Gwynty Ddraig cider – Just as it looks in the picture with the addition of a creamy (cider/porky?) sauce. However, the mash was definitely on the grainy side.

4) Dripping cooked chips – Some of the best chips I have ever eaten. Fluffy, crunchy and meaty. If only they did these at the Penylan fish bar.

Desserts

This was where the meal took a bit of a walk of a cliff. We ordered the selection of 5 deserts to share and except for the delightfully tangy green apple sorbet everything was mediocre. A vanilla milkshake was unremarkable, a bitter chocolate tart had a slightly soft base, a new york style apple cheesecake was not a patch on the real deal and chocolate and laver bread fondant verged on the bizarre. Overall a real disappointment.

This was followed by an awful cup of instant decaff coffee and some pretty dry and flavourless macaroons. What with the current macaroon trend I was expecting some joyful mouthfuls of crunch, chew and interestingly flavoured cream. However all I got was a bit of crunch and bland cream. They’d also been un-necessarily hyped by their presentation at the table by the waitress in a fancy wooden box.

To be fair to the waiting service, they were very apologetic about our cup of instant and deducted the offending beverages from the bill. Hopefully they’ll be more considerate to people who need to get to sleep before 4am in future by offering something more than a Nescaff equivalent.

In Summary

So all in all, a really enjoyable meal with some great service and a few let downs with the food at the end. I’ve got high hopes that the flaws in the dishes will be ironed out as it has potential to be Cardiff’s top restaurant by a clear margin. I still fully intend to head back for the Crown burger along with some more dripping chips for a weekend lunch in the near future.

[Andrew]

Booked to go here at the end of the month. I'm looking forward to seeing what it is like as I'm a huge Martin Blunos fan, although I doubt it will be as good as some of his previous offerings.

[Gorro]

It would be interesting to hear how you get on and how the quality of the food compares to his previous places. I'm still hearing some mixed reports from other people who I know who have been.

[Gorro]

The Crown Social in Cardiff has ended its relationship with the Parc Thistle Hotel and is set to close at the end of August. Martin Blunos and Crown Group are looking for other venues in the city.

http://www.bighospitality.co.uk/Business/Crown-to-relocate-Martin-Blunos-Cardiff-restaurant

Wonder who instigated this decision or whether it was mutual?

[Andrew]

It will be interestig to see whether the new Blunos restaurant in Cardiff goes for high end fine dining or sticks with the current good quality sharing formula.

[Gorro]

A lot of people I've spoken to feel that even though there's some good food cooked at The Crown Social, the sharing concept is flawed. The style and size of the dishes haven't really lent themselves to sharing. It reminds me a little bit of this year's Great British Menu where a few of the chefs just didn't get the sharing concept needed for a banquet and instead just served up their normal small plates of fine dining cuisine. So if Martin does stick to his sharing formula it would be nice to see more genuine sharing dishes on the menu (I'm thinking Tom Kerridge's pork platter). Alternatively just ditch the sharing concept altogether.