Diary: Let's Do Lunch - Brazz

Cardiff's Millennium Centre is monumentally impressive, squatting like a giant horseshoe crab washed up on the shores of the bay. Home to the Welsh National Opera and other performing arts groups, its architecture - to those of us who have known and loved this feisty industrial port city for years - is typically Cardiff: solid, muscular, and very un-English.

And the centre's restaurant, Brazz, is set to become one of the most important watering holes in the city. When Wales's new National Assembly building is opened in the autumn, Brazz will rank alongside the former Granita and the Atrium, Millbank, as a place where important matters of state are decided.

Bright and informal, with floor-to-ceiling glass walls and an airy, cosmopolitan atmosphere, Brazz does not disappoint. A modern menu highlights Welsh fare - locally caught fish and seafood, lamb and beef and fresh vegetables (not just leeks). A selection of fine local cheeses is presented on a platter of blue slate.

Wales is getting its act together, as is Cardiff - celebrating its 50th anniversary as a capital city this year. Brazz would be a suitably contemporary setting for the party.

Where: Wales Millennium Centre, Bute Place, Cardiff Bay

Contact: 02920 459000

How much: £25 for three courses