If you're a local, you'll no doubt be aware of Cardiff's City Road - jam-packed with so many delicious eateries from all over the world, you really are spoilt for choice. Saray is a Turkish restaurant situated about halfway down the infamous road, and they kindly invited me, along with a few other bloggers, to a cooking masterclass with their fantastic chefs.
We were sat down in the restaurant and offered a beautiful cup of Turkish tea - very unlike my usual morning English Breakfast tea! The aromas were fantastic too and complemented the smell of freshly baked breads coming from the kitchen.
We started off with an Adana kebab masterclass using minced lamb (my favourite meat!). We were shown how to roll and place the mince onto the skewers so that they look presentable before they are cooked. They made it look a lot easier than it actually was! Regardless, I like to think I did a pretty good job of it in the end!
We then went through to learn how to make their fresh breads, and we also made Pide - a kind of Turkish pizza. These can have an array of different fillings - we made a Ispanakli pide (feta cheese, spinach, red peppers, onion and mushrooms) as well as two meat pides (one chicken, one lamb) but the vegetarian pide was my favourite for sure.
The best bit about the cooking class? Being able to eat it all at the end! They say food always tastes better when you've made it yourself, and this was no exception! The lamb kebab and pides were beautiful, and the fresh bread and dips complemented the dishes perfectly. The fact that we saw all the food being freshly prepared made me realise how different Saray is to other Turkish restaurants I've been to. Every single thing I ate (even the hummus) had been freshly prepared in the restaurant - and you can really tell! The flavours were fantastic and I can't wait to go back and bring along friends and family.
If you're a Cardiff student like me (or even just visiting Cardiff) looking for somewhere to eat out - perhaps City Road feels a bit overwhelming with its huge choice of restaurants - look no further than Saray!
What's better than a good old fashioned workout to make you feel great? I'll tell you what - a good old fashioned workout followed by a glass of prosecco!
I was invited to try out Tramshed's latest fitness craze - a workout class followed by a relaxing glass of bubbly. It might seem counter-intuitive but in fact there's nothing more refreshing than the fizz of prosecco after working your socks off.
I took my flatmate to the class with me - it's a really social atmosphere and a great place to meet people or hang out with friends. The class I took part in was "Smash Hits" - all the tunes! The workout was a body combat style and I'll tell you now it wasn't easy! However I got stuck right in and by the end of it I felt like a street fighting pro. The instructor was really engaging and made sure everyone of all abilities was able to get involved, which made all the difference.
At the end of the class, we sat down in Tramshed's bar/restaurant area called The Waiting Room. Unfortunately I can't comment on the brunch part of the event because due to chef illness that day there was no food. However, the prosecco went down very well and added to the social aspect of the event.
I think Tramshed's Class and a Glass is a fantastic idea - it's fun, keeps you fit and allows you to hang out with your friends at the same time. They even do a student discount for us University go-ers! The class is the perfect to sweep away that Sunday morning hangover! Keep an eye on http://tramshedcardiff.com/ for any more upcoming classes in Cardiff!
