Great Scotts

A Welsh restaurant called Scotts specialising in Australasian fusion cuisine - confused? You'd be further perplexed if you asked to speak to either the restaurant and operations manager or the head chef - because they're both called Scott, too - David Scott and Scott Morgan, respectively.

The two Scotts are part of the 25-strong front and back of house team at Scotts Brasserie, opened in the Cardiff Bay development area last June by Richard Avery-Wright - an ex-stockbroker who decided on a change of career after travelling in the Far East and Australasia in the early 1990s.

The 131-seat eaterie, launched with "in excess of £500,000" raised by Avery-Wright under the Enterprise Investment Scheme, is named after explorer Robert Falcon Scott who embarked from the city's harbour on his fateful Antarctic voyage 88 years ago.

The constantly updated menu - at least two dishes are changed every two weeks - has been recently set out along US lines with dishes grouped according to type and cooking method rather than presented in the conventional way. For example, there are salad, chargrill and soup sections.

Between 20 and 25 main dishes are always on the à la carte menu. Naturally, lemon grass, lime, chillies and coriander feature heavily, as well as the odd flash of southern hemisphere exotica such as kangaroo.

Currently popular with customers, drawn from Cardiff's professional classes, is a chargrilled rump of kangaroo served with oyster mushrooms and a Thai-style red curry, coconut and coriander sauce (£12.95); and a seafood dish of New Zealand green-lipped mussels in a fresh ginger, lime, lemon grass and coriander broth (£5.75).

Desserts, all priced at £4.75, are less adventurous but include a variety of ice-creams and sorbets. Unusual offerings are gin and lavender ice-cream and passion fruit and guava sorbet, while a strawberry and black pepper parfait is perennially popular.

Diners eat the food created by Morgan and his five-strong kitchen brigade in an airy, wooden-floored eaterie with an open kitchen. Seating stretches over two floors and is divided into four areas: the 30-seat bar area, the 36-seat conservatory, the 25-seat Scott room and the 40-seat open terrace with views over Cardiff harbour.

Covers are running at a daily average of 60 at the moment, but Scott is aiming for a "full house" daily turnover of 130. Average spend per head excluding wine is £17. With wine, from the predominantly New World, 55-strong list, it comes in at £25.

Scotts also offers a set-price, two- or three-course menu drawn from the à la carte - the two-course priced at £9.95 and £13.95 for lunchtimes and evenings respectively, the three-course costing either £12.95 or £17.95.

Scotts Brasserie, Stuart Street, Inner Harbour, Cardiff Bay. Tel: 01222 491194