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CITY CENTRE
Casanova The Italian Restaurant
Don’t you just love it when you discover a restaurant you love that you never knew existed? Well, hidden away from the business of St. Mary’s Street and Westgate Street in Central Cardiff is Quay Street, where you’ll find Casanova Italian Restaurant. And what an absolute find at that!
Casanova was born in January 2005 from the idea of three friends; Angelo Montuori, Antonio Cerosimo and Luca Montuori with the idea to bring authentic Italian cuisine to Cardiff through a combination of traditional regional food and the latest Italian recipes. It is just a stones-throw away from the Millennium Stadium and, for those designated drivers (like myself on this occasion), you’ll be happy to know there is an NCP multi-storey car park conveniently on the same street.
My partner James and I had something special to celebrate – moving into our first home together, and Casanova proved the perfect setting to mark this occasion in style. Known for using quality local produce and prime ingredients, combined with the chef’s skills Casanova has built up an excellent reputation throughout the country and I was definitely looking forward trying it myself. The decor had a clean, contemporary design with a splash of Italian flair. I was very impressed that we were greeted by an Italian spoken waitress, who offered menus and details of the specials, and left to deliberate over a surprisingly good glass of house white.
I was driving so it was more like half a glass before James ‘kindly’ swapped it for his lemonade. At this point, Luca (one of the restaurant owners) emerged from upstairs to greet the diners. Casanova is absolutely heaving when there’s an event on in the stadium as it has ample capacity upstairs.
As I’m a great lover of seafood, and don’t get to eat enough of it, whenever I eat that’s usually what I choose. Casavona gets their seafood from Ashton’s fishmonger (more details on page 24) which provides fresh fish on a daily basis. To start, I chose Seppie e piselli (tender pieces of squid cooked with peas) and James had Sarde al soar (Traditional Venetian recipe of fresh sardines marinated (served at room temp) with sweet and sour onions, served on toasted bread). The squid was cooked to perfection; it was so tender and meaty. I’d not tasted squid like that before – it just peeled apart.
The squid went very well with the peas and, although the portion was quite generous, the dish was light and tasty. James’ starter looked lovely, so as a girlfriend’s prerogative, I had a taste of his too (and every other course that followed). The marinade was mouth watering and not at all overpowering.
Given how impressed we were with our starters, we were really looking forward to our mains. I ordered the Anatra al balsamico (pan fried duck breast with a reduction of balsamic vinegar, cauliflower purée and rose flat mushroom which was served pink) and James chose the seafood special – Pappardelle mare e monti, a dish of freshly cooked pappardelle pasta with king prawns, wild mushrooms and white truffle sauce. The duck was served pink with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar that really gave this dish its bite and perfectly complemented the mushroom and cauliflower purée. James’ special was equally tasty and I could have happily had half of his too!
Between our main and dessert we were offered a small glass of pineapple sorbet which was really refreshing. I was pretty full by now, but I made sure that I had a little room for dessert – funny how that always happens! We ordered the tiramisu’ (layers of Savoiardi biscuits, espresso coffee, Marsala, mascarpone cheese and dark chocolate chips) and Torta al Cioccolato (homemade chocolate and hazelnut cake, served with vanilla ice cream). I am definitely a chocoholic so the home made chocolate and hazelnut cake was just up my street!
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