Le Divan du Monde

Advantages: absolutely delicious food, wonderful atmosphere
Disadvantages: walking down the stairs after a few glasses!

...behind an unsuspecting thick glass door at the top of St Mary's Street, Cardiff, lies an absolute gem of a restaurant. Le Monde has an absolutely unique atmosphere of elegance, good food and vivality to it. It actually has a rather unique way of doing things. There are no menus, what you see is actually what you get. Behind a wonderful glass counter there is a display, often stacked high with 30 types of fish. I can recommend the dover sole which they will filet for you at the table in an impressive display of skill. Never fear meat lovers! There is now a great "alternative" display for meat. They offer juicy sirloin and filet steaks (recommended by me!), duck, rack of lamb, chicken "le Monde" which is chicken wrapped in bacon with a game pate inside, mmm! Lots more is on offer. The staff are friendly, the food doesn't take... Read review

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Advantages: Quality, selection of food and drinks.
Disadvantages: Perhaps the stairs.

...Le Monde is situated in the heart of Cardiff City Centre close to the Central Station on St. Mary Street. A long flight of stairs takes you to the first floor where you will find this dimly lit restaurant called Le Monde. Owned by Martin Martinez who is Spanish, this restaurant has a definate Spanish theme with it's romantic soft background music. The floors are wooden and are covered in sawdust. The tables are mainly for four covers, but some are large enough to seat parties of more than ten. There are no frills here, just bare wooden tables. Le Monde is the best known fish restaurant in Cardiff although they do serve alternatives to fish. No need to book here. You choose a table and when you are ready to order you take a trip to the refrigerated displays where there is a huge selection of fresh fish and meat... Read review

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Advantages: Pleassant environment, wonderful coffee accompanied by great beignets.
Disadvantages: Its in far flung New Orleans.

...In case anyone complains that this should be in the cafe category, I had asked for this to be created in a new cafe category for New Orleans. Unfortunately, this has not happened. I don't know what to do ... anyway, onward with the story ... Cafe du Monde ... is a famous landmark in New Orleans. Ask anyone there. It was in the movie Runaway Jury starring both John Cusack and Rachel Weisz. It has served as a turning point of my life and I thought I'll share this little cafe with you. Extremely Short History ----------------------- The original Cafe du Monde was started by Fred Koeniger in 1862. In 1942, it was bought be the Fernandez Family. Til this day, it is still owned by the Fernandez family and Cafe du Monde serves their infamous coffee and beignets in the original coffee stand in the French Market area of New Orleans... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful