Saturday 12 November 2016

Porro, Wellfield Road, Cardiff Italian restaurant review


Wellfield Road’s branch of Porro is the second in the family of Italian restaurants from the Potted Pig team.

With interesting ingredients like burrata, ’nduja and mocetta, Porro’s menu avoids the usual lasagne and pepperoni clichés. They've done a sterling job with the restaurant refurb too – I’m always a sucker for exposed brickwork, wood panels, filament bulbs and pretty tiles.


We knocked back bottles of Peroni Red (£3.90) with ease and warmed our palettes up with a snack of fiery and meaty 'nduja (£4) served on sourdough toast.


A trio of perfectly formed tortellini (£7) were filled with delicately sweet pumpkin puree and garnished with fragrant sage infused butter, crisp fried sage leaves and shavings of savoury parmesan. 


Golden arancini (£6) were packed with al dente risotto flecked with yielding pieces of ox cheek. They were joined by a punchy and vibrant salsa verde which counterbalanced the richness of the dish. 


Onto mains, and blushing pink lamb slices (£17) with well rendered fat were joined by a glossy sauce, buttery cavolo nero, stock rich lentils, a thunderously good piece of crumbed lamb belly and more of the excellent salsa verde. 


My main was delicious but not quite as good the one across the table. Al dente linguine (£13), earthy and sweet brown and white crab meat, tomatoes, thin slices of courgette, fresh parsley and the hum of chilli all combined well.


Dessert brought the only meh point of the night. A light and subtly tangy baked ricotta tart (£6) with slightly soft pastry was joined by a quenelle of creamy mascarpone. It was a pleasant pud but it needed a bigger hit of flavour. 


In contrast, my flourless chocolate torte (£7) was an indulgent corker of a dessert. The rich and gooey torte with a crisp exterior was drizzled with salty chocolate sauce and served with a scoop of nut studded hazelnut ice cream. 


Dinner at Porro was excellent. Despite the prevalence of Italian restaurants in the Wellfield Road area it’s undoubtedly bringing something different to the table. I can see myself becoming a regular.

The Details:

*Update - 16/06/2018 - Porro Roath is now closed. The Llandaff branch is under new ownership*

Address - Porro, 57 Wellfield Road, Roath, Cardiff CF24 3PA
Telephone - (029) 2240 2200

6 comments:

  1. Such a lovely and warm ambiance, and I love the exposed brick. The dishes look very nice.

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    1. @Linda - The interior is lush! Cracking food too.

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  2. I went to the original one in Llandaff last year. Food was good, but the wine was god awful. It had what appeared to be a great selection of wines, but having tried nearly all the reds (we were a large group), we didn't find one that was good (even up to £50 a bottle!). All seemed like bad and cheap versions of the famous types i.e. Barolo, Chianti, Montepulciano. Shame

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    1. @Scott - Ah that's a shame. I very rarely tend to drink wine so I didn't discover that flaw. I'm pretty content with drinking Peroni red!

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  3. Massive disappointment,starters sent back,mains subsequently over cooked. The wines,Pinot Grigo was rank whilst the Primitivo OK. Vinsanto and biscotti was in fact a biscotto that you couldn't dunk in the glass, tthe former OK the latter tasteless. Front of house service and response to three serious lunch buddies concerns was top drawer,but in the final analysis we trooped out feeling glum.

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    1. @Unknown - Oh dear, that's a real shame. We've been back for a second meal and it was just as good as our first.

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