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DRAGON’S, PREZZO AND COSTA JOIN ST DAVID’S

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Three new names are joining the food and drink offering at St David’s in Cardiff.

Independent Welsh restaurant Dragon’s and popular brand Prezzo are set to open within Eastside, the restaurant quarter at St David’s, while coffee shop Costa has already opened a second store within the centre.

Dragon’s will serve traditional Welsh cuisine with a contemporary twist and is set to open later this summer. All food will be sourced in Wales and will be served within the restaurant as well as to take away. The restaurant will be opened by Mark Read who has been working in partnership with development chef Pat Jones of Castell Howell Foods in Cross Hands to develop the concept.

Mr Read said: “Following the development of a food menu sourced exclusively within Wales and extensive testing of new cooking technology, St David’s will be the first Dragon’s. It is Cardiff’s premier shopping location and was the only real choice for our concept to bring Welsh food to the capital of Wales.

“We anticipate the Cardiff public to be fully supportive of this venture which encourages the use of Welsh products and the Welsh language in its menus and we envisage a second outlet in the Cardiff area before the end of 2010.”

The Dragon’s restaurant will be found within Lower Eastside, next to Pret a Manager, and follows the openings of independents such as the Italian Bellini’s Express, gourmet chocolate café Martin’s Chocolatier and French fast food outlet BOOF. Prezzo, which serves Italian pasta, grills, pizza and rissotto, will open in Upper Eastside along with TGI Friday’s and Sale Pepe and will be followed by the opening of the UK’s first Ruby Tuesday later this summer.

Costa Coffee has also opened a second outlet within St David’s following the success of its café in Grand Arcade. The new café can be found by the Working Street entrance to the shopping centre – next to Body Shop and opposite Thorntons.

Steven Madeley, centre director for St David’s, said: “Dragon’s has kept its menu under wraps and we are looking forward to discovering the contemporary Welsh food it will serve. Costa is another success story within the shopping centre for shoppers to take a well deserved break throughout the day while Prezzo is an established and popular brand our visitors will recognise.

“We have announced several names within the Eastside quarter in the last two months and it is filling up fast. We are sure that our shoppers will enjoy the variety of established popular brands and local independents ranging from small cafes and outlets to the larger restaurants.

“Our aim was to bring a varied offering of outlets so that there will be something for everyone’s taste. The fact that this is yet another independent restaurant will be another string to our bow because our offering will be completely unique not only to Wales but the rest of the UK.”