Coming later this year
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Opening where the original muchloved Buffalo bar once brought in the punters for a boogie and beverage, Koi – a Japanese restaurant which will be on the building’s ground floor – and Buffalo Bar, on level two, which will keep in line with what Cardiffians remember of the original joint (a music venue and dance) is set to open in the next few months and is being brought to the city by the team behind the popular cocktail bar Pennyroyal.
Buffalo Bar and Koi
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Opening in Cardiff bay, where Salt bar used to reside, the nauticalthemed restaurant and bar will be gracing the waterside this summer. Offering good food and good cocktails, it’ll fit right in with the surrounding eateries and drinking holes around the quay.
The ClubHouse
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New darts bar Flight Club – not to be confused with fight club – which already has locations in Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol and London, is set to open this autumn. According to their website, alongside bespoke cocktails, sharing boards and pizzas, the new club has “reinvented darts for the 21st century, developing a range of fast and exciting multi-player games, built to bring people together and designed to keep you unexpectedly hooked, insatiably entertained and full of joy.”
Flight Club
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Hopefully opening later this year, the Ivy Asia, which was set to open in Cardiff city centre this spring has once again been pushed back. Due to open next door to the current Ivy restaurant on The Hayes, the restaurant will serve “theatrical drinks and cocktails alongside a delicious menu of tantalising dishes, the vibrant restaurant will inspire and excite you from the moment you step inside,” according to its website, and takes inspiration from “a number of Asian cuisines”. Their current sites in London and Manchester serve small dishes such as tiger prawns and sushi.
Ivy Asia
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If you’ve wandered around the city centre recently, you would have
Gin Ne Sais Quoi
seen that building work has started on the new pink perfect cocktail bar, Gin Ne Said Quoi, which originated in Swansea. Coming to Mill Lane later this year, the velvet interiors, neon signs and flower walls will make for the ultimate girly get-together.
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Brought to you by the family behind Coffee Barker and Gin and Juice, Maison Entrecote is hoping to open this autumn and will bring a slice of Paris to Cardiff. The French bistro will be tucked away in the beautiful and historical Castle Arcade, adding to its European charm.
Maison Entrecote: Chez Barker
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This popular pop-up street food business serving up Nashville hot chicken is set to open its permanent restaurant by the summer. Fowl and Fury, which began trading as a pop-up in the street food spot Sticky Fingers in the middle of last year, has turned into a roaring success in the capital, renowned for dishing up Cardiff’s hottest chicken tenders. The new cafe, run by husband and wife duo Jamie and Natalia Rees, will be in the former site of Cafe Portugal on Wyeverne Road in Cathays.
Fowl and Fury
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The regularly booked-out steakhouse Pasture on the capital’s High Street is expanding its venue to include a new small plates restaurant and speakeasy bar. Taking over what used to be Fly By Night on the same street, the plans are currently going through the planning and licensing stages but it is hoped that the speakeasy will be up and running by the end of August or the start of September.
Pasture’s speakeasy
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The Cocktail Club is set to open at the site of the former Karma club on 75 St Mary Street. Its popularity is evident as bookings are already open for the bar which, according to The Cocktail Club ‘s website, will welcome customers from June 30. “Expect top-notch cocktails, banging tunes, bartenders ready to entertain, a happy hour not to be forgotten and most of all a night you won’t forget,” the website reads.