I don’t know about you, but date night never seems to come around often enough for us. It’s rare that we can match up our schedules between one of us working shifts, one working the 9-5, university and just the general never ending list of things to do. It’s not often that we get the opportunity to spend quality time together, so when we scheduled our date night last week I was determined to make the most of it. I put something on twitter asking for recommendations for the perfect place to go and then I suddenly realised there was somewhere I have wanted to try for a long time –The Meating Place.
After rushing around all day Friday and things going a little pear shaped we headed into Cardiff to get a few things done. We got caught in the rain running from place to place, so we turned up for our meal a little soggy, but excited to try somewhere new. As soon as we walked in I instantly felt relaxed and couldn’t wait to eat.
Their menu has quite a selection to choose from including their signature steaks, a selection of meat skewers, duck breast, salmon, lamb culets and more. After being spoilt for choice, we finally settled on an appetiser of mixed bread and oils with skewers as our main. Ryan chose the fish skewer, which came with a selection of seabass, plaice, gilt head bream, cod, monkfish, cornish sole and grey mullet. I chose the chicken skewers and they were hung from the ceiling above our table. Both meals came with chunky hand cut chips, salad and an aioli dip on the side. Like excited children we pulled our meat/fish down piece by piece as we wanted it and tucked straight in.
I normally eat a lot more chicken compared to red meat and sometimes there is always a risk that it can be a little bland, but my skewers were perfectly seasoned and had so much flavour. The hand cut chips also had the perfect ratio of crispy coating to soft centre – something I absolutely love, but rarely find.
We were settled and chatting away when I suddenly realised I had forgotten we were in the centre of Cardiff. The hustle and bustle of the shops, bars and pubs just outside the front door seemed non-existent. The interior was warm and cosy. Exposed beams and candle lit tables created the perfect intimate date night atmosphere. After being soaked in the rain, it was the ideal place to relax and catch up on what had happened that week.
Once we had finished our skewers we were offered the dessert menu. Although I was defeated by my dinner I knew we couldn’t miss out on a dessert, so we decided to share a brownie topped with ice cream. I have never eaten one with such a soft fudgy centre, it was perfectly topped with berries and tasted heavenly – take it from someone who has eaten a lot of brownies in their life.
Our date night was absolutely perfect, I could not have asked for anything more. Eating out is something we love to do together and we both thoroughly enjoyed. The food was exactly as I had hoped and more. The relaxing and cosy atmosphere was the perfect little escape from everyday life. I will definitely be going back to The Meating Place as I have already seen something else on the menu I would like to try – The Sunday Skewer. If you would like to try the The Meating Place it’s located in Cardiff’s city centre on St Mary’s Street making it super easy to get to and only a five minute walk from the train station or St David’s if you are driving/parking.
Have you been to The Meating Place before? Let me know in the comments what you thought.