My ongoing quest for cheap lunchtime eats took me to Roath and Wellfield Road, with J, via a rather tortuous route.
She said “Fancy lunch on Friday” to which I responded positively and (without looking and assuming they would be open on a Friday lunchtime) said “Shall we try the new, bigger, Roma’Eats”.
Looking forward to a Roman style pizza I asked if she was driving (as to get there she has to pretty much drive past my house and it would seem silly for both of us to drive). She said yes, does 13.00 work for you? I think I was absolutely right to assume that that meant she was picking me up – I mean you would wouldn’t you?
At 13.06 I was wondering where she was and got a Whatsapp message saying “Just parking up (it is really busy and have had to park a fair way away)“. Slightly perplexed, as I live on a corner plot with acres of on street parking, I looked out the window to see loads of space where you could park a bloody bus let alone J’s mini (although minis these days are far from mini and more maxi) and asked where she was, thinking she could just stop outside and I’d nip out so no need to actually park up. “Roath, where do you bloody think and by the way Roma’Eats isnt open until four” was pretty much her response
After a brief exchange of me “I thought you were picking me up“, her “No, but thinking about it it would have made sense” 🙄, we concluded no matter as there are plenty more options in that neck of the woods.
I, therefore, hopped into the jalopy (set at gas mark 5, as the aircon is on the blink) and tanked it over there. Based on J’s parking travails I nipped into the first convenient (ish) space and then walked much farther than I should have had to passing loads and loads of eminently accessible parking spaces.
After a bit of “where the hell are you” our paths coalesced outside Saraztro and we both saw the lunch menu offer. Thinking it would be good to compare as against the West’s Athenian Tree offering, (which we had tried a couple of months back) in we wandered.
A rather smashing, but somewhat confusing, Greek plate arrangement greeted us
as we perused the lunch
and wider menu.
The mention of tapas on the lunch menu rather raised my hackles, as there is a perfectly good word in use for this type of nibbly food from the Eastern Mediterranean and that word is meze.
We decided (as I huffed and puffed with indignation) to forgo that element of the lunch offer and chose two “starter” off the main menu.
It it just me or are the padron peppers oddly out of place here (about as Greek as a Yorkshire pudding)?
It would also appear that I wrote the garlic prawn entry (or are “o” and “a” interchangeable in Greek?).
Filo parcels (£4.90) were quite nice, with good crisp filo (just a touch oily if I was being ultra critical) and a nice balance of salty feta and herbs to the filling. Still find it odd how sharing dishes often come in portions of three (is it more common for people to eat out in groups of 3 or 6 than 2 or 4 – surprises me if it that is the case), especially when here we got 4 bits of pitta with the other starter. The supposed answer is odd numbers are pleasing aesthetically to the diner’s eye sounds like bollocks to me, as 4 rather than 3 is much more pleasing to my eye, wallet and stomach.
Taramasalata (£4.50) was less successful, with it having that dayglo Barbie pink colour and a gloopy (lack of) texture I tend to associate with the 70s supermarket stuff. Lacking in flavour, it was a bit meh to be honest (we both concluded we should have gone for the hummus)
Back to the lunch menus, we both ordered souvilaki (£6.95), with me going for the pork and J the chicken.
I was pleasantly surprised that the menu referred to pork neck, which to me has a better flavour than tenderloin but can be a touch on the chewy side if not treated correctly.
Here a good marinade (olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and oregano I would hazard a guess) worked to loosen up the fibres and tenderise the meat and give it an extra flavour dimension which was enhanced by a nice char from the grill without any toughness.
Red onions added a nice zingy sharpness and a creamy garlic hit came from the quite potent tzatziki. The pitta did its job of soaking up the meat juices.
Very much enjoyed my souvalaki (as did J hers – although I personally prefer chicken thigh to the breast used here), with the only let down being the slight paucity of the chip portion and these not being incorporated into the wrap (I prefer the integrated to the on the side approach).
On the drinks front, the soft drinks are limited to the usual soda suspects (shame no Loux or Epsa) and the wine is quite internationally focused with only one Greek white and one Greek red.
Shame that, especially with neither of the Greek wines being available by the glass, as Greece really is a goldmine for quality wines these days (more of it on restaurant lists please).
Mark up wise, the Greek white retails at just under £8 as against the list price of £26 (with the same applying for the Greek red).
On the wider front, J’s pinot grigo rosè (which even she, of “this turps is OK, if a bit bracing“, winced a tad at on her first sip) was on the list at £21.90 as against an £8 retail price.
I went for a beer
and quite enjoyed my cold Efes (£4) on what was a warm day. Slightly odd to have a Turkish beer in a Greek place I thought, as they don’t tend to be the best of friends historically, but I quite like it (not a lot in it, but I think I marginally prefer it to Mythos😬).
The verdict
We enjoyed (taramasalata aside) our inpromptu meal here, with the lunch menu offering good value. The consensus of opinion from J and I was that the Athenian Tree (out West) edges it on value (bit cheaper) with similar quality, but this place was nice enough as a option for a cheap sit down lunch. A good quality £6.95 eat in lunch these days is certainly not to be sniffed at in my book.
One advantage here is you can nip just up the road for a ice cream from Joe’s and eat it in Roath Park (when the sun is our, which it was at the time, rather than the current monsoon conditions). J had what I would expect a 5 year old (sprinkles et al) to order, whilst I had a grown up rum and raisin (very nice it was to). The Athenian Tree has Calabrisella Gelateria close by, but it is then not really walkable to a park (Thomson, Victoria or Llandaff/Pontcanna Field) with you ice cream (especially if it is a hot day).
The details
Address: 47 Wellfield Road, Roath, Cardiff, CF24 3PA.
Soliciting Flavours 