According to my rudimental Italian “vicino” mean neighbour and (due to my age) this word always results in my brain singing to itself the “Neigbours” theme tune with the line ” Everyone needs good neighbours” which always seemed to be on the telly when I got back to my shared slum residence off City Road after the last of day’s lectures at Uni backed in 1735 (actually as I was a lazy arse at Uni, it was more likely around the time I got out of bed).

Now a decent bar is always a good thing for a neigbourhood (in my book) and Vicino happens to be the name of a place I have been wanting to try out for a while. As it doesn’t open at lunch times, I wandered down for a very late lunch at 16.00 on a Friday to see what this newish kid on the block was like.

According to the blurb on their  Itsamaaaazingram feed and (the ever reliable) Gourmet Gorro, Vicino in (what I will always regards as) Canton (not Pontcanna – that is a bridge too far I would say) seems exactly the sort of place any neighbourhood needs, with a mix of good quality booze (by which I mean wine, but appreciate others may construed it as including cocktails – I mean they are wrong, but ….) and interesting offering of plate dishes.

I am intentionally not using the word tapas here as it is such an abused term in the UK these days. I frankly dispair at the ongoing description of [add a cuisine which has nothing to do with Spain] picky bits as tapas. I mean isn’t calling Indian or Thai food Indian/Thai tapas akin to calling a jamon croqueta a chaat or Kap klaem?  I know everyone sort of knows what tapas is (actually in my experience they don’t as what most people ask for/get is all to often actually more like a media racion), so its use does give diners an idea that they won’t be getting a full blown meal, but jesus it is just so bloody lazy to call everything that isn’t a full blown 3 course meal tapas.

Thankfully the menu in this place does not refer to tapas, 

and rather keeps it (with a mix of Spanish and Italian nibbles) at just small plates/table food (plus toasties and sandwiches).

I approve of this wording and when I am in charge I may make it mandatory, along with an “Off to the salt mines with you” edict if you apply a Yorkshire pudding to a non beef roast dinner or call something with cream in it a carbonara or a sandwich a sando (the latter subject to a few very strictly Japanese related exemptions, but the first two being strict liability offences). I suspect this would increase salt production no end, but as I like salt quite a lot perhaps that would be no bad thing and would align to the 5 year salt production quotas I would impose on all comrades (bar from me and a chosen few, of course) equally.

The rather pointless addition of the word garlic in front of aioli (in the context of the tortilla dish) did raise my hackles somewhat mind.

On the food front, I had pretty high hopes as the place is part of the Sonder stable whose food I rate. I would say I have been just a tad less enamoured by Sonder’s wine offering which was a bit of a concern as the food at Vicino would seem a little secondary to the booze offering (i.e. it is first and foremost a bar), but as is clear from my above “Off to the salt mines with you” comment I am very open to having my mind changed once I have formed a firm opinion 🙄.

It is a rather nice space inside (must have spent a bit of cash on it) and it is always good in my eyes when a place welcomes dogs.

I would have taken Dick the dog if he wasn’t (well) such a dick when out (I have heard tell that dogs often take after their owners and Dick seems to very much demonstrate the truth of this) but actually inside the space is quite tight so it was probably for the best that I decided on not bringing him.

In terms of booze, I focused on the wine,

and the by the glass options (as I was flying solo). I do like the fact that these came in various glass sizes (125ml/175ml, the latter the standard size of serving) and carafe (I hearty approve of this size and think more/all places should offer this) format, as well as bottle size (including in one instance what appeared to allude to a  magnum – the Greppi rosso).

Bottle prices look pretty fair (if at the slightly higher end price wise),

with the Greppicaia retailing at plus £50 (so £85 on this list here is pretty good). At first blush this reasonable level of mark up is not limited to the higher end stuff with the I Greppi viognier around the £20 mark  retail and on the list at £38. A little limited in its geographical scope and its rather truncated size would be my only criticisms.

I decided on a glass of the greppi rosso (£10/175ml)

Nice wine this (a Bordeaux/super Tuscan blend), with cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc in the mix (I believe). Easy drinking number, with red and dark fruits, a pleasing touch of spice and soft tannins.

With this I had ordered the house crisps adorned with guindilla peppers and jamon (£8) and a slice of tortilla (£5). The latter a second, distinct, dish rather than also atop the crisps.

Really enjoyed the crisp number,

with the crisps (only slightly salted) covered in generous blanket of fatty jamon but still retaining a crunch.  Pickled guindilla peppers added a nice touch of sour heat to the equation. A very fine picky bit this, which equates tona rather superior riff on a bag of Torres jamon crisps

I had to wait a bit for the tortilla as it was being made across the road at Sonder.

It was certainly worth the slight wait, with a slightly crisp eggie crust adorned with a drift of grated cheese (manchego I would hazard a guess, based on its nuttiness), giving way to yielding cubes of nicely seasoned potato and golden caramelised onion

This was a pretty good tortilla, with a robust level of seasoning (an underseasoned tortilla is the epitome of bland, bland, bland, with the amount of salt my Spanish friends put in one’s they make jawdropping even for a salt fiend like me) and the soft confited potatoes and caramelised onions being the stars of the show. I know purist may dispute the addition of onions, but I think here they add a nice sweetness to the proceedings. 

The aioli was suitably loaded with garlic, which was not too astringent. Why they called it garlic aioli is beyond me, as it is either garlic mayo or just aioli. Calling it garlic aioli is just, linguistically, weird. I regularly mangle the English language so perhaps glass houses and not throwing stones, but nah I am going to throw anyway!!

The bread was ok, but a bit unnecessary in my opinion.

Round two entailed a white wine

in the form of the i Greppi viognier (£10/175 ml). Always nice to see a viognier on a list.

Decent drop this, once it warmed up a bit (it was served too cold – perennial UK wine problem is the serving of white wine too cold and red wines too warm), with nice stone fruit and jasmine aromas, with a touch of almond. A pleasingly rich mouthfeel had it go down the hatch very easily.

As I rarely drink wine without food, I felt compelled to order something to nibble on as I sipped the viogner and my gaze settle on the sandwich section of the menu

I have professed my love of mortadella many times on the blog and thus I was drawn to the first toastie (the £7 mortadella mumber).

I was thankfully it was not too big and I  enjoyed the side of crisps, as well as the olive and guindilla pepper on the sticky thing (the piece of tomato, on the other hand, was unseasoned and bland and thus added nothing).

The toastie itself was good with a nice mix of melted cheese, creamy mortadella and buttery leeks with a touch of allium zing. If I was a complete and utter tosser I would have videoed the pull on the gooey cheese, but despite being one I didn’t.

Price wise, I thought it fair value for both the food and the drink. Not cheap, but fair based on the quality.

I tend to rile against automatically added service charges, but service was very good and 10% is very reasonable in this day and age. I would probably have tipped more if it hadn’t been automatically added.

The verdict

I rather enjoyed my early evening sojourn to Vicino, which offers a pretty appealing combo of picky bits and booze. I liked the wines I had and mark ups broadly seemed pretty fair. If you aren’t a wine drinker (I mean why, just why) there are plenty of other options including the ubiquitous cocktails

beers and

and hot

and cold drinks.

Last week I enjoyed Ogof and this place is another (along with the Pig & Swill) good addition to the Canton (yes Canton) food and drink scene.

The details

Address: 72a Llandaff Road, Canton, Cardiff, CF11 9NL.

Website: Can’t find one, but they are on Itsagamaaaaazingram as @vicino.Cardiff

Opening hours:

Thurday: from 17.00

Friday: from 16.00

Saturday and Sunday: from 12.00.