I'm a big fan of modern trendy cooking with its herb oils, charred vegetables, and foraged ingredients that I've often never heard of.
But, sometimes you just can't beat a bit of gutsy classical French food with its sturdy pieces of meat and fish, liberal use of butter and glossy sauces.
The newly-opened Sopra 73 in Whitchurch is a restaurant which exactly fits this description.
Read more: The 50 best restaurants in Cardiff in 2022
Located upstairs from Pizzeria Villaggio, one of Cardiff’s most well-known Italian eateries, it’s a destination which draws together influences from France, Italy and Wales.
Head chef Padrig Jones previously led the kitchen at Le Gallois in Pontcanna, one of the most highly-regarded fine dining restaurants in Cardiff during the '90s, and he also worked under Stephen Terry at Marco Pierre White’s Michelin-starred The Canteen in Chelsea.
At Sopra 73 he’s serving a menu of dishes that he’s honed throughout his career. There’s a focus on French cooking with a scattering of Italian dishes and plenty of Welsh ingredients.
The result is a menu of crowd pleasing dishes and I’d gladly have ordered any of them. Scallops and black pudding, Mediterranean fish soup, confit duck leg with puy lentils and a sharing dish of roast Welsh mountain lamb were just some of the dishes which left me scratching my head when deciding what to choose.
On a Wednesday evening it was almost a full house, a clear sign that word has quickly spread about Sopra 73.
Front of house manager Francis Dupuy also runs his own wine business so there are really helpful tasting notes to accompany the list. A large glass of Curator white blend (£7.50) was very gluggable whilst a Kir Sopra (£5) had just a hint of dark fruit.
Lamb sweetbreads (£9) are a must order whenever I see them on the menu and this was a cracker of a dish. Accompanied by root vegetables with a bit of bite, the tender sweetbreads were coated in a meaty sauce with a delicate honey sweetness.
A generous pot of juicy mussels (£8) were perfectly plump rather than the shrivelled morsels you often encounter. The broth at the bottom of the pan, with its savoury mussel juices and hit of cream, was just as enjoyable as the bivalves themselves. Pieces of crusty baguette were put to good use mopping up every last drop.
A special main of whole lemon sole (£27) was treated with the respect it deserves. The sweet flesh teased off the bone with ease and was dressed with a lightly browned caper and parsley butter. Vibrant spinach and smooth buttery mash were excellent accompaniments. It’s so nice to visit a restaurant where sides are included as part of a main dish rather than optional add-ons.
A tender hunk of blushing pink venison (£25) was a lovely piece of meat cookery. With its glossy meaty sauce, buttery fondant potato, silky cauliflower puree and crisp parsnips, this was another stonker of a dish.
Desserts maintained the meal’s already very high standard.
A big bowl of lemon posset (£7) was gorgeously creamy and fragrant with citrus. It tasted beautifully light but no doubt had a whole pot of cream lurking in its depths. Shards of buttery shortbread and tangy passion fruit pearls completed the excellent pud.
Chocolate cremeux (£7) was every bit as thick, smooth and decadent as I’d hoped. Its delicate bitterness of dark chocolate and a scoop of creamy salted caramel ice cream ensured the dessert wasn’t too rich.
We had a lush dinner at Sopra 73 and their bold French cooking is a great addition to Cardiff’s restaurant scene. This is exactly the kind of food I could eat every week and I'm already deliberating what to order on my next visit.
The details:
Address - 73B Merthyr Rd, Cardiff CF14 1DD
Telephone - 029 2061 1222
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