Bodega, Cardiff
If you take a minute to read up on Amber Vista, the pseudo-nostalgic label assigned to the redevelopment of the old Lakeside shopping parade you’ll see words like desirable, vibrant and thriving doing some heavy lifting. I guess it probably doesn’t quite have the same level of gravitas if it was described as the place next to where I spent a wonderful afternoon in my youth drinking a jumbo sized bottle of VK in some bushes post receiving my GCSE results and I guess a tagline of "Lakeside; it’s by the side of a lake and that’s quite nice." doesn't quite have the same ring to it. Anyway, if that doesn’t sell it to you then some other selling points on the website are mostly limited to being just the 4km away from the city centre and the fact that the hospital is just down the road which judging by the commotion as we’re walking over that’s coming from local gastropub The Discovery might just prove to be pretty useful asset for a punter or two this night.
Amber Vista is also the home of Bodega and that’s why we’ve made a pilgrimage over the river tonight. It’s a new restaurant-cum-wine bar that mostly focuses on Spanish inspired small plates with an emphasis on open fire cooking. It’s an appealing proposition to most and especially so in a city that is able to boast about being home to some of the finest Spanish / Catalan restaurants in the UK (that includes the great big La Cuina shaped hole in my heart.) but that’s not to say Bodega doesn’t come with some credentials of their own being borne from the same team behind The Priory in Caerleon.
The restaurant itself ticks a lot of right boxes: from its sultry decor all dimly lit with shelves of various Spanish produce and wines that you can buy to take home with you if you’re that way inclined. It genuinely oozes with a bit of class. Ahead of our visit we book a seat at the chefs counter which comes with a promise of being able to “get up close and personal with the chefs and experience the theatre of fire cooking.” all of which sounded great at the time but as we're being seated it's clear that space at the actual counter is very limited and we're shown to a table directly opposite and below it instead. It’s valiantly sold as an opportunity to see some dishes arrive at the pass and influence our own ordering but in reality it’s less getting up close and personal and more awkwardly craning our necks to peer in through the window. We are treated to some theatre at least as we bear witness to some eruption of flame as various steaks and pork chops are finished off ready for service while a flambadou is periodically brought out to lace some oysters with beef dripping and sending plumes of meaty smoke into the air.
There’s a section of the menu devoted to snacks and we duly oblige while we make a plan of attack for the rest of the menu. Slices of manchego are drizzled with hot honey and are a testament to sourcing good produce. There’s a croqueta that comes with promises of sobrasada and date puree but the bechamel interior required more cooking out with the only flavour coming through being one of raw flour. The pick of the bunch comes in the form of a potent, smoother than smooth hummus with a healthy dollop of chorizo and its oils with the only complaint here being that there isn't enough of the accompanying crackers compared to the healthy portion of hummus resulting in it a good half of it being eaten by the spoonful.
The above could’ve been helped had we ordered an accompanying flat bread at the same time so consider that my tip of the day. We did get through one though and what arrived was probably more pizza dough than flat bread but no less enjoyable for it. A nice charred crust provided a bit of flavour but the confit garlic spread still had more than a hint of raw garlic which could only be tempered slightly by the lashings of butter the crusts are brushed with just before service.
As we head in to the small plates section of the menu, the proverbial wheels begin to wobble. At one point our table is over-crowded with plates; a product of conflicting advice in regards to last orders. We’re told 21:30 on arrival before that advice is changed midway through the meal to 21:00 prompting a rushed order. It’s only around ten minutes after putting in an order for a further five plates that we’re told the kitchen actually isn’t that strict and that we had up until 22:00 if we really wanted. The first plate to arrive is the crispy lamb that comes in the form of a rectangular fritter. It's made up of a healthy portion pulled lamb and it’s okay if in need of a twist or two of seasoning. The accompanying mint aioli is a little too light on the mint while a lamb jus is flavoured well enough but unfortunately arrives stone cold after being left on the pass for too long despite the chef’s repeated calls for service.
The Lamb is indicative of a general theme that crops up through the meal - there’s no doubting that there’s an abundance of good ideas at Bodega, I mean, I wouldn’t be here if it didn’t sound as good as it does; it's just that they need some tightening up when it comes to the execution. Take the hispi cabbage that comes nicely charred but is heavy handed with garlic cream and heady sobrasada, totally overwhelming the delicate cabbage and masking that delicious char. There’s a pork chop that has all the dramatics of being finished over the open fire but comes with a layer of fridge cold nduja butter slapped over the top that is so thick it could be nicknamed Lee Anderson. The butter never threatens to melt completely and results in several bites of food where it's not clear whether you're eating pork or dairy. The best dish of the night arrives in the form of a decent hunk of cod that’s cooked as well as any I’ve eaten and is covered in sweet and salty black miso. It’s served in a bowl of cockle chowder which is more-ish and generous with cockle, something the aforementioned Lee Anderson could only dream of I’m sure. It's wolfed down with enthusiasm and is a prime example of what Bodega can do when they get things on the money.
There are other plates, the “Bodegas Bravas’ is their take on the famous Spanish Tapa and it certainly looks like a real showstopper with its hash brown-esque exterior and an avalanche of cheese but in my view, the beauty in patatas bravas is in its simplicity, as long as you have crispy potato, sweet and smoky bravas sauce and pungent garlic aioli then you're there but this version is lacking on all three points as once you dig in it turns out to be just a big slab of potato that needs more cooking, more bravas sauce, more aioli and infinitely more crunch. A similar fate belies their take on sticky toffee pudding which arrives in the form of a Soreen like brick of deep fried cake. There’s no sticky, there’s barely any toffee and the accompanying yoghurt ice cream is too sour with a distinct lack of sweetness elsewhere on the plate to help it out. Like the Bodega bravas, it’s a re-imagining of a classic that I’m sure is well intentioned but somewhere along the way has inadvertently lost the heart of what makes the dish so good in the first place.
We pay up - around £130 all in including drinks and service and I can’t help but come away feeling conflicted. I really, really wanted to love Bodega and despite its issues I still do... to a point. The menu continues to read well and venue wise at least it's a seriously attractive space. There's also a whopping burnt basque cheesecake that I had to miss out during this visit that looks so fucking good that it's almost reason enough for me to go back. I’m just hoping that with a few more months experience under their belts and with the promise of al fresco summer dining on the horizon that those finer detail matters are resolved naturally, that some of the bigger issues prompt a re-think and that service becomes a bit more coherent so we can see a Bodega that really starts to come in to its own. For now though, it's hard to get away from the fact there were issues and it's impossible to ignore that there are restaurants in the city that are offering a similar product at a similar price point but in a much more accomplished manner. That's not to say there isn't room for Bodega because there can be but there is some work to be done. After all, the city centre is only 4km away.
