Reality bites

After a period of stability, significant change is afoot in the Victoria Park Gastronomic Quarter (as absolutely no one's calling it).

First, there's the extremely sad news that after seven years Dough Thrower will be shutting its doors. While their pizzas are among the priciest around, they're also created with thought, care and high-quality ingredients, and the Best Restaurant in Cardiff title that Dough Thrower scooped in last year's Cardiff Life Awards was well deserved.

Massive thanks to the team for giving us something to look forward most Saturdays during the dismal days of lockdown, and for the Korean chicken Detroit-style special (pictured above in all its magnificence) that was perhaps the best pizza I've ever had the pleasure of chowing down on. At least there's the consolation of knowing that their takeaway outlet in Cathays will remain operational.

Meanwhile, two doors down, the owners of Nook have decided to take the radical step of concentrating on oysters and fried chicken. It's a curious move in many ways. If competition is genuinely the reason for pivoting away from the small plate menu with which they've made their name, then it's not as though no one else in the vicinity is also specialising in what they're now proposing to offer. What's more, the restaurant's veggie fans, formerly well catered for, have expressed understandable dismay at the move.

But in the current climate I guess they've got to do what they feel is right to ensure survival, and introducing a narrowly focused menu - a tactic also recently adopted by the Lansdowne on Mondays (pizzas) and Tuesdays (burgers) - will ease the strain on the kitchen staff.

Perhaps Nook is feeling the heat from Poca, the latest venture from chef Antonio Simone which recently opened in the premises previously occupied by La Cuina, on Kings Road at the other end of Canton. I've not been yet, but the reviews are very enthusiastic, and those crushed new potatoes with roasted garlic aioli and parmesan have got my name on them.

It's not proving all plain sailing for Simone either, though, with the announcement that a "perfect storm" has forced the closure of Alium in Barry, in what was Hang Fire's home, with immediate effect. Fingers crossed that Poca - a smaller operation in a prime location in the capital - enjoys greater longevity.