Tea for you and me

Join me on my epic quest to find the best tea ever

Tag Archives: bay


by Leave a comment

The Look Out Cafe Bar

World of Boats, Heol Porth Teigr, Cardiff Bay, Cardiff, CF10 4GA.

IMG_20170327_121100791_HDR

View of Cardiff Bay from our table at The Look Out Cafe Bar.

I have to admit we weren’t planning on going here, we just got a bit confused about the bus route round the bay and ended up getting off next to World of Boats. World of Boats is in a lovely position next to the bay (as befits an exhibition about boats) and the cafe has beautiful views across the water.

The Look Out Cafe Bar had dotty tablecloths, floral arrangements, a little dog pottering around and tea that came in a teapot. It was nice. R and I enjoyed a nice chat and some tea drinking and decided that although we hadn’t planned to, we would have a look round World of Boats.

IMG_20170327_121218569

My pot of decaf tea and R’s glass of peppermint tea at The Look Out Cafe Bar.

Things were all going swimmingly, until the little dog (small and white with fetching brown patches) pottered over to the table next to us, cocked a leg, and peed on the floor. Once we told the staff it was all cleaned up very promptly, but we didn’t stay in the cafe for very long after that.

Instead, we paid our £5 each and went through into the exhibition space. World of Boats was not, as I had thought, a euphemism for a lot of boats. It was a small exhibition of boats from around the world (which is what R thought it would be). And very interesting and enjoyable it was too. There was even a section where you could try out semaphore.

  • Teapot? Yes, for the decaf tea.
  • Leaf tea? No, tea bag tea.
  • Milk jug? Yes.
  • Price? £2.25 for each tea and £5 each to go into World of Boats.
  • Cake? Yes and I think they had savoury food too.
  • Go again? Unfortunately not.

Visited on: Monday 27th March 2017


by 1 Comment

Norsk

Norwegian Church Arts Centre, Harbour Drive, Cardiff Bay, CF10 4PA   (View on map)

The view of the bay, just along from the Norwegian Church.

The Norwegian Church turned out to be a church that was established in 1868 to provide for the sailors of the Norwegian merchant fleet, though it’s no longer a consecrated space. A plaque in the Roald Dahl Plass informed me that not only was Roald Dahl born in Cardiff, he was christened in the Norwegian Church. Another excellent reason to visit it.

Now it’s an arts centre with a cafe, which is why I was there. The building was striking and completely different to the other buildings surrounding it. The white slats contrasted against the blue of the sky and drew my eye to it way before I reached the building.

Inside is a small exhibition space on the first floor, a meeting/events room and a the cafe. It was cold and threatening rain when I went but the decking area to the side looked too enticing to ignore, so I made my way outside.

The Norwegian Church.

It was windy and cold, but again, very peaceful. I’m not sure if it was just because the weather wasn’t that great, or because I was in a different country, or because I wasn’t at work on a day I would normally be working, but I found my whole Cardiff tea drinking experience very peaceful and calm. The bay was especially beautiful and I stayed there into the evening, going to see a play that was on at the Wales Millennium Centre in the evening. I think I could quite happily live in Cardiff.

Tea on the outside terrace. Hot tea and cold air with a sea view, brilliant.

Anyway, reverie over. Now back to the tea. There was an option for a ‘Welsh brew’ tea, so that’s what I ordered. It was hot and strong, but I couldn’t honestly tell you that I noticed anything particularly different from a standard English Breakfast tea. It didn’t matter, the view was great.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? No.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? £1.90 for the Welsh brew, I have a feeling a more standard tea may cost slightly less.
Cake? A selection of cake and biscuits, not forgetting the Welsh cakes. I think some hot food as well, but I’m afraid I wasn’t paying much attention – I just wanted to get outside and see the sea again.
Go again? Yes.


by Leave a comment

Kemi’s Cafe

Craft in the Bay, The Flourish, Lloyd George Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 4QH  (View on map)

The view of the outside of the Craft in the Bay building.

This cafe was recommended to me as a good place to go for tea if I was visiting Cardiff and I wasn’t disappointed. Kemi’s Cafe is inside the Craft in the Bay building and had a lovely feel to it. I came down to the bay from Cardiff centre on the bendy bay bus and this was very near to the bus stop, which was handy. It also meant I showed astonishing self-discipline by going for a cup of tea first, for the sake of the blog, rather than running down towards the bay and getting all excited at seeing the sea.

Craft in the Bay has lots of beautiful art and craft items, all of which I wanted, none of which I could afford. It was an enjoyable look round though. Kemi’s Cafe had many different good-looking cake and pastry items, as well as salads and paninis. I resisted as I’d already had the Welsh cakes (plus this day was getting quite expensive – I’d been to one cafe already and had this one and at least one more to go to yet).

Tea, flowers and fountains at Kemi's Cafe.

The tea came in a teapot with a retro cup and saucer. I sat upstairs so I could gaze out the window at the fountains and the bay. Each table had a little vase of flowers and again the atmosphere was very calm.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? No.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? £2 for a pot of tea.
Cake? A multitude of cake and some fetching salads and sarnies too.
Go again? Yes.