Location, location, location.
There’s a reason why they say it three times.
Whether you’re buying a house or running a restaurant, it’s often crucial to how well things work out.
Location can impact everything from passing trade, competition, and curb appeal to parking places, spending power and transport links.
So, it’s interesting that Casablanca’s 800 metre move from City Road to Albany Road clearly seems to have done them the world of good.
Whilst this Moroccan and Lebanese restaurant opened on City Road in 2023, I’d always considered it to be just one of the many restaurants on this jam-packed street that I’d eventually get around to visiting.
However, as soon as I saw they were relocating to a newly renovated venue a few minutes’ walk from our house, I was keen to get stuck in as soon as possible.
Plenty of other people clearly had the same idea as us because on the Saturday night we visited, just a few weeks after their move and at the start of Ramadan, they were absolutely slammed. Numerous walk-ins were turned away and a few adjacent tables had hefty waits to get their orders in. Fortunately, we avoided any of these issues and had swift service from the friendly front of house team.
It’s fair to say that Casablanca have done a cracking job with the refurb of their new home – it’s a beauty of a dining room with contemporary design features mixed with traditional tiles, wall plates and an assortment of Moroccan objets d'art.
With its focus on Moroccan cooking, Casablanca’s menu has a real point of difference. Dishes on offer include chicken pastilla, lamb tangia, and an assortment of tagines and couscous.
To drink a Casablanca Spritz (£6.50) delivered a light and refreshing combination of citrus and mint whilst a peach and mint tea (£6) had a good hit of sweet stone fruit and a cooling freshness.
When I realised that Casablanca also serves alcohol, I followed my soft drink up with a pint of Poretti lager.
We shared a couple of starters, and both were delicious.
Chicken briwat (£7.50) saw a trio of crisp filo triangles stuffed with warming spiced diced meat. They were delicious dredged through a pot of light textured yet potent garlic toum. Salad leaves, which were buried beneath the pastries, looked a bit lacklustre and there really wasn’t much point to them.
A generous bowl of thick and silky tahini rich hummus (£6.50) was studded with whole chickpeas and drizzled with oil.
Warm khobez bread was the ideal shovelling implement.
Having been tipped off about the lamb tagine (£17.50) by a good friend, it was the first on our list of dishes to order. We weren’t disappointed. A whopping nudgingly tender slow-cooked lamb shank was a cracker of a piece of meat. Topped with plump apricots, prunes and sultanas and the crunch of almonds, the hefty piece of meat was sat in a bowl of rich meaty broth with a compelling savoury sweetness.
Served on the side was warm, soft and tightly crumbed Moroccan batbout bread, which very much reminded me of a Geordie stottie. I was in my element.
Our other main – chicken seven vegetable couscous was delicious (£18) but not quite as good.
A mound of stock rich couscous was topped with a tender half chicken with commendably juicy and flavoursome dark meat. However, the breast was just on the verge of tipping towards dryness. The colourful vegetable garnish comprised of a nicely cooked mix of courgette, carrot and squash as well as a pile of sweet, cinnamon-spiced caramelised onions flecked with plump sultanas.
Vital saucing and additional layers of flavour came from a jug of compellingly chicken and citrusy broth.
On a separate visit, I tried out Casablanca’s daytime menu, which offers brunch dishes like shakshuka, sujuk and eggs, fatayer pastries and batbout sandwiches.
I opted for the Casablanca shakshuka (£12) which was served in a bubbling terracotta cauldron that was hotter than the earth's core. It was just as well because otherwise I would have inhaled the delicious dish within a matter of minutes.
A mix of soft peppers, potatoes, aubergines and two runny-yolked eggs were bathed in a lightly spiced
and not too sweet chunky tomato sauce.
More of that addictively soft crumbed stottie-like batbout bread was served on the side.
A pot of light and fresh mint tea (£2.50) was the ideal accompaniment.
We both really enjoyed Casablanca’s delicious and well-priced Moroccan cooking, and it brings something different to Albany Road. I hope they do well in their new home - their location certainly stands them in good stead.
The Details:
Address - Casablanca, 112 Albany Road, Cardiff CF24 3RU
Telephone - 029 2047 2772
