LA BODEGA | FOOD REVIEW
15 High St, Cardiff. 029 2037 1823 / www.labodegacardiff.co.uk
There’s actually something delicious and different in the Cardiff city centre. Although you have to fight your way through the thick jungle of terrible chain restaurants, when you do a foodie nirvana awaits. Celebrating their one-year anniversary, La Bodega hosted an evening of sherry tasting. Unusual, you might think: why not focus on a more popular drink, maybe a wine or whisky? The night, however, would prove to enlighten us that sherry wasn’t just a terrible-smelling drink your grandmother has over Christmas.
The first sherry for the evening, the Amantillado Seco Napoleon, was accompanied by an endless spread of delicious appetisers. Standouts amonf these were the pata negra ham (Spain’s legendary cured ham), assorted Spanish cheeses and Spanish omelette. Although the sherry was a little sweet for my liking, the food was absolutely mouthwatering. Sherry number two was the La Gitana Manzanilla and was served with fried squid, fried prawns, fried cod, hake and monkfish with breadcrumbs and mayonnaise sauce.
The sherry was surprisingly great and for the first time in my life I actually questioned if, the next time I’m out for dinner, I should maybe swop my mandatory glass of wine for a nice glass of sherry. By the third glass, the Oloroso Seco Faraon, I have to admit that I was feeling a little sickly from the amount of different sherry I had tasted. Yet the combination of classic ham-based Spanish croquettes, traditional beef croquettes, slowly roasted suckling baby pig and fillet of steak on bread with garlic mayonnaise sauce soon tempered my stomach. The final sherry, Pedro Ximenez, was poured over lovely vanilla ice cream, which caused a chorus of groans – which I was a part of – making the perfect end to an enlightening evening.
words JAYDON MARTIN