I am rather proud of this title, despite it being pure cringe (you would expect no less of me, surely), with trulli being traditional dry stone buildings (with a distinctive conical, corbelled, roof) typically of the Puglia/Apulia region of Italy conjoined with an “Instagramtastic” taste adjective (if had gone the full “Instadescriptor“, it could have been “Trulli cooked to perfection” or “Trulli to die for” I suppose) to get to a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang character. Little things, please little minds as the saying goes, and it rather pleased mine.
The title, with its Puglian/Apulian reference, brings me to the recent setting up of Franco Apulia Street Food in St. Andrew Church coffee court (on the junction of Wellfield Road, Pen Y Lan Road, Ninian Road and Malborough Road – a dog related matter at the vets on the latter being why I had venture out East) in Roath.
The set up is rather intriguing, with a horse box and a wood burning oven (blazingly away nicely when I arrived).
Some may be a little incensed 😉 by trading on church grounds, but I am all for duel use/bringing space back into productive use.
Can’t say I have much experience of Puglian street food, with it not being exactly widespread in the UK.
Looking at the menu,
this is a surprise.
Give me this sort of food over McDonald’s muck (I am not a fan and if that makes me a food snob then so be it) any day of the week, with the thought of deep fried dough filled with tomato, mozzarella and other goodies (panzerotti) and pastry tarts filled with ricotta or egg custard (and often cherries) (pasticciotto) making for a far more attractive proposition (to my mind, at least) than a Big Mac and a molten McDonalds’ apple pie (whose interior is according to reliable sources, me – based on the only one I had 30 odd years ago, the hottest substance in the known universe, reaching in excess of 101 billion Kelvin).
I went for the Rudy Valentino (apparently a rather smoldering 1920’s Hollywood actor known as the ” Latin Lover“) panzerotti, with a filling of san marzano tomato sauce, mozzarella, caramelised onions and goats cheese.
Sort of like a calzone, but with a lovely crisp, bubbly, outer shell of dough from it being deep fried (oil bob on temp wise, thus no oily residue).
The interior was nicely hot, being at the food goldilocks temperature so as to not incinerate the roof of the mouth but still being piping hot, with a nice sweetness from the san marzano sauce and caramelised onions balanced out by the lactic creaminess of the mozzarella and tartness of the goats cheese.
Classy bit of fast food this, with it being eminently portable, very tasty and rather keenly priced at £4.50.
For a quick lunch it is all you really need, but I (of course) had more in the form of some good crispy fries (£2 50 – for those shouting at the back it is not a pizza so it is fine)
and some sweet pettoles (£2.50).
The latter were fried dough balls, with a liberal dousing of icing sugar. As I understand it, they are often savoury, but worked a treat as sweet (with a bit of body to them, but not being too dense or too sweet).
The setting is outdoors and I was lucky with the weather
but there is sheltered sitting if it is more inclement.
This all cost me the less than princely sum of £9, which to me is great value. Cheaper than a Big Mac, large fries and an apple pie and a lot better I would surmise (as indicated above I have not be to one for 30 odd years, but as they trade on rigid conformity I assume it hasn’t changed much).
The chaps there are really nice, giving Oscar
and me a gratis treat,
the latter a try of their really nice san marzano sauce topped focaccia (full portion is a mere £2.50). Lovely and light, with a pleasing bubbly texture and a lovely sauce on top. Very good indeed this.
The verdict
I really liked the food here, which works sitting in or on the run. The panzerotti is my kind of food, with the delightfully crisp dough encasing a very well flavoured and generously filled interior. The fries were nice (did need salt – provided on request), but aren’t really necessary. Next time, I would go for the cialledda salad to accompany my panzerotti.
The cherry on the cake (sadly they were out of the pasticciotto, which often include dark cherries ) or perhaps the cherry tomato on the panzerotti is the price. For the panzerotti, these start at £4.00 (for you basic San Nicola) and top out at £4.95 (for the meat feast and piccante versions). Extras of either njuda or ricotta forte (latter not for the faint hearted apparently) would add a mere 50p.
For the quality of the panzerottis here, these prices are some bargain. Made for very much a “buon pasto“.
Parking along Ninian Road is pretty easy (I worked off my lunch with a amble around the park with the dog), with two hours gratis. There is also their stall (where the ill-fated Smashed used to be, I believe) in the market if you are in central Cardiff and in need of a good value lunch.
Deserves to do well this place, I will definitely be back.
The details
Address: Pen -y – Lan Road side of St. Andrew’s coffee court, Wellfield Road Cardiff, CF24 3RB
and
Cardiff Central Market, Ground Floor (Hayes entrance side) Stall 179 -182, Cardiff, CF10 1AU.
Soliciting Flavours 