Regular readers of the blog will know of my dislike of food that “gilds the lily“, the unnecessary over elaboration that all too often removes a dish from its roots and rather than enhancing it usually ruins it or is just pointless bling. The Salt Bae gold leaf coated abomination of a steak is a case in point.

The gold adds $600 to the price of the goldless tomahawk (still a crazy $500) in the Miami restaurant and as a inert, totally tasteless, element adds absolutely zero (bar from making the person who ordered it look like an utter wankxr) to the dish.

A fool and their money are easily parted as the saying goes!

Italian food, which is at its best when it combines just a small number of top quality ingredients, seem to be a prime target of the adultorers/doratori de giglio. Think the much abused spaghetti alla carbonara (put cream in it and it ain’t a carbonara is it, any more than painting stripes on a horse makes it a zebra).

This bring me to Il Giglio, a new Italian at the top of Pencisely Road in Cardiff which has very much a classic trattoria feel to its menu

It is quite an affluent area of Cardiff, with the big piles on Pencisely Road, but for some reason the row of shops at the top of that road hasn’t been a particularly happy hunting ground for food (retail or restaurant) establishments. I am hoping this place and the adjacent (and equally new) Moura, will change this.

Il Giglio means “The lily” in Italian (hence my usual tortured post title) and the menu suggests a very much “keep is simple” approach,

with no gilding of that lily (pineapple does appear on a pizza here – begone foul demonfruit – which seems to be the one major aberration on the menu).

The pasta section gratifyingly includes a carbonara which isn’t mucked about with, including the ingredients and only the ingredients that make it an actual carbonara (spaghetti, guanciale, egg yolk, pecorino and lashing of ginger beer  – well it does make for a famous five – black pepper) on the menu descriptor (praise the Lord).

First up were the starter and whilst the fritto misto on the menu initially appealed (just calamari and prawns seem to me to be missing a trick with a need for a bit of pesce – some sprats would have been nice, just didn’t see enough of those these days), I pumped for that epitome of Italian simplicity in the form of the bruschetta pomodorina (£6.95).

Being basically bread, oil and tomato, plus seasoning. There is no place to hide with this dish, which lives or dies on the quality of the bread and above all the tomatoes. Watery tomatoes and a paucity of seasoning and this dish is an absolute “Can’t stand the bland” busted flush.

Decent tasting toms, with OK bread and olive oil.

A touch more seasoning would have been better for my tastes (but I am a bit of a salt fiend) and not sure as to the point of the side salad/garnish (at least it was dressed). Bit more of the bread and toms and ditch the side salad would be my advice.

Other starters ordered were a good mussel dish (£10.95), with the mussels nicely sized meaty Popeye numbers, a good punchy (tomato based) sauce and a decent chilli hit (bit more bread would have been nice for mopping up duties)

and a generous calamari dish (£9.95)

The latter were (according to Mrs. SF) nicely cooked with a thin crisp batter, a non chewy interior and a good garlic mayo for dunking. She suspected they may have been from frozen, due to uniformity of size and shape, but they tasted nice enough. Again the side salad seemed a bit surplus to requirement and a little OTT in size. A less is often more approach should be applied here re the oversized garnishes.

After my usual carbonara rant you would think I would have gone for that, but the  amatriciana al cinghiale (£13.50) rather took my fancy. I have always liked the “in your face” flavour of a “cheeky” bit of guanciale and I hoped it coming from (rather than being served to) a hairy faced boar (I have been called worse) would bring an extra dimension to it.

Such a simple, but satisfying, combo with the idea being that you get savoury from the guanciale, sweet from the tomato and salt and a umami hit from the pecorino.

A generous portion size, with the pasta sauce greater than the sum of its simple parts.

Good balancing of flavours here with the sweet tanginess of the tomatoes offset by the fatty meatiness of the guanciale and the saltiness of the cheese. The sauce wasn’t soupy but found its way into every bit of the pasta (inside and out). Personally think a pappadelle or bucatini in lieu of the penne would have been a better pasta choice (but penne worked well enough).

Mrs. SF had the lasagne (£12.50) which she pronounced as pretty good (although not as good as hers). A richly flavoured, hearty, ragu, using beef from the Italian chianina breed (generally what they use for bistecca alla fiorentina), was sandwiched between yielding (but not overcooked) sheets of thin pasta and a good bechamel (ideally could have had a bit more blister and colour on the top and this is where the side salad, perhaps, would have been better deployed).

Mr. SF has high standards when it comes to lasagne, so a thumb up from her is praise indeed. I have rarely had a better lasagne than Mr. SF’s and have very fond memories of her cooking it for me when we first started dating back in 1825.

J threatened to order the Pizza Hiwaiana, to spite me, but in keeping with the “back to basics” theme went for the spaghetti aglio, olio e peperconcio (garlic, olive oil and chilli)

Again, as with my pasta dish, the few ingredients combined to achieve something greater than the sum of its  parts. The starchy pasta water, oil and garlic had combined to create an emulsion which liberally coated the well (not over cooked, so still with a touch of bite) spaghetti. The chilli added a welcome touch of heat and the garlic a sweet alium butteriness. A very simple dish, but one well executed here

On the booze front, the list has generally what you would expect with no great surprises (nice to see a grillo on there, but a few more Sicilian wines would have been nice) 

Some of the descriptors are a little odd. Really not sure what the “The best Italy’s white of Burgundy …” is all about in terms of the Pinot Grigio 🤷‍♀️.

Despite my lobbying for the grillo, I was outvoted by Mrs. SF and J (who tend to gang up on me when we are all out) as they wanted a red. We (having already had a couple of bottles in the next door Moura – more on that next week) didn’t go large here (so only the 5 bottles – actually just the one) and I plumped for the montepalciano d’ abruzzo. Generally a good wine to pair with the hearty pasta dishes we had.

Decent enough drop, with plenty of fruit in the mix in the form of predominately red cherry, which I would call a touch rustic and needing of food to round off its more angular edges.  On the list here at £26.95, it retails at about a tenner so a fair mark up by UK standards.

The verdict

I think it is fair to say the rubber lads are not going to be knocking on the door here anytime soon, but the food is well flavoured and generously apportioned. They do the simple stuff that the Italians tend to excel at and they do a pretty decent job of it to my mind. I would say Calabrisella in Canton is the nearest comparator.

I thought it good value at a smidgen over £89 (sans the tip) for 3 of us, including a bottle of wine. Service was very affable without being intrusive (no phallic giant pepper grinders).

A good addition to the neighbourhood and I hope they do well. Certainly packed on our early Friday evening visit.

They also do a decent looking fixed price (competitively priced) lunch menu (actually think with the portion sizes just one course would be fine at lunch unless you intend to make it your main meal).

and breakfasts.

The details

Address: 4 Waungron Road, Llandaff, Cardiff, CF5 2JJ

Website: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092820339038