It’s not exactly the welcome you expect when splashing the cash on some quality nosh. But, if you happen to be splashing something else, you may just be rubbing shoulders with this guy…
The Guardian of the Gent’s surely isn’t meant to provide the highlight of a visit to Ivy Asia. After all, he is resting beyond the prying eyes of many visiting punters.
It may be borrowing on a famous name from London restaurant culture. It could even be a barely disguised financial trading up on the aforementioned cultural icon. But, the Ivy Asia is still a relatively recent addition to the Cardiff dining scene, adding some distant exotic colour to the supposedly bland indigenous cuisine.
And oh, what colour it adds…
Whilst disposable chop sticks greet you at the table, sunglasses may be a useful implement for aiding the dining experience. Talking of which… what is the dining experience? Essentially, Asia sums it up… a fusion of cuisines from across a sub-continent.
As a group of diners, we were trading up from our previous meetings over fry-ups in South WalesValleys caff culture! Here, the challenge is to make some sense of a menu written in English, but not necessarily the language we were more familiar with. Blindly sticking a pin in the menu to make a choice would probably be just as rewarding as trying to decifer the range of what was being offered.
Ultimately, we each went to seek guidance from the aforementioned Guardian… and then stuck a pin in the menu. For the record, we side-stepped the more exotic options to settle on vaguely familiar choices of SzechuanChicken, DuckSpringRolls, Beef & LambSkewers, and SteamedRice. And all were deliciously presented and in taste.
As it was a celebration brunch, my own phobia for desserts needed to be overcome. Passionfruitdonuts, and Lychee, Mango & Chocolate were instantly snapped up by the others. For me, something called TheGreenLantern sounded in keeping with the ambience of the place. If I told you what was in it, I’d be causing a stampede to the place…
Until we speak again, beware of strange men in unexpected places! At least remember the tried and trusted British welcome… whoareyou lookingat!
New Orleans has always been a down and dirty in your face kinda place. Debauchery, moral corruption, and a sense of danger have been at the heart of the experience for nigh on 300 years. The food, the music, the people, the culture. It’s a marmite sort of place; you either love it or you don’t, there’s no in-between.
Then, there’s Gumbo… the official Louisiana State cuisine, which essentially refers to a stew. There isn’t just one kind of gumbo… it’s what you make of the experience. Likewise, New Orleans is what you want to make of the experience… but generally, it’s an open celebration of life.
For me, on a 5th visit, it’s looking for more of the new whilst hoping some of the best of the old is still there (post-Covid)! Maybe that’s why this visit can best be summed up as chocolatealligatorsinsearchofagoodcappuccino. Read on… it still probably won’t make any sense, like New Orleans… who knows? This determined looking guy had more than chocolate on his mind!
Finding a good cappuccino in the US, well… needles and haystacks come to mind. Cafe Beignet is an institution with new locations open across the city. They say certain things really should be tried before you die… then again, trying certain things may hasten on the demise. Believe me, the search for a good cappuccino doesn’t start here! And, as the powdered sugary topping of a deep fried coating of a tasteless gloop… this does take some beating. However, in the CafeBeignet v CafeduMonde debate (does such a challenge really trouble the world?), the latter plumbs even greater depths, in my opinion!
Surely, I could rely on my good friends at WhoDatCoffeeCafe…over in the Marigny district of the city, way off the usual tourist radar. They’ve always been my go-to place for a relatively good cappuccino, and the humorous welcome bodes well. Unfortunately for me, now they want to spoil the experience by insisting on plastic cups! What’s that about? The Rueben sandwich certainly demanded a better side.
Perhaps technology will provide the answer. Googling best cappuccino brings up the interesting sounding StreetcarCafe on St Charles Avenue. The promise did manage to beat the standard fayre so ubiquitous of anywheresville, but that’s a low bar. Then again, the experience did offer an opportunity to sample that strange (to us foreigners) breakfast of Biscuits & Gravy! Meanwhile, the search continues…
My erstwhile native US travel companion kept up her nearly 3-decades attempt to persuade me of the tempting and strangely sweet world of desserts… my resistance to which would be something Juno would be proud of. But, unbeknownst to me, this just maybe the gateway to good coffee… who’d have thought it?
On a planned stroll around the GardenDistrict, she witnessed what looked like a local chocolate emporium, and it just happened to come with a side of coffee making. Piety & Desire source and make their chocolate ingredients locally with loving detail. With such admirable principles, they also get their coffee from neighbouring fellow purveyors who happen to roast their own beans on site. Heaven, if it exists at all, can be found in strange and quiet quarters, and that delightful green piece of chocolate includes duck fat… but no alligator fat, apparently!!!
Fortified with chocolate… I mean a good cappuccino… I’m ready to take on a range of what this unbelievable city has to offer. I tried a few of those dreaded desserts (but the incriminating evidence that I actually enjoyed the experiences shall remain under wraps). In order to possibly satisfy my quirkier side, how about some art… galleried as only they can down in the Bywater district:
Alligators… chocolate or otherwise, on the Swamp Tour had a habit of showing as much interest in the floating can of people as we did of them:
Though, as the second photo suggests, some had already had their fill of cappuccino for the day… any later than 1.00 pm and rumour has it they don’t sleep as well at night!
Then again, peace and harmony along the Lafitte Greenway through Mid-City and Treme helps to burn off some of the inevitable calorie intake more usually associated with visiting almost anywhere in New Orleans:
Until we speak again, there was an obvious solution to any of us influenced enough by levels of alcohol consumption… at the tried and trusted AvenuePub on the wonderful St Charles Avenue… a Coffee Stout. The problem is that at 9.3 per cent, a few of these cause mobility issues… if you catch my drift. And, yes, please do catch my drift!
P.S. No alligators were hurt or injured in the making of this production! Chocolate, on the other hand, was consumed in a range of weird flavours!
JUNO's VIEW 