In an era where prices are rising all the time one of the capital’s best-known names is bucking the trend
The name is synonymous with fine dining at its best in Cardiff but Thomas Simmons is ringing in the changes this new year and switching up his Pontcanna restaurant’s offering – by making it cheaper.
First opened just weeks before the pandemic the Pembrokeshire chef brought his London-crafted kitchen sensibilities and love of Welsh produce and creativity to the heart of Pontcanna, switching the long-lasting Cameo club into a high-end brasserie which has brought in fine dining fans from near and far.
But this year Tom realised the restaurant needed a change. It’s not a decision taken lightly but it’s a necessary move from the venue’s expected fare of serious fine dining with serious skill.
That skill won’t go to waste but the decision behind the switch-up to a more everyday accessible menu comes from a sensible need to survive and an honest realisation that people don’t have the spare cash to spend at ‘destination’ restaurants.
We’ve slowly become quieter as I think most people have,” said Tom. “And the knee-jerk reaction to being quieter for a lot of people is to put their prices up because they need to make as much money off less people.
“We tried that and it’s just backing yourself into a corner. We know there are people that go out for food in the week – we know that because I walk past restaurants.
“So we just thought: ‘How can we tap into that?’ It’s almost the definition of insanity, isn’t it, doing the same thing and expecting a different result? People’s eating habits have changed. People’s priorities have changed. Everything has changed.
“And I’ve got a group of really talented chefs and when we go out for food I just want something that really tastes great. No fuss – just great ingredients, cooked really well, and you don’t need to charge through the roof for it.” For the latest restaurant news and reviews sign up to our food and drink newsletter here.
Tom said that idea had been on his mind for a few months and it was a stark reality that hit him when even his mates admitted they thought Thomas was more of a “special occasion” location.
“The amount of times I have been sat out at the front [of the restaurant] and heard people say: ‘Oh, that’s a really posh restaurant’, or even friends of mine that I’ve known for years that live in Cardiff and I ask: ‘Why haven’t you been to us?’ and they’ll say: ‘Oh, it’s way too posh.’
“I think we’ve got that stigma and it’s great that people see us at that level but I don’t want to be known for that.” He added: “I’d like to know that we’re the sort of place Joe Bloggs down the road can literally walk past and nip in and have a pint of Guinness and some sausage and mash.”
It’s not an idea to get snobby about, either, with the hospitality industry facing rates rises after the autumn 2025 budget. If neighbourhood want to keep their restaurants, bars, and pubs open they have to be used.
And from the other side of it, as Tom has decided for his own venue, things have to change. Just during the past few months in Cardiff has lost streetfood hub Sticky Fingers in Roath while city centre venues Pieminister and Steak of the Art entered liquidation.
Tom, who reached the quarter-finals of BBC’s MasterChef in 2011 and worked at Gordon Ramsey’s Claridge’s restaurant at the start of his career, said: “I think there needs to be more help with places in Cardiff. And I also think a lot of it is down to the customers,. People need to come out and try these places for them to thrive.
“If every restaurant in Cardiff was chock-a-block three months in advance it would be very attractive for people to come and open other restaurants here. I think is the fact is – and I don’t think it’s Cardiff in general, I think it’s a bigger Wales thing – people live for the weekends. Friday, Saturdays are mentally busy, Sunday lunch is crazy busy, and then it drops off a cliff on Monday.
“You go to London – it’s just busy all week. People will go out and have a glass of wine and a quick bite to eat on a Monday night. It’s not really like that [in Cardiff]. I’m just speaking from experience that people tend to save their coins for the weekend and then spend it like it’s going out of fashion on a Friday and Saturday.”
While Tom acknowledged London he also pointed out that big names like Jason Atherton and Clare Smyth are part of the London establishment bucking the trend for tasting menus and bringing back hearty, comforting British classics with the touch of finesse expected from such a high level of cooking.
Like Atherton’s Little Social and Smyth’s Cornucopia Thomas’ new menu focuses on classic dishes elevated by the expertise in the kitchen.
Tom said: “I was speaking to to our executive chef and I said: ‘How can we summarise what we’re doing with one dish?’ And we were like: ‘It’s got to be a burger or a pie.’ So we’ve got both of them on the new menu. The most important thing is for people to realise we’re not taking a step back – the food is going to be just as good, if not better, it’s that we’re just cutting the crap out.”
Fear not, though, fans of Thomas’ fine dining reputation as the upstairs space in the restaurant, renamed as Lofft, will still be the place to get the restaurant’s trademark creativity and tasting menus. And for fans of his late-night bottomless chicken that will return too.
“Upstairs [we’ll have] the chef’s table to still have a bit of fun and still have that creativity to do dishes that you might not see anywhere else. The brasserie [downstairs] is going to be the nuts and bolts of it and the main engine and then Lofft is going to be where we can have a bit of fun.”
But it’s not just Thomas that will pull Tom’s focus in 2026 as the dad-of-four is currently in the throes of taking over and making over Park House in Park Place. He’s also got another project under his hat with the ever-growing family of coffee shops and bakeries Ground – one of which is a few doors up from Thomas while there will be a third in the Pontcanna/Canton area at the hut in Thompson Park.
Park House is a Grade I-listed French Gothic-style building that’s been closed for almost two years. There will be a similar set-up to Thomas with a brasserie on one floor, a cocktail bar downstairs, and private dining on the top floor.
It seems tiring just writing about it but Tom assures me there’s one thing that means he stays on the right path when it comes to doing the best for the businesses and their future.
“We’ve got a lot on,” he said with a degree of understatement. “But again I’m very lucky to have key people across the business that I can rely on.
“Don’t get me wrong – I’ve put in my graft, done all the hours under the sun, missed kids growing up, a lot of sacrifice. And that team know me well enough that if I come up with some daft plan they’ll tell me: ‘Come on, please don’t do that’.”
Thomas’ The Brasserie will open on January 12, daily, while Lofft – a new intimate chef’s table dining experience with customers able to watch and taste dishes being made first-hand – will launch on February 14, and will be open on Wednesdays and Thursdays for lunch and Fridays and Saturdays for lunch and dinner.
