23 MAY 1998, Page 29

Sir: Clearly little has changed on the Cardiff catering scene.

Thirty years ago, we found ourselves in the city on the final evening of a Welsh holiday. We wanted it to be special, a treat that would compen- sate our daughters for ten days of mist and heavy rain. It was still raining when we set out to find a restaurant. Finally, desperate, we asked a passer-by if he knew somewhere we could have dinner, We thought he said, `There's a place over the Spa.' With instant visions of Bath and a warming touch of gentility we followed his directions. We found it. What he had actually said was, `There's a place over the Spar.' His recom- mendation was a greasy spoon over the local supermarket... .

Frank Barnard

Nuffield Hill Cottage, Nuffield, Nr Henley-on-Thames, Oxon