5th Birthday Guest Blog: Miller and Carter
Today's guest blog comes from PR princess Vicky Leyton. After a stint working for a price comparison site (I won't advertise them but lets just say it's not the one with the opera singer!), Vicky can now be found at Cardiff's award-winning Working Word PR.
For the start of my 27th birthday festivities this year I alighted on Miller & Carter, whose sign has intrigued me every time I passed the Red Dragon Centre, sometimes to the point where I have even idly browsed the menu online, but had been vetoed every time I suggested it before. With the birthday diva card played, I finally got the opportunity to test drive it for myself. Reviews of this restaurant have been a decidedly mixed bag, with those on the website giving it anything from 1 to 5 so I was not really sure what to expect.
On arrival we were greeted warmly and invited to wait in the bar while they prepared our table. A round of drinks came in at an average price and we settled ourselves in at the spacious bar/holding area, giving us the opportunity to take in the surroundings which were modern but warm. We were shown to our table next to an ornamental fireplace that was clearly for display purposes only as it didn’t generate enough heat to stop us from shivering under the air con unit (they did switch it off after a couple of polite requests).
We started with a sharing platter, that at £11ish, was excellent value as somehow it managed to stretch around five people. The individual starters looked tasty but as a repeat offender at overstuffing myself before the main event, I was happy to partake in a sharing venture. The platter had a couple of the usual suspects in the form of buffalo chicken wings and garlic bread, but also had some nice unique touches including their ‘secret recipe onion loaf’ and some glorious battered prawns which made me fleetingly regret my decision to go co-op. The intrigue surrounding the onion loaf, coupled with the fear that the starter wouldn’t go around made us order an extra portion of this, a decision I’d advocate to anyone – it was bizarre but delightfully, a mystery prize will go to anyone who can establish exactly how this is made... Satisfied, expectant and pining for more onion loaf, it was time for the main event.
I opted for the 10 oz steak, which came with yes, you guessed it, more onion loaf (Hallelujah!) It also came with another unique extra – a lettuce wedge with blue cheese and dressing, in place of salad. I was dubious about this, wondering exactly why a chunk of lettuce could be special, but my doubts were in vain – the fresh crispy lettuce was an excellent accompaniment to my steak.
The steak was a great quality and was cooked perfectly to my medium specifications. My jacket potato (that I elected to have, in the same pretend faux healthy way as people who choose diet coke with their Big Mac meal) was well cooked and fluffy. No accompaniment was offered, but a massive chunk of butter was proffered on request. Butter neglect aside, the service was incredibly slick, and the food was delivered to us fast. One thing I was particularly a fan of was the fact 3 waiting staff brought out the main courses to make sure that everyone got their meal at exactly the same time.
In my party, my boyfriend and his dad had the creole chicken, which looked lovely but was, in truth, a little overcooked and looked it, the chilli marmalade it came with was a saving grace though, and elevated it from your average southern fried chicken.
My boyfriend’s brother had a BBQ bacon burger that had a good amount of cheese and bacon but, bizarrely, no barbecue sauce. Again, on request, it was brought and the portion they gave us was generous, as were all the accompanying sauces. I’ve been annoyed in the past by how tight places can be with the sauces they promise, so this was a surprisingly rare but welcome treat. My boyfriend’s mother had the gammon, and it was thick and tender but unfortunately not to her to taste as it was very salty. This sparked debate on the table as to how much saltiness was too much, the jury is still out on this, and the gammon was consumed by the rest of the table in the interests of ‘testing’
We were all unfortunately too full for dessert. I would like to report on what the choices were, but incongruously, we weren’t actually offered the menus to peruse, as per the usual custom. They removed our main course plates, left us to our own devices for a few minutes then came back and asked if anyone was ordering dessert. We opted for the bill, but I was bereft to not have at least picked my fantasy dessert from the selection. The bill was very reasonable, coming in at around £50 for five people, including a round of 3 beers, a g&t (mine) and a coke. There was no hurry for us to leave once we had paid and we stayed at our table enjoying the atmosphere and drinking the last of our drinks for at least another hour.
While it was not quite a flawless performance from M&C, and there were some small problems, over all it was a great evening and I’d absolutely recommend it. I would advise going for the steak on the strength that it by far attracted the most food envy from the table, and the staff were absolutely open to reasonable requests. So if it is too cold, then just ask.
For the start of my 27th birthday festivities this year I alighted on Miller & Carter, whose sign has intrigued me every time I passed the Red Dragon Centre, sometimes to the point where I have even idly browsed the menu online, but had been vetoed every time I suggested it before. With the birthday diva card played, I finally got the opportunity to test drive it for myself. Reviews of this restaurant have been a decidedly mixed bag, with those on the website giving it anything from 1 to 5 so I was not really sure what to expect.
On arrival we were greeted warmly and invited to wait in the bar while they prepared our table. A round of drinks came in at an average price and we settled ourselves in at the spacious bar/holding area, giving us the opportunity to take in the surroundings which were modern but warm. We were shown to our table next to an ornamental fireplace that was clearly for display purposes only as it didn’t generate enough heat to stop us from shivering under the air con unit (they did switch it off after a couple of polite requests).
We started with a sharing platter, that at £11ish, was excellent value as somehow it managed to stretch around five people. The individual starters looked tasty but as a repeat offender at overstuffing myself before the main event, I was happy to partake in a sharing venture. The platter had a couple of the usual suspects in the form of buffalo chicken wings and garlic bread, but also had some nice unique touches including their ‘secret recipe onion loaf’ and some glorious battered prawns which made me fleetingly regret my decision to go co-op. The intrigue surrounding the onion loaf, coupled with the fear that the starter wouldn’t go around made us order an extra portion of this, a decision I’d advocate to anyone – it was bizarre but delightfully, a mystery prize will go to anyone who can establish exactly how this is made... Satisfied, expectant and pining for more onion loaf, it was time for the main event.
 |
| 10oz Steak (Photo: V Leyton) |
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| Blurry Lettuce (Photo: V Leyton) |
The steak was a great quality and was cooked perfectly to my medium specifications. My jacket potato (that I elected to have, in the same pretend faux healthy way as people who choose diet coke with their Big Mac meal) was well cooked and fluffy. No accompaniment was offered, but a massive chunk of butter was proffered on request. Butter neglect aside, the service was incredibly slick, and the food was delivered to us fast. One thing I was particularly a fan of was the fact 3 waiting staff brought out the main courses to make sure that everyone got their meal at exactly the same time.
In my party, my boyfriend and his dad had the creole chicken, which looked lovely but was, in truth, a little overcooked and looked it, the chilli marmalade it came with was a saving grace though, and elevated it from your average southern fried chicken.
 |
| Creole Chicken (Photo: V Leyton) |
My boyfriend’s brother had a BBQ bacon burger that had a good amount of cheese and bacon but, bizarrely, no barbecue sauce. Again, on request, it was brought and the portion they gave us was generous, as were all the accompanying sauces. I’ve been annoyed in the past by how tight places can be with the sauces they promise, so this was a surprisingly rare but welcome treat. My boyfriend’s mother had the gammon, and it was thick and tender but unfortunately not to her to taste as it was very salty. This sparked debate on the table as to how much saltiness was too much, the jury is still out on this, and the gammon was consumed by the rest of the table in the interests of ‘testing’
We were all unfortunately too full for dessert. I would like to report on what the choices were, but incongruously, we weren’t actually offered the menus to peruse, as per the usual custom. They removed our main course plates, left us to our own devices for a few minutes then came back and asked if anyone was ordering dessert. We opted for the bill, but I was bereft to not have at least picked my fantasy dessert from the selection. The bill was very reasonable, coming in at around £50 for five people, including a round of 3 beers, a g&t (mine) and a coke. There was no hurry for us to leave once we had paid and we stayed at our table enjoying the atmosphere and drinking the last of our drinks for at least another hour.
While it was not quite a flawless performance from M&C, and there were some small problems, over all it was a great evening and I’d absolutely recommend it. I would advise going for the steak on the strength that it by far attracted the most food envy from the table, and the staff were absolutely open to reasonable requests. So if it is too cold, then just ask.
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