J and I  are often viewed as a rather unlikely friends/buddies, I mean I am charming, witty, intelligent and wise (only one of these may be true) and she, well, she likes musicals.  Despite being quite different, we just seem to get on, probably linked to a mutual love of good food and eating out.

As friends for nigh on 20 years, we first met when she was a trainee in the department I was a solicitor in (and initially she didn’t like me much as I tended back then to call her by the wrong name – both began with a J so potato, potato I always used to say), and over that period we have eaten all over the place in Cardiff, but the one place we rarely consider is Raydr.

In theory, this is odd as it is where she lives and not far up the road from my Llandaff base. It would, therefore, seem to be a more than logical choice.

Bearing in mind its size (getting bigger every day as green space in Cardiff is inexorably built on in the seeming mad dash to connect Cardiff to Llantrisant with ne’er a field in between), it is rather underserved in terms of places to eat and drink. Compare it to say Llandaff (let alone Pontpangea) and it is somewhat lacking comparatively on that front (at least to my mind). Perhaps it is easier to get into town (J has multiple train options, whereas I have one, although she seems to have developed into a bus w⚓️ recently) which may mean Raydrians don’t stay local, but it does seem odd to me to have what is a rather big (and getting bigger and as such a potentially lucrative) market is so underserved by hospitality.

The opening of Buds, with it breakfast/brunch/lunch offering, provided a perfect excuse to lunch up in her neck of the woods, especially after a very positive review from Gourmet Gorro (whose opinions on food and drink matters, scrumpy- esque natural wine aside, generally aligns with mine).

Nice place inside and equally nice to see it pretty much packed (build it and they will come it seems when it comes to Raydrians, rather than my hypothesised “They all bugger off elsewhere”).

The menu includes a lot of what I regard as crowd pleasers,

with the lunch menu including fried chicken (I do not like the use of the term “sando” outside of Japanese cuisine, although I concede they are using milk bread here albeit in a bun format so I suppose it is not an entirely inappropriate use), steak and chips and a decent sounding burger (bacon and cheese are about the limits of acceptable toppings on a burger in my book, with anything else tending to be unnecessary detritus). In terms of the latter, I would question why that isn’t also deemed a “sando” on the menu as surely the same logic applies to it as to the naming of the fried chicken in a similar milk bun.

I am, of course, being a pedant. That is pretty much what I am paid to do work wise and as such it is a hard habit to break. J says it is more to do with me being a massive twxt!!

On the breakfast front (as readers will know the “brunch” moniker perplexes/irrates me somewhat), there is a good full fry up (beans are not needed or indeed desirable, although it seems these are house made here rather than the sickly sweet commercial dross ones) and a very alluring sounding breakfast bun (which got the GG thumbs up).  As it is brunch here there is, of course, the compulsory bung to the Mexican cartels in the form of avo on toast (never got the obsession with the stuff to be honest).

All in all (compulsory moans, it is me, aside) a good looking menu and one that as far as I can tell doesn’t include any accursed sourdough (which to my mind makes for utterly crap toast and should be consigned to the bread bin of history).

As it was lunchtime, I defaulted to that element of the menu and was somewhat torn between the fried chicken (sando moniker aside) and the steak and fries. On the former hot honey is very much the “hot” ingredient at the moment, with it seemingly on every menu. I can see the logic of its use, with the addition of chilli to honey very much in line with the “sweet goes with heat” adage but does it have to be everywhere (I concede it probably goes very well with the fried chicken here)?

Being generally opposed to the current “instamaazingram” thing and anything remotely (Gen Z) dope/dank/lit, I am the “antidope” to all things trendy, I moved passed the “hot” honey chicken and my gaze fell upon the steak and chips.

It seems like such a simple dish, I mean who can’t cook steak and chips, right? The answer to that question is an awful lot of people, including a surprising number of restaurants.  The steak needs to be rare (I mean who wants to eat a shoe sole), but properly seared on the outside, it needs to be good quality meat and of a cut that actually tastes of something (fxck off fillet can get in the bin, never understood the appeal of it and the price it goes for these day is simply ludicrous 😱) and be properly seasoned (salt and lots of it).

The chips need to be crisp (choice of potato is crucial here, with my preferred chip potato being the wilja, use a waxy variety and may you as well just flush the resultant limp dick chips) on the outside and fluffy on the inside and be copiously seasoned. 

From this you will have correctly surmised that I decided on the steak and chips which on the menu looked very reasonable at £13 and had the selling point of using the rather fine bavette cut (touch of chew for texture and full on flavour, with it very good value in comparison to the more “premium” cuts). The steak benny also appealed, but the lack of a muffin element  seemed odd when it is called a benny (presumed to be an abbreviated version of “benedict“).

I requested my steak rare and what I got was very much to my liking.

Cooked bob on rare and properly rested so no bloody leakage,

it had a great flavour and was nicely seasoned. A garlicy herb butter adding nicely to the mix.

This was a good piece of meat treated with the care and reverence it deserved.

In terms of the fries, these had some nice  crisp knobbly bits and (despite my general  objections to leaving the skins on, skin off is definitely better) were very nice. 

All in it was very good value, for the £13 price tag, based on the quality of the meat and a decent portion of fries too (an inexplicably paucity of fries often lets this dish down, but not here).

J had the burger (£13) and it was again a decent looking beast, with a good sized smashed patty and a decent portion of chips

I had a taste of the patty and it had that richness beefy flavour you get from good quality dry aged beef. My only qualms (J dismissed both) were the bacon (alot of it) could have been crispier (bit flabby and looked to me like it had missed its crisping up appointment with the flat top) and the desired gnarly crust on a smashed patty could have been just a bit more pronounced.

A, who arrived a bit later, wanted the fried chicken and then the burger, but in the interim both had sold out (about 13.20 on a Friday). She, therefore, decided on the milk bun stack (£10) and what a behemoth it was.

Plus points were crisp bacon (minus point for it being unadvertised smoked), a properly runny egg, a quality sausage and super hash browns (really crisp). Small niggles were (according to A) a need for a more robust portion of the hollandaise and the chilli jam being a bit too sweet (would have been better on the side, with the hash browns, rather than slathered on the bun) with the bun. I think a tangy brown sauce would have been better, especially with the sweetness of the milk bun used here.

It would have been churlish to not have a bit of patisserie, with one of the owners having won Bake off: The Professional back in 2021 (I believe)

There had clearly been a run on the sweet stuff, as the shelves were a tad denuded. I did, however, spy a small but perfectly formed lemon meringue tart (£4 – I think) looking rather lonely on its own on a shelf and nabbed it toot suite (all the salted caramel chocolate tarts had gone)

A very high class tart this, with an excellent Italian meringue (light crust and gooey interior with no graininess) topping a properly tart lemon curd filling encased in a beautifully thin and crisp pastry case. Looked as pretty as a picture and lived up to its fine looks on the taste front.

Soft and hot drinks are available, with J and A both going for a coke (being hungover after overindulgence at a Heaneys’ bottomless rosè event the night before).

Despite the rather clement weather (Storm Lilian – no idea why they have names now – had long since blown through), with the places garden looking rather enticing,

I fancied a coffee.

I went for a flat white (£3.50),

with the coffee having very pleasant mocka and fruity notes.

The verdict

I really like Buds and, whilst the sweet stuff is unsurprisingly good (based on the pedigree of one of the owners you would expect no less), it was the savoury dishes that really impressed me.

My steak and chips was a real crowd pleaser of a dish. Simple, in theory, but only good when done well (rather than well done). Here, they pretty much nailed it. J’s burger was also good.

Based on A’s breakfast bun (chilli jam issues aside)  and the dishes J had had on a previous visit

the breakie options look equally good.

Buds is an excellent and long overdue addition to the Radyr food scene.

Fact you can book , especially bearing in mind how busy it seems to get, is a real bonus.

The details

Address: 7-9 Park Road, Radyr, Cardiff CF15 8DF

Website: http://budscafe.co.uk/