British cities with reference to cardiff

I went to Cardiff for the day yesterday with my lady for a day out. We had planned to find somewhere to eat in the evening and then go to the cinema.
Ended up getting really pssed off with British cities generally. I guess this is related to the 'clone towns' problem in the press recently but it was impossible to find a place to eat that was independent or had an imaginative menu. Cardiff has no doubt been crowing about the 'bustling and lively restaurant scene' now in the city but what they don't point out is that its almost excluysively chain restaurants (Iguanas, Slug and Lettuce etc) all selling crap quality food and piping out MTV into the outside seating areas. They all cater for people wanting some cheap crap to eat before going out on the lash and having a fight. It was really frustrating that everywhere we came accross had that same menu design that screams 'chain' at you when you go to have a look. And they're all staffed by students or people that have no intention of working long term in the restaurant business.
Now I'm sure many of you will have recommendations for hidden away places, and I'd like to hear about them for future reference but I'm sure in other european cities you don't have to look so hard for a cosy restaurant run by people who care about what they're doing, with a menu devised there rather than in 'head office'.
Decided to skip it and buy some muffins in Tesco on the way back!

 

one tip here is find a good hotel (even if you're not stying there) they usually have good restaraunts that will cater for non guests. well sometimes.

 

Not cheap, but the best one around here is the White Hart just up from Grasscroft. £30-£40 per head.

The Olive Branch, between Marsden and Slaithwaite (pronounced "sloughwit") is similar price but not quite as good food nor setting.

The whole clone-town thing is depressing. What's more, you can use it as a social barometer in terms of what shops are or aren't there. For example, and indication of Oldham's standing is that the fanciest department store is debenhams... no M&S or John Lewis. Chadderton is worse in that the really well-off people shop at Asda, the less-well off at Netto or Lidl and, unbelievably, there's "Greg's Discount Food Store" which undercuts even them. Quality this is not...

 

yeah, I'll second the hotel idea...not always the obvious choice tho...