We decided to see what Cardiff Bay had to offer for food and the theatre as we enjoyed a taste of Italy in Piatto followed by Calendar Girls: The Musical in The Millennium Centre.
Located opposite The Millennium Centre, we started our night at Piatto, the pasta house by Giovannis.
The decor in Piatto really sets the scene for the night ahead with the fairy lights and plants really creating an inviting atmosphere as you are able to look upon the fountains in Cardiff Bay and The Millennium Centre.
The staff were really friendly and beyond helpful, recommending their favourites on the menu as well as telling us about their great deals and the specials of the day.
To start we tried the calamari, which is always a personal favourite for me, and I continued to try the penne carbonara and a Nutella pizza for dessert.
For their pasta dishes, you are able to choose the size of the dish as well as the salsa and the shape of your pasta so that every dish is catered exactly for you.
The portion sizes were excellent and the food was delicious giving you more than you could imagine for your money.
It had a good selection of both meat and vegetarian/vegan options to choose from so no matter what your preferences are you have something to choose from.
Piatto is definitely somewhere that I would go again when down in Cardiff Bay.
With a great atmosphere and lovely food and drink this is a great place to go on your night down in the bay before the theatre.
It really is a great place to try a pinch of Italy right here in Cardiff.
Going into The Millenium Centre I started to wonder if this was really the scene for two 21-year-olds.
Looking around, we were the youngest in there by quite a bit and I was unsure whether we were really going to be able to understand the play in the same way that these older women would.
However, my unsurety was for no reason at all.
With a star-studded cast including Sarah Jane Buckley, Sue Devaney and Julia Hills, who we interviewed for our podcast, this musical really didn’t disappoint.
The musical really encapsulated the grief that Annie (played by Sarah Jane Buckley) was feeling as well as showing the lives of those around her in a small Yorkshire village.
With great musical numbers by all the cast, we saw the true story of a small town and their WI group coming together to raise money for their visitor’s waiting room in their local hospital.
The set was fantastic and really did set the scene for the whole show and the schoolkids were hilarious light relief and brilliant to watch with everyone in the crowd loving when they walked onto the stage.
The musical’s music has been written and produced by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth, and you really can tell with our personal favourite song being the Spring Fete, that did get us howling with laughter.
Calendar Girls: The Musical is something that can be enjoyed by all ages and I would definitely go again to watch.
I would happily recommend for people to take their friends, mums, and nans to see this performance while they can.
The crowd, that I can only assume was filled up by a lot of the WI after seeing them all leave together and get onto coaches, seemed to love the show as well with a spectacular standing ovation ending our night.
Calendar Girls: The Musical is in The Millenium Centre from the 30th April to the 11th May and you are able to get tickets here.
Look out for episode two of our podcast where we sit down with the members of Calendar Girls: The Musical
Words by Lydia Caunce
