Aura Brasserie & Bar — Restaurant in Wales

Located in the Coal Exchange, this restaurant opened in October 2024 in the space formerly occupied by the Culley restaurant. The interior combines exposed brickwork, wood paneling, and art deco lighting, with a bar at one end and a large dining area featuring banquette-style seating in the middle.

Food: The starters were a mixed bag. The spicy crispy prawns were heavily over-battered, with five pieces that ended up having to remove their coating as it was too thick. The accompanying tiny portion of salad at the bottom of the dish of carrot and greens was the saving grace, adding some freshness to the dish.

The cocktail “Full Moon” (bourbon, sake, lychee, wild strawberry, calamari, and mochi) was a disappointment—it tasted unpleasantly like bath wash and had to be sent back. Fortunately, the “Ford” cocktail was much better and came as a welcome replacement.

The roasted picanha beef roast was a hit-and-miss. While the swede purée was sweet and delicious, and the peas and mangetout added a nice touch, the meat itself was chewy, with only two thin slices served. The sauce was thick and flavorful, and the rotkohl (red cabbage) was good but overly sweet. Unfortunately, the wrong knife was provided, making cutting through the meat a struggle.

Atmosphere and Service: Live music at 1 pm created a relaxed vibe, with popular classics adding to the ambiance. The service was attentive and friendly, though the automatic 12% service charge on the bill may not be to everyone’s liking.

Overall, this is a stylish venue with potential, but the food quality needs to be more consistent to match the promising atmosphere and...

Exceptional food. The chairs are all comfy too which is my number 1 issue when picking somewhere to eat due to physical disabilities. The tables are very comfy too in terms of size. The staff are brilliant. They know when to serve and when to leave you be.

I think of this place as somewhere you go to celebrate something as it's that extra bit special. Comes at a price though and I do not like service charges automatically applied. Reality is we probably would have tipped more though.

The menu is lean but it's cooked to order and fresh. The lamb is stunning, seriously that was a fabulous dish. I enjoyed it and was great being out with the family to celebrate their achievements on new jobs. Probably too expensive for general eating out but for a special occasion it's worth it. Cocktail prices reasonable too. Limited choice of beer / ale. Wine list large but again expensive per bottle for my tastes, I don't get any more taste from a £50 bottle than a £5 one unfortunately. I just prefer wine from Chile lol that's about all I can discern.

Great place, fab atmosphere. Pictures were of coal exchange. Didn't take any in restaurant as I find that a tad rude. Very happy, staff were brilliant. Just dropped a star for me on the drinks maybe a cheap house wine and two ales on tap would be nice.

There were 5 of us, we had starters, food for the table, mains and drinks £180 including £17 service charge so not bad. I'd defo go back again. Might try a...

I can't speak highly enough of this bar and restaurant. When I walked in, I was a bit anxious because it was quite loud, and I prefer quieter pubs and bars. However, the staff were super friendly, a blonde lady on shift acknowledged us (we were a group of 3) within seconds of us entering. I got the Welsh burger with chips and some Welsh cheese and crackers, which were all bloody lovely!

There was a group of about 30 women spread across 2 tables and I think 2 of them were celebrating their birthday that day (15th of April) and the group of women were so friendly (unlike everyone in London where I'm from). They held my hand (literally) and wanted me to dance with them to 'Sweet Caroline'. I've never been to a bar where not only is the staff hospitable, but the customers are too, I think it's a Welsh thing as everyone I met in Wales was super friendly.

I was kinda low on money because my work cut my hours, so we got our service charge removed, which I thought would annoy the staff, but the staff were totally unfazed by that, which I didn't expect.

The staff were happy to give us our dessert as takeaway because we needed to catch our coach back to London in time.

I have some Welsh roots and this bar just topped off the whole Wales experience for me. What a great way to conclude your visit to Wales if...