By Branwen Jones
Copyright walesonline
A neighbourhood restaurant and wine shop will be opening in Cardiff . Ogof will be opening its doors later this year on Kings Road, previously home to the Poca and La Cuina restaurants, which straddles the boundary between Canton and Pontcanna. It’s a collaboration between chef Alex Vines, who has honed his craft working in the kitchens of some of London’s most celebrated kitchens for 11 years before returning home to Wales for a series of sold-out pop ups back in 2023 and ’24, and wine connoisseur SioÌ‚n Iorwerth as well as Zanna Clarke, who contributes extensive leadership and customer service skills from her career in the arts and charity sector. The three co-owners are also local residents to the area, known for its vibrant dining scene with Ogof – which means cave – making its home in the former location of Poca – a small plates restaurant from the team behind Dinas Powys’ The Humble Onion , and popular Catalan restaurant La Cuina, which closed in 2022 after 10 years of trading due to the impact of Brexit. The trio hope to create a “warm, welcoming space rooted in community, sustainability and a love of good food and wine”. Alex said: “Cooking for me has always been about place; drawing on what’s in season, the growers we work with, and the cultural tapestry of Wales.” Alex brings over a decade of culinary experience from renowned London kitchens such as 40 Maltby Street and Rochelle Canteen, as well as his popular ‘Vines’ pop-up hosted in various Cardiff venues, which focused on seasonal, vegetable centric cooking to the Welsh capital. For the latest restaurant news and reviews, sign up to our food and drink newsletter here . In the past year, Alex Vines has also been fuelling his love for food through Cegin y Bobl – a non-profit organisation running transformative cooking programmes for children, teachers and families across Wales. He continued: “We are thrilled to have finally picked up the keys and can’t wait to get started on our vision for Ogof – a space that celebrates all of that.” While full details for the news restaurant remains under wraps, diners can anticipate seasonal, ingredient-driven menus influenced by strong partnerships with local producers, farmers, and vintners. The restaurant will be collaborating with Wright’s Wines and other independent UK importers, hoping to offer wines sourced directly from the UK and Europe, with an emphasis on “distinctive, natural wines” produced with “passion and good farming “. SioÌ‚n continued: “We want Ogof to be a casual space where good food and real wines are at the forefront; a place customers return to regularly – be it for lunch, a bottle of wine to take home for dinner, a glass before going on somewhere else, or for those wanting to bed down and eat the entire evening menu with us.” Zanna Clarke added: “We’ve made our lives here in Cardiff, and in opening Ogof, our hope is that it grows into a place people feel proud of and connected to – a small part of the wider story of food and sense of community here.”