Eastern Confusion with an American in Wales
I had an odd conversation with my hairdresser the other day - a Neath Valley guy, a pretty good hairdresser, with a pretty strong accent. You would think after all these years in Wales I would be used to the lingo by now, but I really showed myself up on this occasion (particularly since I generally make it my business to know when and where the latest -and not so latest - restaurants are in the area.)
He says to me, have you been to Teifi Nick’s in Swansea - they are a really simple place and the food is great? I tell him no, where on earth is Teifi Nick’s, thinking to myself, what a great name, thoroughly Welsh with an American slant (OK, so I’m biased). I simultaneously wondered if they had avoided the local predeliction for pluralising the owner’s name by an inexplicable lack of apostrophe at the end of the name.
So he describes the shed that Teifi Nick’s occupies, and the delicious Thai food that they serve. I still couldn’t think where he meant - ‘Tei -fi-Nix you say’. His colleague pipes up and says yes, ‘Tei - fi - Nix’. Well I quietly thought to myself, you’d better give up your job Tony because there aren’t that many Thai restuarants in Swansea to choose from. The Resolven boy said it one last time, and finally the link between Thai and Teifi clicked, and in case you haven’t already figured it out (credit due if you have because up til now I was lost) he was talking about the Thai Phoenix the whole time.
The moral of the story is, don’t assume anything about a restaurant before you’ve been, particularly if you’ve been told by a stupid American in Wales! Anyway, I haven’t been (yet) but will make it next on my list - and if any of you have been, add your comments here and tell us what you think of the place - good, bad, or just couldn’t find somewhere called Teifi Nick’s!
October 12th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
So, I take it you’re American? We live in Pontypridd, near Cardiff. Moved to Wales three and a half years ago from Pensacola, Florida.
February 15th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Thai Phoenix is amazing and you relly must go there at 6 and 9 pm its a served eat all you can, remarkable impeccable service, outstanding food, not in the best or most scenic surroundings but if this was city centre it would cost a bomb so I guess that how they can do it. I would reccomend to anyone. Were going there tonight actually!!
Its kinda a hidden gem up in a council estate on the edge of town and may be a little tricky for outsders to find but everyone local knows it-it used to be a pub, so rough no one could run it, but that was many years ago!!
Its fantastic value for money and a real treat. jo x