Tides Bar and Grill, St David's Hotel, Cardiff Bay 029 20 313018 You know you're in for a classy experience the moment you walk into the cavernous, gleaming foyer of the swish St David's Hotel.

The Tides Bar and Grill is on the waterfront side of the five-star hotel and our table had a fine view of the bay, glittering with reflected lights.

Service is also five-star, though when one of the many staff fussing around our table unfolded my napkin and adjusted it on my lap I thought it a tad over the top, or below the belt, depending on how you look at it. And we never needed to top up our glasses of water or wine, so attentive were the staff.

All this comes at a price, and with starters at around the £10 mark, and main courses hovering about £20, the food had a lot to live up to. Our starters certainly delivered. The cpe risotto with blue goat's cheese oozed deep, earthy flavour with perfect texture. The eggs Benedict with smoked salmon on a bun was flavoursome comfort food that's hard to beat.

And as both of us expect to leave a restaurant satisfyingly full, the generous portions were both reassuring and somewhat surprising. Main courses, too, hit all the right buttons of flavour, texture and presentation.

Both our peppered fillet of monkfish with mange tout and saffron rice, and sea bass fillet on creamed radicchio with parmesan gnocchi and courgette, looked great on the plate and tasted even better.

The bill, including a very good bottle of Cockatoo Ridge, bottled water and service came to a five-star £97.