Tempus At Tides, St David's Spa Hotel, Cardiff Bay

If you make it to the end of this piece, I promise you a treat. Honest.

Or you could just skip to the end.

With views beyond the Penarth headland and across to Flat Holm on one side and round to Mermaid Quay on the other, Tempus At Tides enjoys an enviable location. On a glorious early Summer's evening, there are few prettier places to eat in the city, and we are here because there's a new menu from new Executive Chef Martyn Watkins. 

Does the food match the vista, though? Or is it a case of 'never mind the quality, just enjoy the view'?

Among several tempting starters, black pudding and scallops won out. Truth be told it was pretty much a foregone conclusion: as an ex-Lancastrian the stuff's in my blood. Literally. 

The sweetness of the puréed aubergine, the saltiness of the lardons, the earthiness of the black pudding, the delicate plump sweetness of the scallops: they combine to make a highly assured start to things. There's a precision to the cooking of these scallops that is encouraging. 

Deep-fried crisp little balls of goats' cheese are as salt-tart as you'd expect and rather moreish. 

Monkfish with mussels and a curry velouté sauce allows the flavour of the fish to shine through, rather than masking it. You need a good meaty fish to stand up to spicing, and it's done very well here. 

Rump of lamb is beautifully done, the flesh cooked just past pink, the fat rich and crisp; a croquette is a nice contrast, a tangle of long-braised shoulder providing depth of flavour and a contrast of textures. 

The sole misstep was the chips: although  encouragingly thick and cut from a good floury potato, they needed an extra half-minute in the hotter oil to fully reap the double-cooked dividend. Consequently they are lacking the snap and rustle of a really good restaurant chip: a shame, but easily rectified. 

 Desserts pick up where mains leave off: a berry crumble is sheer stodge of course, but stodge in that brilliantly British way which means a good one has few equals. It's a good thing it's a beautiful evening for a walk around the Bay.

Light pastry in a chocolate tart gives no hint as to the dense richness of the filling. It's luscious, decadent stuff, with a pistachio ice cream to lighten it all, but that walk becomes a priority.

We thoroughly enjoyed the food at Tempus. It's not overly fussy food- quite the opposite- but uses our great local produce and showcases it to good effect. Service, by the way, was superb; Tomasz was informative and attentive, yet never intrusive. Exemplary, in fact. And no, we didn't get special treatment because we were guests of the restaurant- I'm always very aware, more so than usual, for any preferential treatment in these cases, and standards were high for all.

All in all then, an attractively simple menu delivers very well. And the best bit? If you ring on 029 20 454545 and book using the code TEMPUS15, you'll get 15% off your bill. Don't say I'm not good to you lovely people...

Tempus At Tides

St David's Spa Hotel
Havannah St
Cardiff 
CF10 5SD

http://www.thestdavidshotel.com/dining/