© JAKE MORLEY
Stonebaked at Café Brava Kacie Morgan gets a pizza the action...
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y day, a snug café dishing up hearty brunches and lunches; by night (well, from Wednesday to Saturday at least), a popular pizzeria serving stonebaked pizza laden with fresh, locally sourced ingredients. Café Brava is no stranger to the dining scene in this affluent suburb, having been perched on Pontcanna Street for the past 20 years or so. However, Stonebaked at Brava is a slightly newer concept, introduced just over a year ago. Inside the café, wooden flooring, cosy lighting and mellow music create a laid-back, cosy atmosphere, while paintings by local artists reinforce the restaurant’s commitment to supporting local businesses. The launch of Stonebaked at Brava followed the closure of popular Italian restaurant, Cibo’s, leading to a gap in the local market which Brava’s Welsh owners, Andrew Minns and Lee Hardacre were keen to fill. Initially, Stonebaked at Brava only ran on Friday and Saturday
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evenings, but due to its continuing success, it now runs from Wednesday through to Saturday evenings. After enrolling onto a course with the School of Artisan Food, Andrew and Lee have transformed themselves into pizza perfectionists and installed a stone-bottomed oven capable of baking pizzas at 500°C. With an emphasis on fresh, local produce, the duo source most of their ingredients from local suppliers, including nduja from Al Ponte deli – just a few doors down from Brava – fish from Snowden and Co. fishmongers, and Caws Cenarth cheese. Choose your tipple from a selection of Pipes ales, Peroni, Prosecco, cocktails and constantly changing red, white and rose wines. Pondering over the menu, I sip on an ice-cold espresso martini (£5.95) garnished with coffee beans while my guest quaffs a cranberry-infused mocktail (£2.75). Fully intending on stuffing our faces with pizza, we keep our starters to a minimum, sharing a portion of Portobello