I have always had a soft spot for the rather handsome Castle Arcade that branches off of the High Street and St Mary Street spine that runs through the city centre.

I still mourn the long time lost of  Wright’s Wine, which was always great for lunch although the self same Castle Arcade has the likes of Nighthawks and Ty Caws to meet my need for a wine and  cheese/charcuterie fix.

Dukes/High St. Arcades has been a bit less of a happy hunting ground, New York Deli aside,

both of which seem to have a depressingly large number of empty units (sign of the times with the current useless lot – they are all its seems in some weird competition as to who can be the most useless – intent on killing any entrepreneurial spirit stone dead, with a particular indifference towards the perils facing hospitality) at the moment.

Notwithstanding this, I noted the rather good (from my experience of their operation at Corp Market in Canton) Khione Deli has set up shop with a seemingly much more expansive food operation (than was case in Corp Market) in Dukes Arcade.

For a long overdue catch-up with ex. work wife Rachel, who can be a bit fussy with her food (not sure how we are friends on that basis), this place seemed an ideal venue.

Never one to miss an opportunity for an Italian lunch/lunch with Rachel off I tottled to town to give it un vortice.

Whilst the ground floor is all deli,

there is plentiful seating outside in the Arcade and upstairs.

Now the blog title (was always going to be a convoluted story behind it) alludes to the fact that Khione is the Greek goddess of snow and any place selling Itailan food is generally a bit of a wonderland for me. So even though we are still technically in summer (until the 22nd September) this place has the potential to amount to a proper winter wonderland for the likes of me.

The menu is an interesting mix of Italiano, with pinsas (a sort of ancient brother to pizza), bruchetta and  salads,

with a fair few nods to Sicily (always wanted to visit) such as arancini.

Notwithstanding the Sicilian nod, my eye was caught by the pinsa (more a Rome/Roman thing) element of the menu, with me enjoying my first ever one at Grano last year.

I decided on the Khione special (£15.50), with the advertised presence of a wild boar ragu very much sealing the deal.

Big bugger of a thing, with a rather more irregular shape than you get with a pizza.

It had a fulsome amount of toppings

and a crisp bubbly (almost focaccia like) base.

Generally very pleasant, with a nice balance of sweetness and acidity to the base of the ragu as against the richness of the melted cheese. My only qualm was the seeming paucity of one of the key ingredients in the form of the wild boar.

I was expecting a bit of earthy gaminess, but to be honest if it hadn’t said it was a wild boar ragu I don’t think I would have had much inkling that it was in the mix. 

Rachel had the Calabrese (£14.95, plus 80p for the addition of hot honey)

which I think was the better of the two.

Nice bit of heat from the njuda and a good quality piccante salami, with the hot honey adding sweetness to balance out the heat. I like njuda, but it can sometimes be laid on a bit thick and thus totally dominate proceedings. Here, it was applied more judiciously than some places and thus made its presence felt without overwhelming the other ingredients.

On the booze front, they have a decent selection of what looks like exclusively Sicilian wines

with prices pretty reasonable. Whilst we were there a couple of tables were drinking bottles of wine and sitting outside in the Arcade looked a nice spot to enjoy a glass or three with or without nibbles (in my old age nibbles are pretty much a prerequisite to any form of  booze drinking).

My only really quibble with the wine is the paucity of their “by the glass” offering. Would be nice to offer more than just the 2 house wines by the glass and it is pretty easily done with the current state of wine preservation technology. Nevertheless, I think this place would be a good addition to the Cardiff Wine Passport (great idea but now in need of a bit of a refresh in terms of new venues etc, in my humble opinion).

As it was a working day neither of us were drinking booze and defaulted to soft drinks. I forgot to take a picture of that bit of the menu, but the selection is one that offers more than your standard sodas, with an interesting selection of Sicilian softies

Rachel had the ginger beer whilst I risked the rose and lemon (both £2.95). I say risked as rose can be a fickle flavour in beverages, with it all too often dominating and being somewhat overpoweringly more mature lady’s boudair in nature. Here, it was pleasantly restrained, adding just a soupçon of florality to the citrus base. It was actually very nice and refreshing.

On the drinks front, one thing they didn’t do (sure they would have if we had asked, but don’t think should actually have to ask especially if you are automatically adding a service charge to the bill – see below) was put tap water to the table.

Verdict

Good addition to the city centre this, with an interesting food and drinks menu.

It certainly made for a good venue for a catch up (we are both now of the age where conversation seems to increasingly revolve around aching joints).

It isn’t particularly cheap, but the food ingredients are quality and portion sizes generous (you could easily share a pinsa between two). As such, it is very much a case of “you pays your money and takes your choice“. I do hope it is successful as Dukes Arcade and High Street Arcade are in need of a bit more pizzazz and this is a nice venue for a drink or food or both.

The bill for food, drinks and service (automatically added – grrr)

came to just over £20 each.

On the subject to the service charge/gratuity, I tend to tip 12.5% – 15% for good service, but if it is a charge that is applied automatically then I will never up it (you have in effect taken the discretionary element away from me). Here, it was applied as a gratuity at a rate of 10%. Firstly, it is not (in my view) a gratuity if it is applied automatically, and secondly, by doing so they lost out as it was lower than the rate I would habitually tip at.

Now I suspect the argument is that this is to cover for people who don’t tip, but that argument fails as if it is applied irrespective of the customer it ain’t a gratuity it is a charge. If so, just add that margin to food and drink prices and pay staff accordingly or be up front in the menu and say it is part of the charge for eating somewhere (and thus no need whatsoever to tip). Seems to work in Japan, so why not here?

I know it is desperately hard out there for hospitality, but I do think automatically adding an extra charge, calling it a  “gratuity” and pretending it is optional is shooting yourself in the foot a bit. Perhaps I am the only one it irritates, but I suspect not.

Details

Address: 9-11 Duke Street Arcade, Cardiff CF10 1AZ

Website: https://www.khionedeli.com/