Wales Millennium Centre
Cardiff Bay
Tel no: 029 2063 6465
http://www.wmc.org.uk/eatanddrink/ffresh/45151/
Despite only being what can loosely be called a 'food blogger' for a few months, I was lucky enough to be invited along as a guest to ffresh restaurant in the Wales Millennium Centre to celebrate the restaurant's second birthday. I've only visited once before - at an academic conference dinner - but had been impressed by the quality and consistency of the food and the helpful staff both before and after the evening.
I was also very excited to hear that the meal would be overseen by the restaurant's consultant chef Shaun Hill, from the Michelin-starred Walnut Tree in Abergavenney. I hoped we'd be in for a special night and were not disappointed.
The evening kicked off with some gorgeous canapaes of crisp warm blue cheese and sesame biscuits (as my Cheese loving other half exclaimed " you can actually taste the cheese!") and warm and moist Arancini with a lovely taste of mushroom. This was served with a fruity and fizzy wine from the Ancre Hill Vineyard and kicked the evening off in style.
We were lucky enough to have a seat in front of the kitchen and, along with chatting to fellow bloggers and other guests, this provided a great deal of entertainment. It was wonderful to see the chefs working and to feel part of the action.
The first course was red mullet with anchovies and herb crème fraiche. It was my first experience of this fish and I was impressed; the creme fraiche was creamy but light and the dish was a wonderful introduction to red mullet.
The main course consisted of roasted partridge with its own pudding, hispi cabbage and lentils and what I think, in my ignorance, was a potato fondant. Whilst I'm sure the cooking skills here were good I wasn't taken with the taste of partridge (another first for me), finding its gamey meatiness too strong for my palette. Strangely, it reminded me of liver in its strength and I'm not sure I'd order it from a menu out of choice. The sauce with the dish was lovely and rich but a little more would have been nice - the meat was also a little dry for me and some more sauce would have compensated for this. I was also confused by the pudding - it seemed eggy in texture to me and, again, was too strong for my tastes.
The dessert of hot chocolate fondant, hazelnut praline sauce and vanilla ice cream however, was a masterpiece. A hush descended on the room as we ate the soft pudding, oozing with chocolate sauce and the sticky nut sauce. Despite the apparent obsession of Masterchef contestants with making chocolate fondant I had never had one before. Even as a non-dessert lover I was utterly converted. Truly one of the best puddings I've ever experienced.
Overall, the evening was a great experience and it was also lovely to see and meet some of the Cardiff foodies I follow or chat to on Twitter in the flesh. As a newbie to the world of food blogging - and as something I do for fun - I felt privileged to have been allowed to go along to this. Whilst I'm not sure I'll try partridge again, I'm now on the hunt for a chocolate fondant to rival Shaun Hill's and am also about to place an order for some Welsh wine from Ancre Hill. We'll also be returning to ffresh in the very near future to try out some more of their food. I sincerely hope they get to celebrate more birthdays in the coming years.
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