Best Restaurants in Cardiff

Cardiff's moment as a restaurant city arrived in 2025, when Tom Waters's Gorse earned Wales's first Michelin star outside the countryside. The city has been building to this for a decade — a cluster of strong independent openings (Asador 44, Heaneys, The Classroom, Purple Poppadom) created the critical mass the Guide eventually recognised. Beyond the star, the city runs a strong wine-bar scene along Pontcanna Street and High Street, a credible fine-casual cluster in Cardiff Bay, and a twenty-minute drive to Penarth where James Sommerin runs Home — previously a one-Michelin-starred kitchen under a different name.

The cooking is built on Welsh produce — salt-marsh lamb from Gower, Welsh Black beef, Pembrokeshire shellfish, laverbread, bara brith — interpreted across a range of formats. Gorse runs the ingredient-led tasting-menu register; Asador 44 runs a Spanish grill around an enormous charcoal-fired oven; Heaneys does modern British-Welsh bistro; Home in Penarth runs the father-daughter family kitchen that earned Sommerin his first star in 2019. Welsh wine is arriving — Ancre Hill and Glyndŵr vineyards appear on most serious Cardiff lists — alongside the more established English sparkling programme.

For a deeper editorial read, see our ongoing Editorial coverage — including pieces on the Best Restaurants for Every Occasion, and our Impress Clients and First Date occasion guides.