EATcardiff x Shake Shack 1k Giveaway Ts&Cs

Welcome to the terms and conditions for the EATcardiff x Shake Shack 1k giveaway. Spend some time reading over this if you’re into that sort of thing. Otherwise, good luck!

EATcardiff x Shake Shack 1k Giveaway Terms and Conditions

The promoter is: EATcardiff (@eatcardiff_eats)

1. The competition is open to residents of the United Kingdom aged 16 years or over except employees of Shake Shack UK and anyone otherwise connected with the organisation or judging of the competition.
2. There is no entry fee and no purchase necessary to enter this competition.
3. By entering this competition, an entrant is indicating his/her agreement to be bound by these terms and conditions.
4. Route to entry for the competition and details of how to enter are via @eatcardiff_eats over on Instagram. Please note the competition is NOT running on Twitter, but entrants will be signposted from there to Instagram.
5. You can enter as many times as you like.
6. Closing date for entry will be 7th November 2018 at 23:59 (GMT). After this date no further entries to the competition will be permitted.
7. No responsibility can be accepted for entries not received for whatever reason.
8. The winner will receive a direct message from @eatcardiff_eats via Instagram within 7 days of the closing date. If the winner cannot be contacted or do not claim the prize within 14 days of notification, the promoter reserves the right to withdraw the prize from the winner and pick a replacement winner.
9. The rules of the competition and how to enter are as follows:

• ‘Like’ the Instagram feed post on @eatcardiff_eats
• Tag a friend you’d share the meal with (and make sure they do points 3 and 4, too!)
• Follow @eatcardiff_eats
• Follow @shakeshackuk
• Enter as many times as you like
• Prize claimed from Shake Shack Cardiff (St Davids Centre) ONLY
• Prize to be claimed by 31st December 2018 (must show photo ID and Instagram direct message from @eatcardiff_eats to claim)
• Competition opens when post is live
• Competition closes on 7th November 2018 at 23:59 (GMT)
• The promoter is not responsible for inaccurate prize details supplied to any entrant by Shake Shack UK in this competition
• Tag @eatcardiff_eats and @shakeshackuk in your prize-winning snap! (Ok, not a ‘rule’ as such but we’d love you if you did)

10. The prize is as follows:

• 2 x Shack Stack burgers
• 2 x Cheesy fries with or without cherry peppers
• 2 x Cardiff Crunch-Stellation

11. The prize is as stated and no cash or other alternatives will be offered. The prizes are not transferable. Prizes are subject to availability and we reserve the right to substitute any prize with another of equivalent value without giving notice.
12. Winners will be chosen at random by software and notified by direct message within 7 days.
13. The promoter will notify the winner when and where the prize can be collected.
14. The promoter’s decision in respect of all matters to do with the competition will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
15. The competition and these terms and conditions will be governed by English law and any disputes will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England.
16. The winner agrees to the use of his/her name and image in any publicity material, as well as their entry. Any personal data relating to the winner or any other entrants will be used solely in accordance with current UK data protection legislation and will not be disclosed to a third party without the entrant’s prior consent.
17. Entry into the competition will be deemed as acceptance of these terms and conditions.
18. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram, Twitter or any other Social Network. You are providing your information to EATcardiff and to Shake Shack UK only using existing Instagram data.
19. The promoter shall have the right, at its sole discretion and at any time, to change or modify these terms and conditions, such change shall be effective immediately upon posting to this webpage.
20. The promoter also reserves the right to cancel the competition without notice if circumstances arise outside of its control.

Allergens

Shake Shack, St Davids Centre, Cardiff will provide allergen information. Please request this on your visit. EATcardiff is not responsible for allergen information and cannot advise at any given point.

 

3.14159265359

PIEMINISTER, ST. MARY STREET
#EATPieminister

Right then: these ‘industrial’, ‘minimalist’, or “Oh, look how much effort we didn’t put into our restaurant to look edgy but actually spent a fortune in buying ‘reconditioned’ new lights, steel mesh and MDF tables” are beginning to get, frankly, bloody irritating now. Even places that serve great food or beer, such as the Grazing Shed or a Brew Dog pub respectively, will not escape EATCardiff HQ’s Iron Fist™ when it comes to interior design. Same goes for Porter’s, The Cosy Club that’s nowhere near cosy, and Urban Taphouse (even though we love your beer range more than the children we don’t have) and anyone else we either haven’t been to yet or can’t remember.

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Amateur interior design criticism aside, we’d like to invite Fact Fans to this paragraph. Pieminister Corp was founded in 2003 by a couple of pie-lovers (not like that, although we don’t know for sure) across the Severn Bridge in Bristol. Just over ten years later and even an opening of a restaurant in Amsterdam, where huge kudos is indeed handed, us Welshies finally get a slice of the pie, marking the end of the fact paragraph with such a bad pun we’re firing ourselves.

As long-term readers and Twitter followers (@EATCardiff_Blog) will be fully-aware, we’re rather honest about our visits and apologise somewhere in The Small Print for any offence caused at any point; but, our personally much-anticipated visit to Pieminister was somewhat subdued, partially due to the fact we’d been bar-keeping over the Easter ‘Holidays’ and raving at Clwb Ifor Bach at a rare trance night in Cardiff, and also partially because the Pieminister folk had either been working or partying too hard themselves.

Perhaps we’re wrong to judge when we know how difficult it can be on the ‘wrong’ side of the bar, but ‘slick’ was not the word on this occasion. It all felt a bit shaky, like a 13th Century pre-battle stare-out. Neither side knew what to expect of each other, and us as the invaders were on unfamiliar ground, while remaining undeterred to take all that we wanted from them. However, rather than leaving several-hundred causalities, we left some cash. Not really sure who won.

“Welcome to our cosy, prison-like restaurant, folks!”

Nevertheless, the folks were friendly and informative, but we really got the impression that it was still early doors.

The presentation of the menus out-performed the newly-clichéd industrial design. In stark contrast, the various menus (Brunch, Mains and Drinks / Desserts) were clean, easy-on-the-eye like Dimitar Berbatov’s recent magic, and compact and varied in the right places. The food menu is limited, but in the best, reassuring way possible that ensures you it’s fresh and not the sort of joke you get at the likes of Cedar Tree Farm (yup, we’re calling names out this time). Alas, you get what you pay for.

There are eleven ‘core’ pies (if we may declare them so) surrounded by a tasteful amount of bar nibbles, sides, low-calorie pies (for some reason), desserts featuring ice cream bought by-the-ball and even cheese and biscuits, which doesn’t get much more British than that. Couple that with a great selection of craft beers – which we’re mad about these days at the EATCardiff brewery – and refillable draft soft drinks and you’ve got such a great, concise selection of everything you could spend a fair bit of time hanging around for.

But you won’t, which we think is a good thing!

We wandered to the bar over the shiny, varnished, concrete floor and ordered a handy £8 selection of a Classic ‘Matador’ pie, served with cheesy mash (sadly sweet potato fries were out of stock) and cauliflower cheese alongside a Coke and some FREE gravy. Yup, have as much as you like. Ordering bread is advised, in hindsight.

Six minutes later our carb and dairy fest all arrived on an achingly ‘rustic’ chopping board. Pardon the apathy towards presentation of food these days, but what did white plates do to get such a massive boot up the backside? Too many places put too much emphasis on presentation now, and worse, it makes it all the more difficult for waiters and waitresses across the land to actually deliver orders to tables with bits and pieces almost literally knocking around.

Ignore the moan if you’re into clichéd novelty (there’s an interesting oxymoron), and look for yourself:

Have some, well, ANYTHING with your gravy, for God’s sake!

Yes, that is a silver gravy boat.

And this brings us back to the opening rant. The venue presentation does not match up with the presentation of the food. What’s going on here is that  ‘cool industrial kid’ is trying to be mates with ‘traditional pub kid’, only that traditional pub kid is tagging along longer than welcomed and often rings the doorbell of cool industrial kid despite making it rather clear that he does not want to be friends, yet reluctantly invites him in to play because he’s nice. We’ve all had those sort of friends before…

In our opinion, if you’re going to be quirky and cool, at least be consistently quirky and cool. If you’re going for an industrial look, keep it that way and don’t confuse things with postmodernist bullsh*t.

Pardon our language.

The point is that your food is the focal point, not the bits and bobs. You don’t need to dress up great food, because it speaks for itself. Stick it on a single plate and let us dig in. Is that really too boring to ask for? Our friend’s fries were served in a coffee mug, for Christ’s sake. Edgy.

We’re not being overly critical because the food was a bit disappointing, but frankly, the food was a bit disappointing. Not sure where the flavour was, in plain truth (see what we did there?). It was fine. Certainly filled a gap as it’s calorie-tastic in a great way, but it wasn’t really ‘there’. Couldn’t taste any cheese in the mash, the cauliflower cheese we can’t recall anything about, and the pie itself was interesting for the wrong reasons.

The Matador is said to contain beef, chorizo, olives and butterbeans. We counted three butterbeans, nominal chorizo and one olive. Hmm. The beef was actually rather tender, but we can’t recall how it tasted either. The pastry was certainly good. Robust, tasty and smothered in endless gravy that you really can’t argue with.

It was all fine but we expected so much more in terms of flavour. Pieminister having a great reputation and having expanded quickly, our expectations were higher, but it didn’t deliver as a memorable experience, just a decent one that is a good addition to Cardiff, granted, but not an essential one.

We’ve come all this way and not made a single reference to politics. What a shame.

No really, there will be no reference to politics here.

Don’t take our word for it:
Food Nerd 4 Life
It’s On Cardiff (Please mind the grammar issues)
The Grill & Barrel

Thai Pride

BANGKOK CAFÉ, CANTON
#EATatBangkokCafe

At what point do you stop saying, “Happy New Year!” in a really insincere fashion to people? At the time of writing, it’s only the second day of ‘two-thousand-fourteen’ but already we’re feeling a sense of repetition up here in the EATCardiff Zeppelin. But Happy New Year all the same, readers! Thanks for not drinking yourselves into a coma and taking the time out to read about a destination we reached over the Christmas period.

KK, BRB

K2 COFFEE HOUSE, LLANDAFF
#EATatK2

Nothing lasts forever, but sometimes some things last a long time, while others outstay their welcome and squirm as they punch above their weight. A bit like Gordon Brown. K2 Coffee House however, has proved that the local café is still what we want. No chains, no franchising, no nonsense. The ‘City within a City’ of Llandaff is quite the hub of independents – minus a couple of Brains pubs, you’d be forgiven for believing calculated marketing never happened what with the generous array of local choice available on High Street. Just ignore Spar, for God’s sake.

All Chained Up

TGI FRIDAY’S, ST. DAVID’S CENTER, CARDIFF

Usually we’d strategically alternate our reviews between giant corporate machines and fluffy, innocent independents; however, since we update as regularly as an Arriva Train delays its services, beggars can’t and won’t be choosers. While on yet another hiatus due to life being more complicated than we were promised as we slipped from our respective wombs, we’ve maintained our efforts to reduce the 18 million tonnes of food waste per year.

Chicken & Chicks

NANDO’S, ST. DAVID’S

No place is exempt from inspection, here at the EATCardiff country mansion (we have a swimming pool and a gas barbeque, don’t you know?), and certainly not the painstakingly popular Nando’s. Seriously, as a planet, we are too easy to please. Nando’s is everywhere. Twice. And as endearing as ‘authentic’ PERI-PERI shouty sauce is, said authenticity drops when it’s more saturated than the latest YouTube viral video.  Yet it appears we’re the idiots, as queues of cock lovers spawn at every minute of the day, as if chicken and chips had never been done before.

Lupa Landings

LA LUPA, CANTON

Traditionally, Canton is locally famous for its quintessential ‘spit ‘n’ sawdust’ watering holes, its cultural diversity and home of the real ‘Kaaaiiirdiff’ accent. These days, it’s getting smarter, having seen a fair amount of cash spent on the area, despite how often we’re told the country is in bigger financial ruin than Blockbuster (‘R.I.P. in peace’, as our internet friends would say). We’d argue alternative cinema destination Chapter Arts Centre can be held partially responsible for the area’s uplift. What was once an almost ‘exclusive’ destination for real cinema enthusiasts now boasts an equally culturally diverse bar, with a huge range of beer from the Americas to the Far East – that’s almost 303 car hours, if it was possible to drive from one end to the other, fact fans!

Back On The Horse

THE OYSTER CATCHER, PENARTH MARINA

Hello again.

There’s no explanation for our void in content over the past six months, other than trying to sort our lives out becoming too much of a priority. It appears that we became blog mutes, which is as useless as a bird cage without the cage bit when writing a blog is supposed to be your forté. We’ve had a bit of an ear-bashing from ‘our fans’ over the months, and resorted to micro-blogging over on our Twitter page (see the tab at the top? Click the Twitter one to see what you’re missing out on in your daily lives) in an attempt to add PVA glue to paper over cracks bigger than McCaulay Culkin’s drug ‘use’ (seen Home Alone on TV yet?). Alas, we’re back, and we’ve visited yet another lovely venue to purposely get our backs up.

You WILL have BBQ sauce with your meal

HARVESTER, CARDIFF BAY

Sometimes words fail us, on this occasion they certainly do not. Harvester, one of Mitchells & Butlers biggest and most popular brands, concerns us for two reasons. Firstly, how can M&B allow something so uniquely disappointing on so many levels to co-exist with its better offers; and secondly, it’s a particular worry that the car park was over-flowing with metal on wheels, to an extent that our takeaway should’ve been rather special.

‘Least We Got Chicken

VARSITY, CARDIFF

If bog standard had a specific image it’d probably look something like Varsity. The group of around twenty bars is a minor adversary to Wetherspoons, like Crash Bandicoot is to Mario, they might have a presence but would never have a grip on the ‘Tesco Value’ range of public houses. From what was once a small empire of popular places for students to black out in, the image has since changed, now offering real ales, cheap food and more screens than your nearest multiplex cinema.