The Park Plaza hotel in Cardiff has a fantastic new summer terrace menu and we were invited along to sample it. I know its a tough life being a food blogger.

Myself and my mum went along with Chloe for a late lunch/early dinner on a beautifully sunshiney day. The terrace is really pretty and I imagine totally amazing for a few cocktails on a night out with your friends or loved ones.

The menu is small but pretty perfect with dishes ranging from superfood salads, risottos, burger and good old fish n chips. There are also sharing dishes..small plate meals and some appetisers such as bread and olives.

There are cocktails jugs, dessert cocktails and a super sweet dessert menu of which I will rave about later in the post.

The service is friendly and not just to the reviewers ( us) but to everyone who we saw being served that day. Courteous, informative and full of smiles. 10/10 on that count.

The hotel itself is pretty luxurious from what I saw. Not the kind of place you would typically think about taking your children to but they made Chloe feel more than welcome and there is a clean, spacious baby changing area. I think I’d like to try an overnight stay one day. Would make a lovely treat.

From the a terrace menu I chose:

The Welsh Handmade Burger served with skinny fries, a sweet chilli jam and a little pot of olives ( which had a super kick to them) the burger itself contained lettuce, tomatoes, baby gherkins and American mustard and I chose to add Swiss cheese.

Sorry for the not so great photos. I realised on arrival that I’d forgotten my memory card for the camera so they are iPhone pics and I’ve somehow hidden the pot of sensational sweet chilli jam behind my fries but it was there and I promise it was good.

The burger was full of flavour and cooked just the way I liked it. I can never finish burger buns as bread just fills me up too much but the roll was really fresh and tasty. The gherkins ( which I normally remove) were a delight as was the Swiss cheese. Yum. The fries were crispy and fluffy all at once. The olives were a lot hotter than I expected them to be but so good..just enough heat without burning my mouth off.. And the jam was lip smackingly nice. I’d return for this dish. Although next time I’m thinking the steak with béarnaise sounded like a contender.

My mum chose:

The LBK Fish and Chips served with thicker cut chips ( or you can opt for skinny fries) mushy peas and tartar sauce with a half lemon wrapped in a pretty gauzey parcel ( my mum was impressed with this..as was I)

She said the fish was really tender and the batter was perfect. The chips were really good but a few too many for her ( which isn’t exactly a complaint) – she just wanted to save room for dessert ..I can hardly blame her as the dessert menu makes you drool.

For dessert I chose:

Strawberry Pavlova

This is not something I’d ever normally choose as I’m such a chocolate girl but it’s summer and I decided to ask the waiter what he thought and he loves the pavlova. Thank you waiter ( sorry I didn’t get your name) it was incredible, I can quite often be disappointed in desserts but this was outstanding. I was too full to finish it but I HAD to finish.

My mum chose:

Peach Melba Knickerbocker Glory

This was on recommendation of someone else at the hotel and it was pretty and fresh and perfect. My mum loved it and Chloe had a taste and loved it too. So much fresh fruit. Silken cream and rich, creamy ice cream. The Queen of Knickerbocker Glory ice creams the world over 😉

We didn’t try any of the cocktails as I had a meeting to attend afterwards which is a shame but next time for sure.

If you are in the Cardiff area or planning to visit, I encourage you to visit.

Find out more on the Park Plaza Website, they are also active on Twitter here.

If you fancy something a bit different Park Plaza also offer a Gentlemans afternoon tea with items such as venison burgers and chorizo scotch eggs in place of dainty sarnies. Find out more here.