{"id":4654,"date":"2011-11-11T10:06:05","date_gmt":"2011-11-11T10:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/?p=4654"},"modified":"2015-10-07T10:57:07","modified_gmt":"2015-10-07T10:57:07","slug":"cardiff-character-nicki-tudor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/food\/cardiff-character-nicki-tudor","title":{"rendered":"Cardiff character: Nicki Tudor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Restaurants, writing and awards with Cardiff\u2019s favourite blogger<\/h2>\n
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Nicki Tudor officially has the best Food and Drinks blog in Wales<\/p><\/div>\n

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The talent behind Cardiff Bites \u201chobbled\u201d through a chilly Queen Street to talk after a busy day of training in the Rhondda. Despite twisting an ankle and walking with a crutch, Nicki was still fifteen minutes early. I am greeted with a warm welcome and a beaming smile by the casually dressed blogger in jeans and a stripy jumper with her hair in a simple ponytail.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Charity project administrator Nicki Tudor, 29 has been blogging about food for five years now and it seems all that hard work has paid off after recently being crowned Best Food and Drink Blog at the Wales Blog Awards. \u201cIt\u2019s just fantastic. It\u2019s been a really crazy year. This year I was judging the True Taste Wales awards, then there was the whole Snoop Dogg thing [Snoop contacted Nicki via Twitter to ask her recommendation for waffles in Cardiff] which was crazy. Then to win this was just lovely. It\u2019s just been a fabulous year,\u201d she smiles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nicki is originally from Port Talbot but her mother\u2019s family are from southern Italy and moved to Wales after the second world war. Food has always been a big part of her life. \u201cBy seven or eight I was cooking. It was as soon as I could roll pasta and copy what my grandma was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardiff Bites is a big part of Nicki\u2019s life, and many people have contacted her, assuming the blog is her full time job. On whether she would happily give up her job to pursue the blog, Nicki said, \u201cI like the freedom it gives me because I\u2019m not being paid. I can be a lot more controversial and honest. I can write what I want to write about.\u201d She did toy with the idea though, her eyes wandering for few seconds: \u201cIt would be lovely to get paid to do something with food, that would be fantastic. Although, I am wary of going freelance as I\u2019ve grown quite attached to my paycheck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicki displays passion for her blog and enjoys the time she spends on it. You can hear in her voice how happy she is after the Blog Awards win, and at her recent commission for Olive<\/em> magazine. Nicki excitedly explains, \u201cI don\u2019t know how they found me, whether they Googled me, or whatever, but I had an email off them asking me if I would like to submit to the Christmas issue.\u201d She continues, \u201cI wrote about Pontcanna as I wanted to be true to myself on a very deadline, and a very tight word count.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cardiff Bites is a very active blog, and Nicki balances it successfully with her job. \u201cAt the weekend, I spend three hours on the blog, whereas some other people might spend three hours watching football or going shopping. Blogging is my hobby and I do it because I enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, things were not always this positive. When Nicki began Cardiff Bites five years ago she made herself ill due to overwork. \u201cI think I put a lot of pressure on myself when the blog started properly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today, Nicki knows her limits and says no to people\u2019s requests if she does not have the time. \u201cI try to be realistic about what I can do.\u201d Nicki keeps blogging strictly as her hobby. \u201cIf I was running myself into the ground to try and maintain this blog it wouldn\u2019t be fun. Blogging should be fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicki welcomes comments on her work, whether negative or positive. \u201cI\u2019ve had one negative comment which said, \u2018Oh, you\u2019re stupid, you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about,\u2019 and they listed a few reasons which I then addressed. Blogs have comments for a reason, and it\u2019s my opinion. If they don\u2019t agree with me, fine.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over the years Nicki has eaten everywhere from Ffresh to Hooters, and has established her favourite places. \u201cIf I\u2019m paying then I love to go somewhere like Bangkok caf\u00e9 in Canton. It\u2019s a little family owned Thai restaurant. They do really cheap, good food. If someone else is paying, then probably somewhere like Patagonia. The food is great.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nicki champions Cardiff\u2019s independent restaurants. \u201cYou build up a good relationship with people if you go back a lot. I would try and support our local family restaurants because they are having a tough time of it at the moment.\u201d Nicki did not want to name names for the worst places to eat, but thinks that chain restaurants can be very hit and miss. \u201cThey should at least provide consistency.\u201d<\/p>\n

The formidable Cardiff Bites blogger will continue to write about all things food, but worried establishments need not fear. \u201cI\u2019m not AA Gill. I won\u2019t come in and tear you apart.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Restaurants, writing and awards with Cardiff\u2019s favourite blogger             The talent behind Cardiff Bites \u201chobbled\u201d through a chilly Queen Street to talk after a busy day of training in the Rhondda. Despite twisting an ankle and walking with a crutch, Nicki was still fifteen minutes early. I am greeted with… <\/p>\n

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Read More<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[712,711,31,697,713],"yoast_head":"\nCardiff character: Nicki Tudor - alt.cardiff<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/food\/cardiff-character-nicki-tudor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cardiff character: Nicki Tudor - alt.cardiff\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Restaurants, writing and awards with Cardiff\u2019s favourite blogger             The talent behind Cardiff Bites \u201chobbled\u201d through a chilly Queen Street to talk after a busy day of training in the Rhondda. Despite twisting an ankle and walking with a crutch, Nicki was still fifteen minutes early. I am greeted with... Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/food\/cardiff-character-nicki-tudor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"alt.cardiff\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-11T10:06:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-10-07T10:57:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/\",\"name\":\"alt.cardiff\",\"description\":\"If it\\u2019s offbeat and in Cardiff then it\\u2019s online here.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/food\/cardiff-character-nicki-tudor#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Nicki-Cardiff-bites.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/food\/cardiff-character-nicki-tudor#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/food\/cardiff-character-nicki-tudor\",\"name\":\"Cardiff character: Nicki Tudor - alt.cardiff\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/food\/cardiff-character-nicki-tudor#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-11T10:06:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-07T10:57:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/#\/schema\/person\/34d0ea86f9ec8130e4085bb0592503c0\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/food\/cardiff-character-nicki-tudor\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/#\/schema\/person\/34d0ea86f9ec8130e4085bb0592503c0\",\"name\":\"altcardiff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/251d18ae391aa476d090c1eb0e8b3365?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"altcardiff\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4654"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4654"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4824,"href":"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4654\/revisions\/4824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}