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Friday 27 May 2016

Restaurant Review: Cafe Citta

Cardiff's Cafe Citta has been on our 'restaurants we must visit' list for a long time and I'm pleased to announce that we finally got around to booking a table there last weekend.

I actually visited Cafe Citta for a business lunch a few months ago which prompted me to book a table for me and my husband to celebrate the fifth anniversary of our first date. Two main reasons for the haste in visiting again - the food was amazing and I was gutted that I didn't get to take a photo of it the first time around! Taking photos of your food isn't really appropriate when you're out on a business lunch (or so I'm told).

Cafe Citta is rated the 5th best restaurant in Cardiff on Trip Advisor and it's got an excellent reputation across the city and beyond. It's a tiny little restaurant on Church Street which could quite easily be overlooked, although the deliciously authentic Italian smell seeping out of there does give it away somewhat. It's a very popular restaurant so I would definitely recommend booking a table beforehand, particularly if you're visiting over the weekend.

We got the bus into town last weekend so that we could enjoy a few drinks throughout the day. I ordered a glass of Prosecco as soon as we got to Cafe Citta as it was the same price as a glass of wine... I love it when that happens! Each table is adorned with a candle and fresh flowers so I obviously had to include those in my first picture. An aesthetically pleasing table is always a good place to start!




We decided to go for starters as well as our mains just to make sure we sampled a wide range of dishes, so I chose the salami starter with spinach, garlic and chilli. It was ridiculously tasty and smelt divine... I could have eaten about three bowls of it! It's worth noting that we were sitting very close to the kitchen area so had a good view of the various starters being served to all the other customers. I can confirm that they all looked/smelt just as spectacular as this one. 




I decided to go for a pizza for my main meal this time around as I had pasta the first time I visited. Cafe Citta's pizzas are legendary so I was almost bouncing up and down on my seat in anticipation. I chose the Pizza Padana which came with salami, red onion and parmesan. In all seriousness, it's the best pizza I've ever had outside of Italy. The quantities of each ingredient were just right and of a very high quality, and the pizza dough itself was really thin and flavoursome. I can certainly see why these pizzas have earned their legend status! 




Our meal came to £39 which included a glass of Prosecco, a bottle of beer, two starters and two mains. I thought this was very reasonable considering the quality of the food and the overall enjoyable experience. We dealt with three different members of staff at various points throughout the meal and they were all friendly and attentive. I love the authenticity of this restaurant and the decor is unique and captivating... unfortunately, I didn't take any photos of the interior itself due to the low lighting and fairly close proximity to other tables. 

So, to conclude, would I recommend Cafe Citta? A thousand times, yes! 

Sunday 22 May 2016

A-Z of Walt Disney World - Food and Drink!

After researching and writing my A-Z of Walt Disney World post, I realised that I had enough spare entries under each letter to write a separate post focused just on food/drink at Walt Disney World. I'm not sure what type of person that makes me... moving swiftly on!

I had to cheat with a few of the more difficult letters, but I'm proud of my huge range of food and drink photos for the most part. Enjoy!



A - ABC Commissary



B - Beaches and Cream



C - Churro



D - Dockside Margaritas



E - Earl of Sandwich



F - Forty Thirst Street Express



G - Ghirardelli



H - Hot Dog



I - Ice cube cocktails



J - Jumbo cinnamon roll



K - Karamell-Küche



L - Le Fou's Brew



M - Mickey Pretzel



N - Nine Dragons



O - Olivia's



P - Pina Colada Slush



Q - Queen of Strawberry Ice Cream



R - Refillable Mug



S - Shula's Steakhouse



T - Tony's



U - Unlimited free drinks



V - Vanilla Cheesecake



W - Waffle



X - Xtra Large Dessert



Y - Yum... those onion rings!



Z - piZZa




What's your favourite food at Walt Disney World? Will you be writing a similar gluttonous post? Send me your links if so!




Tuesday 17 May 2016

Trying my fourth Disney resort

We're going back to Florida in September and I couldn't possibly be more excited. I faithfully check my countdown calendar every day and I've already started shopping for holiday clothes and shoes... hurry up, September!

I've been fortunate enough to stay in three different Disney resorts for my three trips so far, and we'll be trying another new resort in September.

So, which three resorts have I stayed in up to this point?



Coronado Springs, April/May 2012

As a Disney first-timer who didn't understand the importance of staying on site before I arrived, I loved this resort. I was immediately captivated by the practicality, ease and excitement of the Disney transportation system - free buses to every park and back to your resort on a regular basis! The food court at Coronado Springs offers great options for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the resort is situated around a picturesque lake. The Mexican theme of this resort comes across strongly and it feels very authentic. Its location wasn't ideal as it was fairly far away from my favourite areas of Walt Disney World, but the regular buses meant it wasn't an issue.












Old Key West, September 2013 
(read my blog post here)

Old Key West was, in a word, magical. It's such a pretty and tranquil resort and has a real Disney feel to it. We had a secluded quiet pool near our room and, again, some amazing food options from a cocktail bar to quick service to table service. One of my favourite perks of staying in this deluxe resort was our balcony. We were on the third floor of our section of 'Vacation Homes' and were lucky enough to have a really beautiful view. A lot of people complain that Old Key West is too big and sprawling but I thought this added to its charm. Top marks for location too as it's so close to Downtown Disney - a big thumbs up from me!












Port Orleans French Quarter, September 2015

We debated for hours between Port Orleans Riverside and Port Orleans French Quarter before placing our booking, and I'm so glad we chose French Quarter. It's a really small resort compared to the other two we've stayed in which meant we were very close to the main concourse, the pool and the resort's one bus stop. We didn't have a balcony this time as Port Orleans is a moderate resort, but we did have a lovely garden view from our front door after being upgraded when we arrived. French Quarter's food court was probably my least favourite of the three resorts I've stayed in so far, just because the other two were so spectacular, but you should definitely try their amazing Mickey waffles for breakfast! One of my favourite things about staying in French Quarter was catching the evening boat to Downtown Disney - a definite perk of this resort.











So, now for the big reveal. Our resort for September 2016 will be... Saratoga Springs! I'm really excited about staying in another deluxe resort and being within walking distance of Downtown Disney (I still can't call it Disney Springs) and I can't wait to explore the resort's beautiful surroundings. As we regularly passed Saratoga Springs on our boat trips from French Quarter to Downtown Disney last September, I took a few photos in anticipation of our stay as we'd already booked our 2016 holiday by that point!








Have you ever stayed at Saratoga Springs? What's your favourite Disney resort?

Thursday 12 May 2016

A-Z of Walt Disney World

It's safe to say that I've never been this excited about publishing a blog post. I read Kayleigh's 'A to Z of Disney World in photos' post a few weeks ago and immediately (and obsessively) started compiling my own list for a copycat post.

I've been to Florida's Walt Disney World three times and this post involved going back through all my photo albums to find the very best snaps after I'd studiously compiled my A-Z list. This meant trawling through almost 3,000 photos and I loved it! However, I'm very grateful that I was organised enough after all three holidays to categorise my photos into separate folders for each park. This post would have taken a lot longer to write if I hadn't done that, believe me.

Without any further excitable waffling, here's my A to Z of Walt Disney World in photos!



 A - Animal Kingdom

Photo taken in April 2012


B - Big Thunder Mountain

Photo taken in September 2015


C - Coronado Springs

Photo taken in April 2012


D - Duffy the Disney Bear

Photo taken in September 2013


E - Expedition Everest

Photo taken in September 2013


F - Fantasmic

Photo taken in September 2013


G - Great Movie Ride


Photo taken in September 2015


H - Hat (sadly no longer with us!)

Photo taken in September 2013


I - Italy


Photo taken in April 2012


J - Journey into Imagination with Figment

Photo taken in September 2013


K - Kilimanjaro Safari

Photo taken in September 2015


L - Little Miss Matched

Photo taken in September 2013


M - Main Street USA


Photo taken in September 2015


N - Narcoossee's


Photo taken in September 2015


O - Old Key West


Photo taken in September 2013


P - Pluto


Photo taken in April 2012


Q - (French) Quarter (yes, I know that's cheating)

Photo taken in September 2015


R - Rainforest Cafe

Photo taken in April 2012


S - Spaceship Earth


Photo taken in September 2015


T - Tower of Terror


Photo taken in September 2013


U - Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid


Photo taken in September 2013


V - Via Napoli


Photo taken in September 2013


W - Walt Disney


Photo taken in September 2015


X - Xmas


Photo taken in September 2013


Y - Yacht and Beach Club


Photo taken in September 2013


Z - Zurg 


Photo taken in September 2013




I'm currently working on an A-Z of Disney Food post which I'm just as excited about as it combines my love of Disney with my love of food... look out for it in a few weeks!