Maison De Boeuf, a new restaurant inspired by trips to romantic Parisian restaurants and specialising in steak-frites, will open in Cardiff’s Castle Arcade on Saturday 6 May for a soft-opening period, where diners will be offered 50% off their entire bill.
The Barker family, which also runs independent venues including Gin & Juice and Coffee Barker, Rum & Fizz and Barker Tea House, is opening the all-day bistro, which will serve a prix-fixe, set menu built around a single main course of certified PGI Welsh Beef steak, frites and the Barkers’ secret sauce. Also on the menu, classic French starters include twice-baked smoked cheese soufflé, French onion soup and escargots with black garlic butter & herbs.
The wine list has been designed to cover every budget, from French table wine to classic fine wines and the cocktail menu has been created by the Gin & Juice Mixologist team to serve some of the finest Parisian-inspired cocktails in Cardiff. After dinner, coffee – or liquor coffee – is made with the family’s signature organic Coffee Barker roast.
This is the latest venture from husband-and-wife team Stephen and Charlotte Barker and their sons Kurtis and Kane, known for creative and stylish interiors across their venues. Maison de Boeuf has been designed to feel romantic, chic and relaxing. Deep, red leather banquette seating runs around the dining room’s candlelit tables, and a bespoke zinc-topped Parisian Cocktail bar greets diners as they arrive from the Arcade.
Maison de Boeuf founder, Charlotte Barker, said:
“Every time we visit Paris, we fall in love with its chic, simple Bistros – the effortless style and great food and wine. There’s nothing like it in Cardiff, and we wanted to bring that cosy, romantic Parisian atmosphere to our home city. Somewhere you can come for a romantic dinner, a relaxed business meeting, or a simple pre-theatre dinner. We can’t wait to welcome people to this magical little place,” she said.
To celebrate the opening weekend and help staff to prepare, Maison de Boeuf will be holding four soft-opening days on Saturday 6 May, Sunday 7 May, Wednesday 10 May and Thursday 11 May. In return for creating a supportive environment for the team and providing constructive feedback, diners can book for lunch or dinner service on these soft-opening days and nights and get 50% off their entire bill.
Bookings for soft-opening and for full opening from Friday 12 May are now available at www.MaisonDeBoeuf.com.
Co-founder Stephen Barker added:
“In Maison de Boeuf, we’re creating something unique for Cardiff. It’s a new kind of dining venue where the quality is excellent – we specialise in only one thing – and the price is fixed, so you know you’re always getting great value. We’ve refined the menu to just a couple of brilliant French classics, curated an accessible wine list and created cocktails that, all together, bring a little taste of Paris to our corner of the Welsh capital.
“We’re creating a new destination at the heart of the historic Castle Arcade Quarter, which we’re confident will help to attract more visitors and tourists to the area and give locals a great reason to come back and rediscover what the city centre has to offer,” he said.
The Barker family has been trading in Castle Arcade since 1982, switching the business from fashion retail to hospitality with Coffee Barker 12 years ago. Coffee Barker was joined by the Barker Tea Rooms and, more recently, the bars Gin & Juice and Rum & Fizz.
Maison de Beouf will be open for lunch from 12 noon and open for dinner from 5.30pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, with the cocktail bar open until 1am on weekends.
It occupies two Castle Arcade units, totalling 2,000 sq ft and will create around 25 new jobs initially in Cardiff, with plans for expansion to other locations already in development.