Sherman
Cymru theatre reopened its doors last month, after a major redevelopment that
took around two years to complete.
The main
differences are the metal-clad exterior, which extends the building, and the completely
transformed lobby. Instead of a stepped and cramped area between the two theatres,
the new lobby is one big open space; even creating room for additional informal
performance (as at the open day and the Elektro Kif street dance show). A long
and shiny new bar replaces the inadequate old wooden (bottles only) one. In the
main auditorium, the seats have been reupholstered and are much more comfortable.
However, the
café has disappeared. Previously, the Sherman
had a cosy (albeit narrow) café area in the window. This was a welcoming space,
off to the right of the entrance, which functioned as a local community café; a
homely meeting place in an arts centre environment. The big echoing expanse of
the new lobby is nowhere near as inviting as a place to eat. Sherman Cymru may find it harder to
attract people in for coffee in the same way.
Don’t get
me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with the food itself; although the choice
appears to be more limited now the café is part of the café bar. There is still
a focus on freshly-made, locally-sourced vegetarian food.
The
lunchtime menu (12-3pm) features soup (two attractive options the lunchtime I
visited) and multi-seeded baguettes, characterized as Vegan (e.g., Hummus, red
onion and tomato), Vegetarian (e.g., Goat cheese, tomato and basil), and
Omnivore (e.g., combinations of salami, chorizo, or ham with cheddar, brie or
goat’s cheese). I went for a Tomato,
Olive and Fresh Basil Baguette with a coffee (£5.25 total). The baguette
was made to order, came promptly, and was one of the freshest and most
enjoyable baguettes I’ve had in Cardiff
for a while. Good bread and simple quality ingredients; served with coleslaw
and salad (a fork but no knife). Prices for baguettes start at a very
reasonable £2.95.
In the
evening (5-9pm), the only thing on the menu is tapas. The onus is on food that
accompanies drink. There may also be some cake to have with coffee. On the
evening we ate, a group at a table were looking at the only copy of the menu;
so we waited a good few minutes before it was returned before starting to order.
They advise ordering food 45 minutes before a show starts.
We went for
the three tapas dishes for £9.95. These were served with sliced baguette. The
best of the three was the Champinones
Ajulo, small button mushrooms in olive oil with lemon, garlic and sherry
sauce. We could happily have used more bread to mop this all up. The Albondigas con Salsa Rojo were
grainy-textured lamb, beef and coriander meatballs in a tomato, bay, basil and
red wine sauce; the lamb flavour cut through and they were pretty good. Patatas Ali-Oli, new potatoes in
parsley and garlic mayonnaise were fine, if a little ordinary in a Hellman’s
sort of way.
The tables
in the lobby seem drinks-sized rather than food-sized, which is underlined by
the disproportionately large plates used for the lunchtime baguettes (tapas
plates sit just fine). Seating is spread out, in contrast to the previous
communal café experience. I wonder if the brand new space, despite its fine architecture, wouldn’t benefit from
more clutter at lunchtimes! Notice boards, acoustic screens or room dividers,
for example, could help create more intimate areas.
I’ll be making
frequent trips to Sherman Cymru (as I did before the redevelopment) for the outstanding programme of plays
and shows, but I probably won’t be eating there as often.
My review
of Electro Kif at Sherman Cymru for Buzz (24 Feb 2012):
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