It’s surprising how little “street food” is actually served on the street.
However, the more typically appropriate name of “purpose built market hall food” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.
So, when you’re out and about in the city and you want to grab a quick bite to eat, it’s always a nice change to see street food actually served where its name suggests.
One such place is Franco’s Panzerotteria, who was previously located in a tiny hut next to Cardiff Bay barrage. Since the start of this year he’s been based in a retro green van at the top of Roath Park Lake, next to the wild gardens.
So, when you’re out and about in the city and you want to grab a quick bite to eat, it’s always a nice change to see street food actually served where its name suggests.
One such place is Franco’s Panzerotteria, who was previously located in a tiny hut next to Cardiff Bay barrage. Since the start of this year he’s been based in a retro green van at the top of Roath Park Lake, next to the wild gardens.
I’ve always thought it would be a great place for a pop-up street food market to catch the steady footfall of people strolling around the lake on the weekend.
Originally hailing from southern Italy, Franco serves a menu of Apulian panzerotti (deep fried pizza pockets) as well as changing specials such as pasta bakes and sweet pies.
All the panzerotti are a priced at a straightforward £6 and fillings include Cotto e Funghi (ham and mushroom) and even a Vegano (vegan cheese, mushroom and spinach). There’s also an option to add a portion of fries for the sum of £7.25.
As an enthusiastic one-man band, Franco makes all his panzerotti from scratch. So, depending on how busy he is, there might be a bit of a wait. After five minutes we were armed with a pair of golden crescent moons and decamped to a lakeside bench to tuck in.
It’s worth emphasising just how ferociously hot the molten interior of a panzerotto is. Unless you want to strip the roof of your mouth off, it’s worth biting off the top and showing a little restraint whilst things cool down. I’ve previously learnt my lesson.
In the meantime, we tucked into a bag of rustlingly crisp salted fries.
The panzerotti dough was deliciously crisp yet soft – flavour-wise it almost reminded me of a savoury doughnut. Once you chomp your way through a few mouthfuls of the dough, you arrive at the main event.
A Piccante contained a creamy molten ooze of mozzarella, provolone picante and San Marzano tomato sauce that was flecked with the fiery heat of ‘nduja sausage. It was all very messy, a little bit oily and very tasty.
Even better was the Rudy Valentino. This time the molten mozzarella and tomato sauce was supplemented with tangy goats cheese and sweet caramelised onions with a nice bite. Compared to the liquid ‘nduja, the structural integrity of the goats cheese and onions made it a more substantial and successful bite to eat.
Nicely sated, we worked off a nominal number of calories on our walk back home around Roath Park.
We had a really tasty lunch from Franco’s Panzerotteria and I’d very much recommend a stroll around the lake and a bite to eat from his van. Due to challenging business conditions, Franco was on the verge of packing things in earlier this month – thankfully, as business has picked up he’s decided to give things a bit longer. I’d definitely say this is an independent business which is worth getting out there and supporting.
The Details:
Address - Wild Gardens Road, Cyncoed CF23 6DF
Opening days - Wednesday to Sunday
Had a lovely meat feast one today would definately recommend
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