Restaurant in Cardiff, United Kingdom
Smart modern cooking, no starch required.
Heaneys is Cardiff's most credible tasting-menu restaurant — a Michelin Plate holder (2024 and 2025) with a 4.7 Google rating, technically precise modern cooking, and a deliberately relaxed room in Pontcanna. The evening tasting menu is the main event, the set lunch is the value entry point, and the no-reservations Uisce bar next door gives you a third way in. Book two to three weeks ahead for dinner.
Book Heaneys if you want technically precise, imaginative modern cooking in a setting that has deliberately shed the formality that usually accompanies food at this level. With a Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025 and a 4.7 Google rating from 500 reviews, it is the most credible tasting-menu destination in Cardiff right now. The tasting menu is the main event at dinner; the set lunch is the value entry point; and the no-reservations small-plates bar next door, Uisce, gives you a third way in. Plan at least two visits to get the full picture.
Heaneys sits in Pontcanna, Cardiff's most residential restaurant quarter, at 6-10 Romilly Crescent. The room itself signals the kitchen's confidence: uncluttered, modern, green banquettes, modernist wood furniture, a white-tiled bar on a rear mezzanine, and a street-facing dining area that lets in natural light. This is not a hushed, white-tablecloth room. It is relaxed in a way that actually holds — the kind of place where a special occasion doesn't feel like a performance.
Chef Tommy Heaney's cooking is grounded in classical technique but the results read as anything but conservative. The dishes on record give a clear picture of the kitchen's range: a Carlingford oyster with green herb oil, fermented chilli, and cucumber; finely diced trout with dashi, pickled mushrooms, soy, and yuzu; John Dory with buttermilk sauce, cod roe mousse, and chive oil; BBQ lamb and lamb neck with wild garlic purée and fennel pollen. These are dishes that work through precision and contrast rather than novelty for its own sake. The current head chef is Attilio Galli, who continues in the same register. The kitchen's seasonal sourcing is reflected in a pretty kitchen garden shared with Uisce next door.
Desserts are taken as seriously as the savoury courses. A reworked Jaffa Cake using chocolate mousse and blood orange, and petit fours of mirabelle pâté de fruits, blueberry macarons, and salted white-chocolate caramel fudge, suggest a kitchen that understands the full arc of a meal. The wine list covers Europe well and is broad enough to work across different budgets.
Heaneys is worth returning to, and the format makes it easy to structure two or three distinct visits rather than one.
Visit one: the tasting menu at dinner. This is where the kitchen shows its full range. The tasting menu takes centre stage in the evening and moves at a pace that suits the format — a procession of taster-size dishes rather than a long, staged affair. For a special occasion or a first serious meal here, this is the right call.
Visit two: the set lunch. The lunch format offers two or three courses rather than the full tasting sequence, and the pricing is pitched as good value relative to dinner. Sunday lunch has its own identity: an upscale take on a traditional roast, with options including BBQ Welsh lamb with confit shoulder and mint, and confit pork belly with rillette and burnt apple, plus duck-fat roast potatoes. If you are bringing someone who finds tasting menus exhausting, Sunday lunch is the conversion visit.
Visit three: Uisce next door. The no-reservations small-plates bar shares the kitchen garden and is built around herbs, vegetables, oysters, and cocktails. It functions as a pre-dinner drink, a post-dinner continuation, or a standalone visit when you want Heaneys-quality produce without the commitment of a full booking. The bar also anchors the advice to arrive early for a cocktail before your dinner reservation , this is not incidental guidance, it is worth following.
Booking difficulty at Heaneys is moderate. It is not a room that books out months ahead like CORE by Clare Smyth in London or L'Enclume in Cartmel, but it is a small suburban restaurant with a reputation that draws beyond Cardiff, so do not leave it to the week before. Two to three weeks ahead is a reasonable working assumption for dinner; lunch may be easier on shorter notice. Uisce next door takes no reservations, which makes it the most accessible entry point on any given day.
The venue is at 6-10 Romilly Crescent, Pontcanna, Cardiff CF11 9NR. Dress code information is not published, but the room's aesthetic and the food's ambition suggest smart-casual is the appropriate register , you will not be out of place in either a jacket or a good shirt.
| Venue | Price | Format | Booking Difficulty | Leading For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heaneys | £££ | Tasting menu / set lunch / small plates (Uisce) | Moderate | Special occasions, multi-format exploration |
| Hiræth | £££ | Modern Cuisine | Moderate | Modern dining at a comparable price point |
| Gorse | ££££ | Modern British | Higher | Special-occasion splurge, full formality |
| Asador 44 | £££ | Spanish | Moderate | Group meals, sharing format |
| ember at No. 5 | ££ | Modern British | Low-moderate | Value, accessible entry point |
For a point of reference outside Cardiff: Heaneys operates at a level below the multi-Michelin-starred tier occupied by venues like The Fat Duck in Bray or Moor Hall in Aughton, but it shares the same underlying approach of classical grounding expressed through seasonal produce and technical precision. Within Wales, it currently has no direct competitor at this combination of format, quality, and price. That is not a small thing. If you are travelling to Cardiff and want the leading argument for the city's restaurant scene, this is the booking to make. For broader Cardiff dining options, see our full Cardiff restaurants guide, or explore hotels, bars, wineries, and experiences in the city.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heaneys | Modern Cuisine | £££ | Arrive early for a cocktail in the bar of well-known Chef Tommy Heaney’s stylishly laid-back suburban restaurant. Dishes are seasonal and modern, with some sophisticated contrasts; the set lunch menu delivers good value while, at dinner, the tasting menu takes centre stage. Next door is Uisce – his no-reservations, small plates restaurant – which showcases herbs and vegetables from the pretty kitchen garden.; One of a rising tide of restaurants that take the starchiness out of high-end dining, Heaneys delivers devastatingly clever, technically adept food in a relaxed, vibey setting. No standing to attention here – just a pacey procession of sublime taster-size dishes (although you can order two or three courses at lunch if you prefer). The interior is uncluttered and modern, with a white-tiled bar on the rear mezzanine and a light, airy, street-facing dining area sporting green banquettes and modernist wood furniture. Tommy Heaney cooks like a man who’s learned the tune so perfectly he can now confidently riff on it. Expect plenty of imagination and interest built on a solid classical grounding: an opening dish simply billed as ‘cheese and onion’ was a crisp filo case with a fluffy, intense, cream cheese, onion, Parmesan and black olive filling after which ‘no quiche will ever be the same again’. A plump Carlingford oyster wore a veil of green herb oil, with fermented chilli and a dainty cucumber disc, while finely diced trout dressed with dashi, pickled mushrooms, soy and a twist of yuzu struck a perfect balance: smoky, citrussy, fresh and bright. After that, the delights just kept on coming: an on-point, crispy-skinned helping of John Dory was paired with an airy buttermilk sauce, cod roe mousse, purple sprouting broccoli and chive oil, while melting, unctuous BBQ lamb and lamb neck harmonised beautifully with seasonal wild garlic purée, purple sprouting broccoli purée, crisped chard and fennel pollen. Sweet treats were also dazzling – a much-elevated take on a Jaffa Cake featured chocolate mousse and a lip-smacking blood orange layer in a chocolate casing, while dainty morsels of mirabelle pâté de fruits, blueberry macarons and salted white-chocolate caramel fudge made a perfect finale. Sunday lunch brings an upscale three-course take on the traditional roast with headliners ranging from BBQ Welsh lamb with confit shoulder and mint to confit pork belly with rillette and burnt apple, plus helpings of duck-fast roast potaoes and veg. A fairly substantial wine list covers Europe especially well, offering something for most tastes and pockets. Next door, the Uisce bar is a good spot for oysters, small plates and pre/post-prandial cocktails.; Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | Moderate | — |
| Gorse | Modern British | ££££ | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Asador 44 | Spanish | £££ | Unknown | — | |
| ember at No. 5 | Modern British | ££ | Unknown | — | |
| Heathcock | British Contemporary | ££ | Unknown | — | |
| Hiræth | Modern Cuisine | £££ | Unknown | — |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
Heaneys works for small groups, particularly at lunch where two or three courses can be ordered individually rather than committing everyone to the tasting menu. Larger parties should book well in advance given the size of the room at 6-10 Romilly Crescent. For a more informal group option, next-door Uisce takes no reservations and suits a drinks-plus-small-plates format with less coordination required.
Yes. The tasting menu format and relaxed, modern room mean solo diners are not conspicuous here. The white-tiled bar on the rear mezzanine is a practical solo perch, and arriving early for a cocktail there before a counter or table seat is a reasonable way to structure the evening. At £££, the spend is in line with what you'd expect for a Michelin Plate venue in a UK regional city.
Yes, if the tasting menu format suits you. Chef Tommy Heaney's cooking is technically precise and imaginative, built on classical technique, and the Michelin Plate recognition since 2024 reflects that consistency. If you prefer flexibility, the set lunch is the better-value entry point and lets you order two or three courses rather than committing to the full procession. For Cardiff, there is no tasting menu option that directly matches Heaneys on format and ambition.
One to two weeks is usually enough for a midweek dinner; weekends and Sunday lunch fill faster and warrant booking two to three weeks out. Heaneys does not book out months in advance the way destination restaurants like L'Enclume do, so last-minute availability is possible on quieter nights. If your dates are fixed, book early anyway: the room is not large and the tasting menu format means no walk-in flexibility at dinner.
The room is deliberately relaxed: green banquettes, modernist furniture, no white tablecloths. Smart casual is appropriate, but Heaneys is not a jacket-required venue and the setting actively resists formality. Think dinner-out clothes rather than anything ceremonial. The same applies next door at Uisce, which is even more informal.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
