It's hectic and hot and the orders from hungry customers are flooding in on a Saturday night.
Being a chef is certainly not for the faint of heart.
Surrounded by knives, flames, and a team bustling around you with no time to spare, most in the industry will clock up dozens of hours working up to 12 hours a day when most people are out having fun .
But while we all know the likes of Gordon Ramsay or maybe Gino D’Acampo, how much do you know about the chefs who cook the food you actually eat?
We spoke to seven chefs in some of Cardiff's most-popular restaurants to see what happens while diners are sitting at their table.
Paul Bainbridge, head chef at Asador
For film and music buff Paul a career in the kitchen stemmed from his love for his girlfriend.
Working in Blockbuster, he first started to learn to cook after pondering what he would cook her for her dinner.
At 33 years old it's a journey which has seen his go from pot wash all the way up to head chef after picking the skills up on the job.
Paul, from Splott, said: "I'm a film nerd so I was Blockbuster for years from when I was 18 to 25.
"I was quite academic in school so I was pushed to do business studies, economics, those kind of subjects, and I was quite good at them but I wasn’t really interested in it.
"I met my partner who is a vegetarian – I’ve been with her since I was 20 so for quite a few years I just getting into trying to do different stuff with vegetarian cooking.
"I was having to think about what to cook for her so I wasn’t making the same thing all the time.
"I thought I would try make a living out of it so I took a KP (kitchen porter) job and just worked my way up from there really reading loads of books, teaching myself. I was really lucky to work with quite a few really good chefs who I’ve learned loads from."
As one of six chefs, Paul can serve up to 80 for lunch and another 110 for dinner – with the help of some music blaring before service starts to get his team motivated.
Paul, who has also worked at Arbennig and Bar 44, said: "I couldn’t do an office job, I like to keep moving. When you are passionate about something it doesn’t always feel like work. You do long days but you do get used to it.
"I came into it for the right reaons. Some chefs kind of fall into it if they didn’t do particularly well at school or it's often a job people fall into but I made a conscious effort to move into it."
He added: "I love the food we do, it’s a passion of mine, but I also love Japanese food, I kind of like the gastropub thing like Pony & Trap in Chew Magna.
"I appreciate all the techniques that go into two and three [Michelin] star places and I think that’s amazing but I don’t necessarily feel that comfortable in that kind of surroundings. I want to be able to wear jeans."
In his spare time Paul can be found in the bowling alley, where he plays for a league, or out walking with his dogs.
Rhodri Davies, senior chef de partie at Heaney's
While most university students live on beans on toast, Rhodri Davies did exactly the opposite.
For him, leaving home presented the perfect opportunity to learn to cook – and get away from his mother's fondness for adding baked beans to everything.
Rhodri, from Penarth, said: "My mum and my father weren’t and still aren’t particularly great cooks so if I ever wanted to have something really nice, or something I had seen on TV, or if people talked about amazing food, I would kind of have to experiment myself.
"I went to uni and I thought I would use that opportunity to play around with cooking and experiment and learn.
"I’m quite big and so is my brother so my mum would always pad things out with beans. We’d have beans in our curry, beans in our shepherd's pie, that kind of thing."
A new face in Tommy Heaney's first solo venture, Rhodri is in charge of the larder section in the kitchen as senior chef de partie.
In essence it means he is responsible for seeing dishes like starters from start to end as well as preparing extras to add to the restaurant's six or seven-course signature taster menus.
For the 33-year-old it's a million miles away from the job he used to do as a former teacher, tutor, and designer of education provisions across Wales.
Rhodri said: "I spent my entire life, my 20s, telling youth to do something that they really love and try to get paid doing that and have a career that everybody recognises all over the world or that’s there’s plenty of options for you and I kind of wasn’t following that advice myself. I enjoyed what I did before but I kind of fell out of love with it.
"I started working in a sandwich shop for six months and got my first actual job in the Potted Pig in town so I worked there for a couple of years and upskilled as much as I could.
"It’s always hard to walk into a kitchen and for people to have that patience with you so it was always about trying to learn quickly and not being told twice how to do something right. It was trying to learn quickly rather than making that mistake more than once.
"It was whether I could get that ability up quick enough but it’s a very difficult job, it’s not for the faint of heart. My first job as a chef I doubled my hours and halved my pay so I thought I’ve got to love it every day, enjoy my day, or it’s really not worth it."
A former chef at the Heathcock in Llandaff, Rhodri has the perfect answer ready to hand when asked what the job is really like.
Speaking during a quiet moment in the kitchen, he said: "It’s almost a little bit rock and roll. It's fire, it’s flames, it’s loud, it’s fast-paced and at the end you create something people will enjoy."
A sucker for adrenaline, Rhodri enjoys surfing and snowboarding to blow away the cobwebs when he gets the time.
He said: "At the end of the week you are physically exhausted. I will finish on a Sunday around 6pm so it’s not like I’m going to go for a jog or go the gym. Physically you feel a bit beat up."
Siddartha Singh Rathore, head chef at the Purple Poppadom
Siddartha, better known as Sid, was only 16 when he first got involving in cooking in his family home in Jaipur.
Now, 25 years later, he's gone from Jaipur to Rajasthan to being the head chef of one of Cardiff's best-known Indian restaurants at the Purple Poppadom in Cowbridge Road East.
Sid, 41, said: "My first time as a professional cook was in 2001 in the five-star Oberoi Vanyavilas Resort in Rajasthan. It was there that I first met chef Anand George, who went on to create Purple Poppadom, and the rest is history."
For Sid a day in the kitchen will start at 11am to get the prep under way. After a break at 5pm he'll be back in the kitchen until service ends six hours later.
When he's not in work the head chef can be found on the cricket pitch – the restaurant staff will play in the summer – or listening to music or watching football.
Like anywhere else in Cardiff sport also transforms the award-winning restaurant when the rugby is on.
Sid said: "Our busiest times are rugby matchdays as we are a popular venue for fans, being near the stadium, and that can entail a 12-hour working day. [It's] hectic, but we love the buzz, especially when Wales win.
"We have a capacity of 70 covers and open the restaurant early from 12 noon on match days which gives you an idea of how busy it can get."
Explaining the inspiration behind his dishes, the head chef adds: "I like to keep up with current trends, finding inspiration from recipe videos and books, and from Michelin star chefs and the new dishes they are creating.
"We have our traditional styles of dishes and then take them to new places using the influence of different styles of cuisine. Adding a fresh twist has always been our hallmark at the Purple Poppadom."
Maria Chiriac, owner of Sushi Life
Four years ago life was very different for Sushi Life co-owner Maria Chiriac.
Since then, the MA art student has swapped the paintbrush for a kitchen knife to run Cardiff's popular Japanese fusion restaurant with husband Corneliu in Wellfield Road.
Maria, 27, said: "This is the first project we’ve done together. My husband used to work in a kitchen and I came after I finished my studies as a part-time job and that’s when I started in the kitchen.
"I used to work in the front then I jumped in the kitchen and started trying more stuff."
For Corneliu, inspiration for his work came from his experience over in Denmark. Since then their menu has grown and grown, run by a team of eight.
Maria said: "Before he came to the UK Corneliu used to work in Denmark with a Japanese master chef and that’s where he learnt to make sushi. He wanted his own restaurant with his experience. It’s hard for a chef to do what he is told to do!
"We are good at working together. We keep out private life separate outside the kitchen otherwise it’s not possible.
"I think my favourite part, and what satisfies me the most, is when customers come to say thanks to the kitchen and when we have a chance to have a chat and when customers say they have enjoyed our food."
With a business to run it's hard to imagine the ambitious couple have much downtime togheter.
But it's something they've been working on and they now enjoy one day a week to relax and get out the kitchen.
Maria said: "We do have Sundays off together but that’s not all the time as we needed to train our chef.
"That’s our busiest section so we always need chefs to do it. Before it was either me or him in the kitchen with one of the chefs but we do have Sundays off together. After three years I was working nearly every day.
"I’ve got two big dogs so whenever I’m not walking the dogs I’m trying to paint a bit or sketch."
Chris Matthews, head chef at Bully's Restaurant
As the only chef at this acclaimed restaurant, Chris has a lot to do when he's faced with a busy week ahead.
Luckily it's something the 33-year-old is used to after starting in the kitchen at age 16.
Chris said: "I did a paper round when I was 11 – I have always been working since I was a kid in school.
"I started [in the kitchen] when I was 16. I started washing dishes and quite liked it. I worked quite a bit over the summer and stuff and earned quite a bit of money but realised I didn’t want to be washing dishes for the rest of my life.
"I wanted to be different things like an architect or a police officer but this has been my life since then."
Over the years Chris has worked everywhere from the Grape and Olive to the Park Plaza Hotel. But it wasn't until he started at Woods Brasserie that he realised where he true passion in fine dining lay.
Chris, who works alongside a kitchen porter to make things run smoothly, said: "The one reason I’ve spent so much time in Bully's is that most places you get are big chains and I can’t make what I want. Here we do our own breads and ice creams.
"For young people coming up [to an independent restaurant] you don’t get an eight-hour shift like you might in a big company but at the same point you get to put your own ideas down and work them."
For a self-confessed perfectionist like Chris, creating your own menu can be tough when you have 40 or 50 hungry diners to feed at the same time.
Luckily being part of one of Cardiff's smallest kitchen teams means he has the freedom to do what he wants – especially since he's gone from working weeks at a time to having Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning to himself to plan.
He said: "On a Sunday I want to get it as empty as I can because I don’t like freezing stuff when I don’t have to. Then on a Wednesday I come in in the morning and work straight through till night.
"I have always been my worst critic in a sense. I don’t like to say the word perfect very often – I always think you can do something better. Sometimes the idea might be good in my head but if I have time of a couple of days to work on a dish it might be better or worse than I thought."
So when you're a chef who cooks the food when you're out of the kitchen? Chris admits that job will usually fall to his mother when the whole family gets together – although he will help.
Neil Patel, head chef at Vegetarian Food Studio
For Neil, running the kitchen at one of Cardiff's best known vegetarian restaurants is a truly family affair.
Working alongside his mother Renuka, and his uncle, it means there is no place for the hot-headed insults or swearing you'd imagine comes with the job if you're a fan of Gordon Ramsay or Hell's Kitchen.
Neil, 38, said: "Our grandmother used to make food from home and cater for functions and we had a garage where we imported and exported cars.
"I was always interested in catering and food as a child. It was a family business from the house so you had to help.
"Even at school food technology was the best for me.
"I studied food and technology in Birmingham. I took the course on business, hospitality, and management and that was it."
First launched in 2003, the Vegetarian Food Studio began life as a small takeout and deli in Penarth Road.
As demand grew the team found themselves moving to a bigger premises where they can serve up to 100 customers a day.
Neil said: "My vision was a successful restaurant with vegetarian food. Over the years I’ve made it.
"When I opened it was hard. There weren’t many vegetarians or vegans around and over the years people have realised what vegetarianism and veganism is. Back then people would just ask: 'Why don’t you sell chicken or pork?'
"Everyone knows about the studio – if you are vegan or vegetarian you are bound to know us."
For Neil learning the rota each week is easy. That’s because he’s only got one day off a week – and that’s a Monday.
With three children, including a 12-week-old, it means he's had to adjust to a serious lack of sleep over the years.
Neil, who relaxes by tending to his veg patch, koi pond, and exotic pets, said: "The main thing I do is cook. Batch-cooking is my cup of tea. It’s really what I look forward to – cooking is my bread and butter."
Santhosh Kumar Naiir, head chef at Salkaara
In the two years since opening in Llandaff North, Salkaara is a firm favourite for Indian cuisine in the city.
At its helm is 49-year-old Santhosh making sure everything runs to plan.
He said: "My mother is the solo inspiration behind my cooking. It was the food she made which shaped the passion in me."
With a small team behind him, Santhosh's shifts can be anything upwards of 10 hours a day cooking for between 30 and 40 diners.
Fortunately the job is one he enjoys and wouldn't swap for anything else.
He said: "The work is hectic most of the day but since it is my passion I enjoy my work more than anything.
"My only motive is to give freshly-prepared quality food for my customers. For me customers are everything and their support is the reason behind my success."
To keep himself in shape Santhosh will go for a run every morning while he also loves swimming.
