“Was that soup good?” he asked me while collecting my empty cup of the delicious onion soup I have just finished.
“Very very good” I answered, a little dazzled by the fact that this man casually dressed with dark beige trousers and a magenta sweater is collecting my dirty plate. He looks rather more like a customer than a worker and I wonder why is helping the waitresses with cleaning the tables. However, his face seems a little familiar to me and I suddenly remember where I’ve seen him: in an article about Kardomah Cafe in walesonline, he is Marcus Luporini, the very owner of Kardomah Cafe in Swansea. Oh, my God, so it’s true he is all day in his cafe working and supervising everything here. No wonder the cafe is so successful. I barely found a seat in here. Well, actually it was the waitress that found one for me, but it’s the same thing.
Set luncheon at Kardomah Cafe
Although I initially came only for a coffee and a cake, I changed my mind and order dinner as well, when I saw how crowded it was. The food here is a bit more expensive than in other places in town, but I suppose it must be really good if so many people come to have dinner at Kardomah Cafe. True is that almost 70-80 % of the customers were retiring age, and that alone tells a lot about how the business grew in time. The Kardomah Cafe is a hundred year old business in Swansea (although the first cafe was not exactly in this place) and it must have relied upon loyal customers coming back every or other day. I personally heard Marcus saying to an old couple leaving the cafe: See you tomorrow! Obviously, he knew them. See you tomorrow? He meant they come in here every day, right?!
I am looking at the menu trying to figure out what should I try. Maybe something that I don’t cook every day. The menu is not very sophisticated, actually lists almost the same dishes you can find in every terrace or British restaurant, nothing I really fancied, so I ordered a set luncheon (soup with rolls, roast beef and vegetables and a cake) for 10.75, which seems like a good deal for what you get. I added a cafe with milk and started to enjoy my dinner.
Roast beef was really tender and tasty, however the vegetables were not my favorites. I wonder if they change them sometimes or you always get peas, carrots and whatever the other thing was (have no idea). Like broccoli, cauliflower, green beans etc.
The apple pie with custard (I was offered a choice of 3-4 cakes) was not bad, but I ate a better one at Bristol Kitchen last summer, to be honest. The cafe was very weak, didn’t like that much. I wouldn’t come back here just for their coffee, certainly, but I’ll come back for the food and the warm atmosphere.
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