Top marks for students’ restaurant
IT’S been described as one of “the best of restaurants in the area”.
“Excellent”, “outstanding” and “good value” are just some of the other words that been used to describe The Nant Restaurant on TripAdvisor.
And serving up threecourse meals for just £10.50 – it’s no surprise people are impressed. But there’s a catch. This contemporary restaurant – which looks better placed on the high-end foodie circuit in London – is actually based at a college campus in the Rhondda Cynon Taf.
Based at the Nantgarw campus of Coleg y Cymoedd, The Nant is open to the public during term time.
All food is prepared and served by youngsters studying professional cookery, levels 1-3, under the guidance of professional chefs and front of house staff.
Since opening in 2012, it has developed a reputation many establishments would envy, and consistently finds itself ranked among the top restaurants in Cardiff by TripAdvisor.
So we decided to check it out for ourselves.
Guests are welcomed into the venue through a canopy-topped glass entrance and are instantly met by an atmosphere of fine dining.
Tables are decorated accordingly and staff – or students – are dazzlingly welcoming, polite and attentive. So it comes as no surprise a huge haul of awards fill the walls of the restaurant.
Voted for by the Welsh public, The Nant was recently shortlisted as a finalist in the annual Food Awards Wales 2017 for the second year running.
The restaurant will now go on to compete in the Restaurant of the Year category at the regional finals.
After taking our seats, we finally got to try some of the award winning dishes.
Crispy paupiette of plaice, white beans, chorizo and black pudding.
OK, so we both opted for the same starter on this one, but there was also a watercress and beetroot soup on offer.
The starter was incredibly tasty and the plaice really fell apart on your fork.
Likewise, the black pudding was cooked perfectly and came with a rather unusual side of squid ink tapioca.
The starter was also brought out really quickly.
Slow-cooked cod, piparade, onions, red pepper sauce and cucumber ribbons or roast belly of pork, fennel compote, new potatoes and a pork jus.
The service for the mains was equally quick. The cod was lovely and fresh, and like the plaice starter – it just fell apart on the fork.
The pork was a little tough at first, but under the crackling, the dish was extremely succulent and tender.
The sweet fennel compote and pork jus were a combination made in culinary heaven.
My only real gripe would be the al dente veg – but apart from that, top marks!
Coffee and date pudding with a rum and raisin ice cream or chocolate genoise topped with chocolate filling encased with meringue
The coffee and date pudding looked like it was going to be really heavy, but was actually surprisingly light and went well with the cold rum and raisin ice cream.
Likewise, the chocolate dessert was encased in a light fluffy meringue and came with some fresh strawberries and jellies. £24