Only a few months ago H&C News opened a new office in Penarth, Cardiff and once settled, it didn’t take long, we wanted to try as many local restaurants as possible.
We visited Pier 64 restaurant recently – Penarth’s Pier 64 sets a high standard – and what a treat that was. The Clink Cardiff was a very special trip made only last Wednesday – a meal worth going behind bars for. What next?
Our head office is still in Ascot and our firm favourite meal out when in Ascot is breakfast at Coworth Park, it’s where we also had the H&C News Christmas dinner last year – Don’t ignore what’s on your doorstep.
So on the dual theme of don’t ignore what’s on your doorstep, and breakfast, we decided to walk down the road from our offices and have breakfast at Compass Coffee in Penarth Marina.
It’s just coming up to 10 O’clock Sunday morning and set in the far corner of Penarth Marina, in a spot that unless you knew it was there you could easily miss is Compass Coffee. It’s full. We waited and not too much later we were able to get a table.
When you walk in you are greeted warmly and made to feel very welcome. No messing about, what would you like to drink is requested promptly and a tea and a coffee is delivered shortly afterwards.
The menu is extensive including four variations of a ‘Full Welsh’ North, South, East and West. One West and one South is ordered. I’ll save all the adjectives that suggest a Michelin star should be rushed to Penarth tomorrow, suffice to say it was a bloody good breakfast.
After breakfast a display counter of cakes kept waving at us, it was full of a variety of treats that it would have been rude to ignore and they did justify another tea and coffee, we were there to try the place out after all.
So one more black tea, one more flat white and two cupcakes were ordered. My wife assured me that the salted caramel option was a great cupcake but seemed reluctant to let me test for myself. The blueberry one was pure cake porn, if there is such a phrase, maybe I need to get onto twitter.
So here’s our verdict…Great tea and coffee, great breakfasts and great cake, the friendly service is even better. Thanks team at Compass Coffee, we will be back soon.