Familiar flavour as trio plan restaurant expansion
ONE of Cardiff’s most popular family-run restaurants has expanded upstairs and taken on one of Wales’ most renowned chefs.
Sopra 73, which means Above 73 in Italian, has opened on the former site of Thai Village, upstairs from Pizzeria Villaggio in Whitchurch. One of Cardiff’s oldest family-run Italian restaurants, Pizzeria Villaggio opened its doors in 1986.
The new restaurant, which draws influences from France, Italy and Wales, brings together three of the most recognised names in Cardiff hospitality.
Marc Palladino is the owner of both Sopra 73 and Pizzeria Villaggio, while the new restaurant’s head chef is Padrig “Paj” Jones and Francis Dupuy will run front of house.
“We like to call it an Italian, French, Welsh restaurant because I’ve got an Italian background, Francis is French, and Padrig Jones is Welsh. We’re going to use Italian and French recipes with Welsh produce,” said Marc.
Padrig Jones was previously head chef and co-owner of Le Gallois in Pontcanna, one of the most highlyregarded fine-dining restaurants in Cardiff during the Nineties and Noughties. He also worked under Stephen Terry at Marco Pierre White’s Michelin-starred The Canteen in Chelsea.
Francis Dupuy, meanwhile, is one of Cardiff’s most well-known restaurateurs. Having set up Le Gallois, he went on to open Pier 64 in Penarth and Chez Francis in Canton and most recently has been running his own wine business.
Marc has wanted to collaborate with Padrig for years and when Thai Village closed earlier this year, he spotted an opportunity.
“We go back a long time to when Paj was still in Glantaf school. One of his first jobs in the catering industry was with us downstairs in the pizzeria in the late ‘80s,” said Marc.
“I’ve known how great Paj has
been since Le Gallois days. It’s just that we haven’t been able to team up until now. We’ve often talked about it over the years, so when the opportunity came up we just grabbed it. I have 100% confidence in everything he can do. I’m sure he’s got French-Italian blood. The quality of the food he produces is just incredible.”
Padrig has been keen to collaborate with Marc too, having worked with Villaggio since last year.
“I was working in West Wales and I got put on furlough and then the place I worked for closed down. So I gave Mark a call and he was busy as hell with takeaways during lockdown last year so I came down to help him,” said Padrig.
“We were keeping an eye on upstairs knowing that it was coming up. And Mark said, ‘Come on, do you fancy doing something?’ We’d talked about doing this a long time ago and so I said, ‘Let’s give it a go’.
“I’ve been given carte blanche to do what I want. Classic French and Italian cooking with Welsh and British ingredients is my cup of tea.
“It was just an offer that was too good to turn down. As I’m getting older, it’s a nice-sized restaurant. I don’t have to answer to any corporate bosses, so it’s a nice fit.”
At Sopra 73, Padrig will serve a menu of dishes that he’s honed throughout his career.
“Some of them are old Le Gallois
dishes I used to make. When we opened Le Gallois, it was supposed to be a neighbourhood bistro and it turned into a fine-dining restaurant purely because the food and service was good!” said Padrig.
“We’re maintaining those standards but far more informally. The kitchen team is far smaller here so it’s scaled back a little bit from fine dining to a bistro style, but the recipes are very similar. I just made roquefort souffles this morning; that’s something that used to be on the menu at Le Gallois and I used to cook 60 of them a day there.”
Francis Dupuy, is the other familiar name involved in Sopra 73, and he’ll be running the front of house and the wine side of the restaurant.
“Francis is married to Padrig’s sister and he’s been in the restaurant business for forever in Cardiff. I was buying wine off him downstairs for the pizzeria and when he found out about this, he thought, ‘That’s something I’d like to be involved in as well’,” said Marc.
“With his brother-in-law Paj, I think they work together fantastically. Francis is brilliant at front of house and his wine and food knowledge is second to none.”
Francis added: “Experience is invaluable, with Padrig in the kitchen and me up front, it’s what I’ve done all my life.
“Just looking at the food, it’s bonkers how good it is.”