April is turning out to be a pretty hectic month for us! This week, the remainder of my Australian family arrived from Sydney, just in time for my cousin's wedding this weekend. In between last minute suit fittings, haircuts and visits to the florist, we managed to arrange a family reunion of sorts - it was the first time we'd all been in the same room for nearly five years! I chose to mark the occasion by letting my new jacket make its first public appearance!
We booked a table at Grape & Olive, in Swansea's Meridian Tower. Honestly, although the setting is incredible (panoramic views of the bay? yes please!), it wouldn't normally be my first choice for an important meal. The restaurant was plagued with problems a few years ago when it first opened, in haste and probably before it was really ready (think cold food, felt tip pen signs on torn paper and Barbie pink toilets...) and even though it's now operated by Brains, I've always experienced fairly mediocre food there - usually fine, but never anything particularly creative or special. It's very much pub food, not quite befitting of its setting.
This time though, we had a brilliant evening, arriving in the daylight and enjoying the views through sunset and into the night. And, knowing what to expect, the food was pretty good! Mr. O and I both played it relatively safe and went for different variations of steak and chips - my fillet was perfectly cooked (I'm a rare kinda gal) and the rib eye Mr. O ordered put a big smile on his face too. We shared some steak chips and a tomato, rocket and pine nut salad, as well as a pot of peppercorn sauce. The chips were tasty, sauce was plentiful and the salad was just beautifully fresh tasting. Overall, a really flavoursome, gastropub meal.
The rest of the family were also impressed with fish dishes, pizzas and risottos; in fact, the only problem we had was with the pork belly ordered by the groom-to-be. The original serving was tiny and, unfortunately, mostly fat, not meat. He mentioned it to our waiter, who apologised profusely, took the offending plate away and returned later with a much nicer slice. It was just a shame for him that, in the middle of a stressful week and with the prospect of a midnight drive back to London ahead of him, he couldn't eat at the same time as the rest of us. But, the issue was dealt with as well as it could have been by Grape & Olive's team.
And, for me, other than the view, it's this team that is the major selling point for the restaurant. They really couldn't have been more friendly - attentive and keen to join in with jokes (without being intrusive), they made it seem as though looking after such a large party was easy. Not to mention the fact that they were happy for me to bring a cake (something I always worry about at restaurants and always check in advance) - they were very accommodating from the start and even lit the candles for me to make sure it was a real surprise!
Aside from the venue and the food, it was just so lovely to be with all our family members for the evening. There was lots of laughter and an awful lot of photo taking! We finished the evening with the said surprise cake - even though Mr. O's birthday is still a couple of days away, it was too good an opportunity to miss! This bright blue, sweetie covered thing of beauty had one layer of vanilla sponge with jam and one of chocolate sponge with Nutella. Can you guess which flavour I went for!? And which one I'm still stealing sneaky pieces of two days later!?! Oh I do love family reunions and birthdays! I have a feeling there will be plenty more opportunities for cake in the next few days!
Grape & Olive, Meridian Tower, Trawler Road, Swansea SA1 1JW
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