Wandering around Cardiff on an extremely busy Saturday morning, as the crowds built up for the first weekend of the Rugby World Cup, we noticed some empty seats in Gina’s Café and decided to chance it. Positioned right opposite the Castle and with a view of the embedded rugby ball, it seemed like a good spot to cool our heels, but it quickly began to exceed expectations. While on the ground floor, my friend had noticed William Morris print wallpaper which made the place interesting for that alone — but on ordering coffee and cakes, we found out that there was another floor of seating with tables, with even better examples of this particular brand of decoration. We relocated to the middle floor and awaited our food and drink to be delivered, having a nice chat with the waitress and commenting on the décor. That’s when we found out about the top floor, which has a more relaxed floor cushion arrangement, just as you might find in the East, particularly in Arabia. As we wallowed in our cakes and crepes, it became more and more of a puzzle why the café was so empty, but it was suggested that maybe the signage outside with the Arabic coffee choices might dissuade some passers-by to pop in, if they wanted more standard fare. More fool them, if so. This place is quite a find — decent fare(perhaps not the crepes though), an amazing location and some quite beautiful interiors. Well worth a visit.
