Thé Pot, Cardiff

I was in North Cardiff today, registering with a casting agency (for more supporting artist/extras work), so I took the opportunity of visiting Thé Pot (I assume théy are joking). It’s a surprisingly small licensed café on Crwys Road (not far from Cathays Cemetery).

Owner Natalie opened Thé Pot three years and two months ago. From what I saw today, the place is thriving. On the website, she says the style and décor are influenced by café culture in Paris and San Francisco, two cities close to her heart. It’s homely, with none of the overdone quirkiness of some recently-established city centre cafés.

They do a good selection of (all-day) breakfasts, sandwiches, light meals, coffee and cake. I had the Welsh Breakfast, which consisted of laverbread, a light Glamorgan sausage (a local vegetarian sausage), crispy bacon, two fried eggs and two thick pieces of toast. The laverbread was cooked in a round cake and was much better than I was expecting. Latte came in a funky cup with a complimentary biscuit.

There was some lively conversations going on all around, and it was a comfortable place to have lunch by yourself (reading or using the free WiFi). I got to say hello to one of the stars of one of my favourite TV programmes Alys (on which I was an extra), who was at the next table.

On some evenings, the tables are pushed aside for live entertainment; the next event sounded promising, being “an evening of chilled Welsh funk/music/comedy”.

I can recommend the good-value home-cooked food at Thé Pot. The atmosphere is friendly and relaxing. Arcade Fire was playing at just the right volume in the background and I took away a complimentary Paper Aeroplanes CD; a local band who support independent coffee shops and cafés. You can’t argue with that.

A brisk walk around Cathays Cemetery rounded off a most enjoyable lunchtime.

Thé Pot, 138 Crwys Road, Cardiff CF24 4NR
http://www.thepotcafe.co.uk/