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A restaurant inside a prison has been named the best dining experience in Cardiff, the largest city in Wales. The Mirror reports the Clink, inside HMP Cardiff, a "Category B Local/Training Prison," beat out 950 other restaurants on TripAdvisor to earn the crowd-sourced review site's top city ranking in the Welsh capital. The restaurant, which opened in 2012, employs about 30 HMP prisoners, who work full-time hours as part of a job-training and rehabilitation program. After their release, the affiliated Clink Charity helps former inmates find careers in the hospitality industry.
TripAdvisor ratings are notoriously wonky, but a quick look at the Clink menu reveals dishes that would fit right in at a more "traditional" restaurant: The kitchen staff prepares dishes like "pressed game terrine with ciabatta croute," venison loin with celeriac parmentier, and black pudding bon bons. TripAdvisor users also praised the restaurant's service, with one guest writing that "waiters were great with perfect service (better than we have had in some starred restaurants)." A 2012 video provides an inside look at the Cardiff restaurant's opening. Go, watch it below:
