Taste Buds Cafe Takeaway & Catering Services

I ventured into this café the other day for the first time, and how it made me happy. This lovely little café has been trading for over 20 years now and seems to be run by a family. The food choice is of the greasy variety mostly, but there are British dishes on offer such as shepherds pie that won’t hurt the waistline too much.
The man on the till was really lovely and even asked if we had enough milk in our tea, it really is those little things that show someone cares about your greasy spoon experience, just because it’s not fine dining doesn’t mean they shouldn’t care about what’s on offer.
I ordered the breakfast and this was really hearty, for £4 I got sausage, bacon, beans, chips, mushrooms, toast, egg and even black pudding! the tea was included in this price. They even asked us if we wanted bread and butter too, but I knew there was no way I could finish this huge plate off, so lucky enough for me, my boyfriend was there to scoff down the remains. Seems they do come in handy for something after all.

What makes Taste Buds unique to many competitors around the same street is it’s traditional english breakfast made the old greasy spoon way like it should be, keeping the classic menu alive is difficult when so much of the competition are offering a foreign cuisine.
Each to his/​her own for me I have had enough of the ordinary and enjoy trying every other flavourful cuisine going. As a survivor of the influx of restaurants offering everything from fried chicken to pizza although sometimes with dubious connection to Italian styles (you know who you are Italiano’s).
Anyway Taste Bud serves it’s purpose with a good traditional menu and also offerings that are similar to all the other cafes.
The seating is noteworthy in that it is like a McDonald fast food eatery having chairs welded to each other, the table and the floor for good measure, they are padded but not particularly somewhere you could relax.

Sometimes you want rich, sun-​ripened plum tomatoes on a bed of haricot beans; sometimes you want to ponder over the opinion sections of the nation’s most esteemed broadsheets; sometimes, you want to stop, check no-​one is looking, and then dive into a greasy spoon to shovel English Breakfast down your gob while reading the Sun.
Now, whether consciously or not I do not know, but Taste Buds suits this special need. Providing a plate of greasy food when you most need it, this ‘caff’ certainly serves a purpose in Cardiff.
For those who want a less authentic breakfast experience, vegetarian leanings are also catered for. Just be prepared to take any stick you get for this preference with a generous pinch of salt, after all, what’s a little sodium chloride when you’re already sinning this much?
The tables are well spaced out and large enough for a good group of friends to gather to work off a hangover (see: review entitled ‘Live Lounge’). It is easy to see why this place attracts a loyal local following.
URBAN CHALLENGE: Get someone to believe you are dieting

A stalwart City Road café, it’s easy to see why people keep coming back to Taste Buds — after all, while you can locate dishes from every continent on the globe in Roath, there aren’t so many establishments serving up good ol’ British nosh. Their breakfasts came with enthusiastic recommendations from friends but from a distinctly average experience suggested maybe location alone is what’s kept Taste Buds ticking over. Still, it was clean and you couldn’t fault the staff on their demeanours, and having stayed solvent this long they’re obviously doing something right.

Taste Buds is located next to KBS on City Road, and has been there a whole lot longer. In fact, Taste Buds has been trading for the last twenty two years, and so it has witnessed the dramatic changes that have occurred on what has now become the take-​away mile in Cardiff. With every other shop being a fast food joint in this area, competition has never been so fierce. Some say that the market is overly saturated, with some of the owners of the more long established take-​aways bemoaning the fact that it is now a whole lot more difficult to earn a decent whack. It’s understandable, they are having to work longer hours for less revenue, and price wars are cutting profit margins on a regular basis.
Taste Buds to some extent have played it smart. They have diversified into the outside catering market, and so are not entirely reliant on the revenue from the café itself. Nevertheless, the café still provides a reasonable income. With a good reputation for well-​made food at reasonable prices, they still see a fair amount of custom each day. Offering traditional food in an environment that specialises in the more exotic these days, means that they also have a bit of a niche going on.

Cheap n cheerful, quick and friendly service, with well cooked meals. Ideal for fried breakfasts, chillies or curries and Sunday roast. Recommended.