Clink Cardiff

You might remember that a few months ago I went to Clink Café in Manchester. Clink is run by a charity that helps prisoners train for the hospitality sector and reduces reoffending. There are a few restaurants in UK, and one of them is Clink Cardiff. We’ve just had to go for lunch there because I was keen on supporting the charity and have a great meal at the same time.

The staff was so lovely, very friendly and considerate. We were sited at a table and we’ve got the lunch menus.

We’ve ordered strawberry mocktails and they were great. I’ve enjoyed mine. As we don’t usually have a big lunch, we’ve decided to order starters and desserts. There was only one vegetarian option for starters, but both of us liked the sound of it. For desserts, we’ve ordered differently and shared them.

Butternut squash and ricotta ravioli, braised fennel and sage beurre noisette

In the menu there is a description that I liked: In this dish, the students will work towards gaining their Level 1 qualification under units 226 and 233 which teaches them how to prepare and cook vegetables. The students also cover unit 240 which is preparing, cooking and finishing basic pasta dishes with the ravioli. While I don’t know the syllabus for food preparation it was interesting to see what the students learn from what seems like a simple dish.

It was lovely. The sage was deliciously crispy, the fennel was very well cooked, and the pasta was good. I would order this dish again without any doubt.

Poached plum tarte tatin, gingercrumb, coconut and marshmallow ice cream

The tarte tatin was the vegan option. I liked the ice cream and the dessert in general. I would have liked the pastry baked for a little bit longer, but that wouldn’t put me off ordering this again. The flavours were great, warming, and delicious.

Spiced pumpkin pie, maple syrup parfait, toasted pecans, and vanilla mascarpone

The spiced pie was really good. My husband loved it more as he likes pecan nuts. I’ve enjoyed it too and I would gladly eat this again. The parfait was so smooth and different from the vegan ice cream from the other dish. It just shows how much they learn when they prepare these dishes.

The starters and the desserts were £7 each and the mocktails were just shy of £5. The food is not cheap, but it is value for money considering how well the food is prepared and the kind of food served in the restaurant. I wasn’t able to take lots of pictures in the restaurant because of the restrictions regarding photographing and a huge mirror on a wall that made photographing without capturing someone in the picture impossible. I’ve had such a lovely time and I would like to visit another one of their restaurants given the chance. Of course, I would like to eat again in Clink Cardiff, as the whole experience was so nice.

The motto is ‘Serving Thyme reduces reoffending – Changing attitudes, transforming lives, and creating second chances’. Clink Cardiff is in HMP CARDIFF, Knox Road, Cardiff, CF24 0UG. It is open every day, do stop by if you have the chance.