Canteen on Clifton Street

Opened at the end of 2007, Canteen on Clifton Street is a restaurant that specialises in producing high quality and innovative vegetarian cuisine. However, it is not strictly vegetarian, as, on each menu, a slow-cooked meat dish is offered to suit the carnivores.

The restaurant's aim is to be a place where all are welcome and, whether vegetarian, vegan or omnivore, everyone gets to enjoy interesting cooking. For lunch there is simple, café-style food and in the evening the dishes become more sophisticated.

They offer a wide variety from Thai potato and tofu cakes with chilli dipping sauce to falafels with smoked chilli dressing; gnocchi with artichoke, tomatoes and herb pesto to Arabian spiced lamb in yoghurt on pistachio cardamom rice or mushroom bread pudding with dauphinoise potatoes and buttered carrots with a mushroom and chive sauce.

Both lunch and evening menus are a la carte, with a two or three course menu also available in the evening. The food wherever possible is locally produced and organic, with many of the drinks produced in Wales. The small wine list is of high quality, offering fine wines not usually stocked by the high street supermarkets.

The restaurant welcomes families offering half price meals for children and high chairs for babies, while changing facilities are available.

The interior is clean and simple with a rustic feel created by walls faced with rough wooden planking. In the daytime the atmosphere is busy and lively, with the evening becoming quieter, and even romantic, in the candlelight.