Bosco, Cardiff city centre Italian restaurant review

FOMOOF is a very specific type of fear of missing out that I suffer from. It's food, of course.

Whenever someone posts about a delicious looking sandwich / burger / curry / anything edible (delete as appropriate) from somewhere in Cardiff that I haven't tried before, I invariably develop the urge to eat the same thing as soon as possible.

But, I suffer from FOMOOF the most when Mrs G goes out for a meal without me. So, when Mrs G planned an Italian meal at Villaggio with a friend, I decided to take myself out for dinner at Bosco to calm my FOMOOF.

Located on the High Street, Bosco opened in Cardiff city centre at the end of 2025 and is part of a small independent chain of five pizzerias and trattorias spread across the southwest of England and Wales.

The first thing that’s worth saying about Bosco is just how stunning their dining room is. In fact, I can’t think of many nicer spaces in Cardiff. With its dark wood panelling, sweeping bar, atmospheric lighting, and banquette seating, it oozes mid-century Italian style.

Their extensive menu comprises pizza and pasta as well as small and large plates. But between 12pm and 6pm on a weekday, they offer an excellent value three courses for £22. Available is a selection of three starters, mains and dessert, including arancini, ribollita and Swoon gelato.

On the drinks front, a goblet of smooth and chunky Sicilian Il Barroccio Rosso (£6.50) was a lovely house wine. I’d have gladly seen off a couple of glasses.

To start, a naughty take on courgette fritti saw thick batons of the tender squash coated in a light and grease free batter. Whilst they were a little low on seasoning themselves, plenty of flavour came from a drizzle of sticky hot honey and a flurry of savoury grano padano cheese.

Onto my main, and a very generously proportioned margherita pizza was well topped with fruity tomato sauce, fragrant basil and creamy mozzarella. 

Whilst this Neapolitan style pizza had the expected leopard spotted crust and very good aeration, it also had a nice crispness that I think resulted from a dusting of semolina flour.

Finally, a proper slab of tiramisu combined light mascarpone cream, soft sponge fingers that were well soaked with coffee and the boozy nuttiness of amaretto, and dusted with cocoa. It was an excellent example of one of my all-time favourite desserts.

I had a delicious and cracking value early dinner at Bosco and it makes me all the more keen to go back to try their main menu. Most importantly, it assuaged any FOMOOF that I had from Mrs G eating out without me.

The details:

Address - Bosco, 14 High Street, Cardiff CF10 1AX

Web - https://www.boscopizzeria.co.uk/pages/restaurants/cardiff

Telephone - 02921 111 345

Zylia, London Greek Cypriot restaurant review

Greek and Cypriot food seems to be having a bit of a moment. 

Well, that’s at least according to the trend reports I’ve read in work and judging by the number of Greek and Cypriot restaurants that we’ve been to in London lately. During two previous trips we had meals at Oma and Agora and on our most recent visit we tried out Zylia. 

Located on the edge of the newly opened Arcade Food Hall in Covent Garden, Zylia bills itself as a “Greek Cypriot taverna” and is one of the city’s hottest new openings in the last few months. 

It’s owned by Athenian-born chef Nick Molyviatis, the co-owner of Singburi and former head chef of Kiln, Agora and Oma, alongside Cypriot restaurateur Barry Karacostas. 

Zylia’s dining room is pure sunshine vibes with its knick-knack adorned picture rail, woven lampshades, wafts of smoke from the charcoal grill and myriad beers cooling on ice. 

Their menu comprises of a mix of mezze, salads and grilled meat and fish. At the bottom end of the grilled meat scale, chicken souvlaki weighs in at £13.50 whilst a sharing beef chop with Corfu sofrito sauce will set you back £68. 

A gargantuan bottle of ice cold Keo lager immediately put me in a holiday mood. At £7 for a 630ml bottle, it was belting value for central London too. Mrs G kept things classy with a glass of crisp Three Bowls Assyrtiko (£9.50). 

There was a little bit of a wait for starters as the till system had gone down. So, we were brought complimentary olives (£5) – an excellent mix of preserved lemon charged green olives and grown-up savoury black olives.

Next followed a couple of dips, the standout of which was creamy and salty taramosalata (£7) topped with the crunch of carob rusks. 

A chunky charred aubergine and pepper dip (£7.50) was a bit subtle on the smoke but it was packed with fresh green herbs.

They were accompanied with a generous basket of very good mixed breads (£6) - pita, flatbread and a sesame loaf, all with a compelling kiss of char.

A Greek salad (£14.50), which included sweet tomatoes and crunchy cucumber and a nuggets of salty and tangy feta cheese, let the quality of the produce do the talking,

Sheftalia (£14), caul fat wrapped pork sausages, were plump and juicy things. The coarsely minced squat sausages sang with green herbs and spices. 

Finally, (£15) beautifully tender sweetbread saganaki were sat in an emulsified citrus spiked sauce. Unfortunately, it was a race against time to eat them before the sauce made their crisp crumb soggy.

We were impressed by the summery cooking at Zylia and the rise in popularity of Greek and Cypriot food is a trend that I can most definitely get on board with. 

The Details:

Address - Zylia, 6 Bedford Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9HZ
Web - https://zyliataverna.com/
Telephone - 020 3837 5719