Eleos - Kingsway

I've always been a little hesitant to review the longstanding Kingsway fixture that is Eleos after some poor service a few years back. However when a family meal was booked at the restaurant last weekend I knew it was time to return!

Classic upstairs, swish downstairs

I don't use the Kingsway much so was surprised to see the ground floor of the restaurant was now a swish bar called Ten. We had a drink there beforehand and, though expensive and quite empty, it was a nice warm-up for the meal. There is direct access from the bar to the first-floor restaurant, so no need to go back outside into the cold.

Eleos is a world away from Ten - and a couple of decades in design. But, as those who read this blog will know, I enjoy an establishment with rustic charm - and Eleos has bags of it, with timber beams dominating the restaurant. Add this to a busy Saturday evening and you have a cosy place with a very homely atmosphere.

Quite cosy

Our designated waiter was very nice - quick witted and polite, just what we needed. We were served drinks quite quickly, but that - unfortunately - is where the quick service ended. After initial contact and the drinks service, the first half hour of my evening saw me distracted from the table, straining my neck to pin the waiter down to take our food order.

At least this gave us plenty of time to gauge the menu, which had a heavy Mediterranean feel. One memorable staple of Eleos are the espetadas, traditional Portuguese grilled meat kebabs, served on the skewer. When the waiter eventually returned, a chicken espetada was what I ordered, along with spicy chicken wings to start.

Unfortunately we had over an hour wait for the starters to arrive - a pattern was emerging - which took a little from the flow of the evening. However a bowl of complimentary olives and bread kept things sweet enough. It gave us ample opportunity to chat and drink wine (a bottle of Norte Chico was very pleasant for red wine drinkers at around £15 a bottle).

Minimal garnish, maximum taste

The wings arrived first and they were very satisfying - half because I was starving, half because they were very tasty. Spicier than I was expecting, but this isn't a bad thing. The portion size was decent too and there was plenty of meat on the bones.

The main course eventually turned up and was served in traditional Eleos style, hanging by the skewer. It was accompanied by a small steel bucket of warm, plump saute potatoes which were freshly cooked, but I was disappointed with the lack of vegetables. I now know you were to order these separately, but most meals feel incomplete without a carrot or two. I'd prefer to pay an extra quid or so for the meal and have them come as standard.

Still, this didn't take anything away from the great taste and quality of my chicken skewer, which was moist and well marinaded. A nice combination of sour cream, balsamic reduction and a kind of chili ketchup on the plate below made for tasty dipping. All in all a satisfying meal, despite the wait.

The food was hanging (literally, not Swansea slang)

Price-wise you aren't looking at a 'cheap' night out, but it's not too bad for the quality. I paid about £26 for the wings, espetadas and half a bottle of wine.

After five hours of eating and drinking the night ended when we ordered a taxi. The taxi took over an hour to come - no fault of the restaurant there, but quite a fitting end to an overall satisfying evening!

Pub on the Pond - Singleton Park

The Pub on the Pond is a well-established Swansea restaurant, sitting in a perfect location at the bottom of Singleton Park and has long been on my 'to review' list. It's a pub, it's on a pond - what's not to like? Just a few things.

During Swansea University term time, the pub can almost be overrun with students looking to pick up a post- (or pre-) study pint. Then, during the occasionally warm summer months, it can be overrun with families with children who have more energy than sense. It's certainly a family pub, with Singleton Park play area, a crazy-golf zone and a boating lake all seconds away.

This can be great (if you have a family) or annoying (if you are a grumpy ale drinker like myself). The queuing system at the bar creates a backlog that occasionally reaches the door. There are plenty of things that should put me off the Pub on the Pond, yet I always return. Why? That'll be the food!

The pond the pub is on.

It's a Fayre and Square pub chain and, with a nod to the name, it offers square burgers. Despite the novelty, the burgers are superb - well cooked and full of flavour. The kind you pick up and don't put down again. I will always opt for a burger when I eat at the pub and suggest you do too. I would also suggest the lattice fries (99p replacement for 'normal' chips) - if cooked fresh they are smashing.

Remove flag before eating.

They offer plenty of other gastronomic delights and, unlike some slightly pretentious places like The Woodman, they give a hefty portion and don't charge over the odds.

I was also surprised with the waiting time on my most recent visit. Literally five minutes from ordering, the food was on the table. Almost suspiciously quick, despite the pub being quite empty. However the quality quelled all suspicions. Hot and clearly fresh.

One of my dining partners severely indulged in a chocolate desert - a kind of mega chocolate pizza with ice-cream. Way too much for one person! Greedy diners be warned.

Definitely meant to be shared.

One disappointment with the Pub on the Pond is the lack of a good ale selection. The only one on tap that evening was Black Sheep - a decent beer but shouldn't have been my only choice. 

Service at the pub is generally friendly and quick, though this particular night one thing spoiled things for us. The music was abruptly switched off at around 10:15pm - a clear 'get the hell out, we want to go home' sign from bar staff... a little harsh, and a poor end to the evening.

Traditional decor - nice atmosphere, but nothing special

So, while it may not be a pub to linger in, for the food alone it's well worth trying out.

Bloomburger - Wind Street

Let's face it - your new year's resolution of starting a diet has already been broken. And rightly so - January is not a month for salad. It's a month for stodge and comfort food. So I braved the wind and rain and headed out to review one of Swansea's newest restaurants - Bloomburger.

Quite an understated sign - almost easy to miss

Bloomburger opened in October last year, a few weeks before The Smoke Haus, and has been on my list after hearing positive reviews. The restaurant sits in a historic building - the old Metropolitan Bank of England and Wales at the end of Wind Street and, while independent, is in the same family as other Swansea restaurants including La Prensa and La Parrilla. See, I research as well as eat.

Bloomburger's website describes the interior as a "relaxed New York tenement-style" restaurant, which I agree with - there is a very relaxed "vibe", with plenty of original features (or mock-original features) such as exposed brick and steel girders, while the walls are adorned with plenty of miscellany to keep you occupied if you can't wait for your burger. While you don't get the full New York experience (there is no substitute for the real city), Bloomburger comes close enough with the decor

Quite a varied collection

For a restaurant called Bloomburger, you can imagine burgers dominate the menu. Other items are available, such as sandwiches, hot dogs and salads (for those actually taking their new year diet seriously), but a burger was the only thing entering my mouth.

Burgers come in many styles - firstly you can select from either beef, lamb, pork, chicken or fish, as well as a vegetarian Halloumi burger, which my dining partner sampled. You can also add cheeses of many varieties to any burger (for a slightly pricey £1.25), and sides including onion rings, wedges, corn on the cob or a 'blooming onion' - something I didn't try, but sounded intriguing.

I went for a classic cheeseburger with Monteray Jack cheese which was, in a word, superb. The size is certainly one selling point, but they don't sacrifice quality for quantity, with a meaty, moist and flavourful burger in a robust toasted bun. A testament to the taste is the fact that I ate it all with no sauce. Usually I enjoy a little ketchup and/or mustard on the bun, but honestly the flavour of the meat was worth savouring. I don't think I could have asked for a better burger.

I added chunky chips and a portion of coleslaw to my meal. The chips were fine - freshly cooked and crispy - and the coleslaw was tasty, if a little too creamy for my liking.

Now, onto the price. I can't say the average price of £8 a burger is cheap - it's not. But I am happy to pay it when I receive something of that quality. Unfortunately, chips don't come with the burger - and at £2.95 a tin I found this to be a little steep. I feel increasing the price of a burger by a pound, then throwing a few chips on the side would probably be a better way of doing things. Still, this is a small foible.

I rarely take a photo at the end of the meal, but I feel I should show the little bit of burger I left because I was too full! A first for me. (In retrospect I shouldn't have ordered coleslaw).

Defeated.

Soft drinks are served as they should be - in a glass bottle - though I was a little disappointed with the limited beer selection. Elsewhere, service was very friendly and efficient, with a minimal wait for food during a pretty busy Saturday lunchtime.

Overall Bloomburger is a big success in my eyes and one restaurant I will certainly be heading back to again very soon!

The Smoke Haus - Wind Street

We've all watched Man vs. Food and sighed as Adam Richman scoffs a 3lb double-dipped brisket-topped burger, while we take a sad bite from a cold ham sandwich. However, there is now some salvation for those who can't afford the first plane to America to join the chubby presenter.

The Smoke Haus on Wind Street attempts to deliver the gourmet pig-out sessions that Richman has made famous to the people of Swansea.

My spontaneous visit to The Smoke Haus was during a quiet Saturday lunchtime. 

Immediately you will notice that the restaurant sports a rough-around-the-edges feel - a 'we-want-you-to-feel-like-this-place-has-been-open-for-decades-but-it's-actually-only-been-a-few-weeks' kind of look. It works well though - you don't want to be biting through a massive hot dog dripping with chili in a place with crisp white table clothes. The Artex walls, hastily-hung music posters and plastic table clothes give you nothing to concentrate on but the food.

A deliberately casual decor

However, before we discuss the food, I will give you a tip - avoid the table at the small booth next to the kitchen. Every time the kitchen door opened (at least once a minute) it slammed into the back of the seat. This annoyed me enough to make a note of it. Avoid that seat.

Now, the menu boasts plenty of American fare as you may expect - from double deep-fried hot dogs to brisket-topped burgers. I actually went for The New Orleans (£8.95), which is a beef pattie, topped with brisket and a pickle, served with a big basket of fries. Overall it was very tasty and, naturally, very filling. The only criticism I had was that there was no sauce on the burger - this made it a little dry. In the end I had to make do with mustard.

My burger with brisket and pickle, along with plenty of fries

My dining partner had The Traditional New Yorker beef hot dog and fries (£6.95), which was more than enough for lunch and had plenty of dog, sauerkraut and sauce (even enough for me to steal a quarter of it without complaint!).

A big dog!

And, yes - there are eating challenges. The Famous Smoke Haus Challenge offers ambitious eaters six intensely spicy 'WTF' (we all know what it stands for) chicken wings for £5.95 OR free if you can eat all six in ten minutes, with no napkins or drinking.

One nutcase on the table in front of us undertook the challenge as we were leaving. I caught a glimpse of his red face as he licked the sauce from the basket. Either it's not as difficult a challenge as the restaurant make out or he was a severe nutter (I suspect the latter). Anyone who completes this challenge, in addition to not having to pay for the wings, receives a t-shirt and mug-shot on the wall.

Other massive meals include the Big Bertha burger (five burgers in one bun, piled with cheese, bacon, etc) and the Head Banger hot dog (a metre-long dog with cheese and pickles). Not for the lightweights - especially at £18.95 a meal!

Bit of Coke... no substitute for beer though!

The drinks menu also impressed me, no more so than the fact that they serve Blue Moon - one of my favourite American ales - on tap. Along with a few different bottled beers and Coke served in the traditional glass bottle, there is plenty to wash your feast down with.

I've travelled America and been to a few of the Man vs. Food style restaurants and, while it will never be the same as visiting a genuine American eatery, it's safe to say that the Smoke Haus is the closest you'll come to sampling that food in Swansea.

Govinda's - Craddock Street

Wandering through Swansea City centre one Saturday afternoon I noticed a small stall offering samples of vegetarian sausage and samosas. Not one to turn down a sausage of any kind I was immediately intrigued. The stall had been set up to encourage new customers to a longstanding vegetarian restaurant in Swansea - Govinda's.

With lunchtime looming, I decided that I could go without meat for one meal and wandered up to Govinda's to try it out.

At first, as myself and my dining partner entered at midday, we were the only people in the restaurant - this wasn't promising. Before checking out the menu, I quickly left the restaurant to move my car. On my return ten minutes later, the place was rammed with hungry vegetarians. This was more reassuring.

The restaurant, minutes before the lunchtime rush

The restaurant is very simply designed and had a calming effect on me. It's contemporary, bright and small with a few leather sofas among the tables and chairs, and a fair few Eastern ornaments and plants scattered around. A faint scent of incense combines with the aroma of curried vegetables, giving Govinda's quite a unique smell (for Swansea anyway).

The food on offer is entirely vegetarian (as you would probably expect from a vegetarian restaurant...), including vege burgers, kofta balls and samosas. However, the all-you-can-eat lunchtime special for £4.99 was the only thing in my sights.

Most of this is included in the £4.99 deal

You queue and are served from a small buffet section. On my visit I encountered two fresh and tasty homemade vegetable dishes (referred to, I believe, as subji). This was served with a puppadum, rice, salad, lentil soup and a choice of two spicy salsas (the pineapple one had a nice kick).

Two of these is more than enough for lunch (take my word for it!)

To be honest, one of these dishes was enough to fill my lunchtime appetite (this didn't stop me eating two though) and good value at £4.99. All very wholesome and tasted nice.

The restaurant also doubles-up as a centre to help with spiritual enlightenment, including meditation, yoga and other activities like cooking classes. The menu and other information can be found on their website.

Govinda's impressed me, even as an avid meat-eater. I had an incredibly satisfying lunch which was somewhat more nutritious than the Mc Donalds I had originally planned that day and well worth the curiosity!

Cosmo - Wind Street

There are a few all-you-can-eat Asian restaurants in Swansea - some buffet, some not. Cosmo is one of the newer buffet experiences, and one which initially took Swansea by storm (a storm of noodles).

The whole restaurant experience is quite unique. Firstly, you pay on arrival - a rule I like because when you're finished eating you can just up and leave. For what you are about to receive (providing you can put away a few plates), the price is decent - £12.99 Sunday to Thursday, £14.99 Friday and Saturday (these are evening prices - lunch prices and more on their website).

After paying, you are handed an individual entry pass and asked to make your way downstairs, where the contemporary subterranean restaurant awaits.

Head downstairs or you'll be left hungry!

This is where the first problem arises. Naturally Cosmo is a popular place and is, therefore, very busy at peak times. However, even if you book a table (say, for 8pm) and arrive on time, you must still queue through a narrow hallway - which gets clogged easily - before you are told to wait at the bar. If you are visiting at peak times, don't expect to sit down at your table at the specified entry time.

So... close... to food!

When you finally get to your table, you can then go explore the various avenues of food Cosmo has to offer.

There are two aspects to Cosmo. Firstly, what I find to be the best part of the experience - the live cooking areas. Across these four or so stations you'll find well-trained chefs who cook your choice of food in front of you. Combine fresh chicken, lamb, prawns or try squid and scallops, either on the grill or hot plate. Plus there is no limit to the amount of times you can return to these stations. A definite highlight.

One of the live cooking stations (four of those prawns were mine)

However the majority of the Cosmo is self-service; from large chafing dishes scattered around the restaurant. You'll find several different cuisines including Chinese (the usual dishes you'd expect – noodles, crispy beef, lemon chicken, etc), Indian (curry, naan bread, samosas) and Japanese (sushi, soups). This food they do very well - it's fresh, hot and generally good quality produce. Occasionally you may need to wait for an empty tray to be replenished but this never takes long.

Much of the food is self-service

Recently the menu has changed slightly and Cosmo now feature food from Mexico, Portugal and Italy. 'Brilliant', you may say, 'more choice!'. However, I find this a little disappointing. When the restaurant first opened last year, the emphasis seemed to be on good quality Asian food. Now it seems they are trying to do too much. They are branching out into areas such as pizza and pasta - which tend to disappoint - and (though some may like it) a kind of half-hearted carvery section. Not sure about you, but pots of English mustard and horseradish sauce just seem out of place at a Pan Asian restaurant.

When I read about the updated menu I anticipated a refreshing new selection of Asian delicacies - maybe a little more from Vietnam or Thailand. However, when I spotted vats of fish fingers and mini sausages among the noodles and king prawns, I knew that Cosmo had lost some of it's magic.

Unnecessary additions to an otherwise superb buffet...

After all that food, you'll obviously need desert! Cosmo have a great selection of treats, from miniature pots of Tiramisu and mango moose, to ice cream, jelly beans and brownies. Not forgetting the centrepiece of a chocolate fountain, where marshmallows are available for drenching.

The mini Swiss-rolls were clearly popular

The staff are a mixed bunch. Generally all are polite, though the managerial staff, shouting instructions into radios, are a little abrupt and unnerving. Thankfully you only tend to encounter these at the beginning of your experience. The bar staff and those cleaning the tables are all relatively calmer and quick to remove unwanted plates and take a drink order.

Drink price is good, with some pints under £3.00. Also, for a restaurant, it's nice to have a bar you can order drinks from without adding anything to a tab. This way, as I mentioned at the start, you can leave still chewing food (if you so wish...).

All in all, Cosmo impresses, mainly because of its choice and volume of foods. While the menu isn't as inspiring as it once was, if you stick to the live cooking stations and avoid the mini sausages, this all you can eat experience is one not to be missed!

Swansea Beer Festival 2012 - Brangywn Hall

It's not a restaurant, and the only food I ate was a few soggy chips - still, being one of the best evenings out in Swansea, I feel the Swansea Beer Festival deserves a place on Swansea on a Plate!

I usually visit the festival, inside the Brangwyn Hall, on the Thursday night, and 2012 was no different. While all three days sees ample choice, the Thursday ensures you can try every beer with no fear of it having run out (like some popular ones have done in the past).

After entering, you'll need to pay £5 to gain access to the beery haven. In return you're given a Swansea Beer Festival branded glass (to use and then keep) and a programme, useful for choosing the beers you want to sample.

My glass, filled with Otley's 'Oxymoron'

The festival itself is inside the main hall, where well over 100 barrels of lovely beer line the perimeter. To keep things simple, no money changes hands when you order a beer; so before you get to taste anything, you'll need tokens. I'd say £10-20 worth of tokens per person is about the right amount if you're planning to be there all night. Each beer costs between £1.30 - £1.70. I purchased £20 at the start and still had two sheets left at the end. You do the maths!

Each token is worth... that's right: 10p!

Glass and programme in one hand, tokens in the other, it was time to taste some beer! I noticed some of my favourites were on offer, so dived straight for them. My first glass was Otley's 'Croes-O', which I've tried before in the Queens Hotel in the Marina. It's the perfect opening ale - light and fruity.

My second ale was another I've previously tried (coincidentally at the 2011 Swansea Beer Festival!) - 'Pale Rider' from Kelham Island Brewery. I chose it last time because I love Clint Eastwood films (that's the title of an Eastwood film, for those of you who don't know their westerns!), but this time I chose it because of its fruity taste.

Two beers down and I'd limbered up a bit. I was ready to try something new. I headed back to Otley to sample a glass of dark and tasty 'Oxymoron'; an IPA with a bitter aftertaste. While we're on the subject of Otley, one of my all time favourite ales always tends to feature at the festival and is well worth a try - 'O-Garden'.

I tried many others through the night, but highlights included Dark Star's 'Hophead' and Cloud Nine from Six Bells Brewery. There were some real flavourful beers around, two of which are worth mentioning. Art Brew's 'Spanked Monkey' was flavoured with chili and ginger, and was genuinely very spicy! On the other end of the flavour spectrum I had a glass of 'Raspberry Blonde' by Saltaire - a beautiful, light and fruity beer.

Beer isn't the only thing on sale. If you're a cider man (or woman), there was a good selection in the main hall. You could also purchase t-shirts and bar towels in the area where you buy the tokens. Meanwhile, if you needed solid sustenance, there was a small service area in a separate room which sells pasties, chips and other hot food to soak up some of the beer.

Great atmosphere!

At about 9pm a band took to the stage to play some mellow rock and folk music. I'm not usually a fan of music in drinking establishments ('it's too loud' I usually cry) but this event always chooses a band decent enough to entertain but not steal the show.

The rest of the night was a blur of chatting to old friends, making new ones (including some Chinese students, who had no idea what was happening, but agreed to have a photo!) and having drunken hugs with people I don't really know.

That's me on the end (not the Chinese guy), looking nice and drunk!

I've slept most of the hangover off now and it's safe to the say that the Swansea Beer Festival 2012 was, as always, perfect. The next one is actually in April 2013 - the date change is due to the hall being refurbished next summer.

I can't wait!