Chef Shafiq Anwar drew on years of experience cooking in European kitchens when designing the Fat Nonna's menu.
The Italian pizza and pasta restaurant in Cardiff officially opened its doors to diners on Monday after a "last minute scramble" to complete the fit-out. Anwar also owns and runs the popular Rudy's Diner at Glendale, previously known as Rudy's Rotisserie.
"On top of running other businesses, getting a new brand open is just full on," Anwar says.
"But I've been in hospitality for over 20 years so it's kind of in my blood now."
Anwar was born and raised in the Newcastle area and lived overseas for 10 years, "working on super yachts for millionaires and billionaires".
"Pizza is a big passion of mine," he says. "The pizzas at Fat Nonna's are inspired by the fresh ingredients used in Italy and all the Mediterranean countries. This is my first foray into the pizza game back home and I'm very excited about it."
Fat Nonna's is all about gourmet pizza and "really authentic" Italian pasta, as the shop's old-school signage and Italian flag-inspired colour palette suggests. You can order a ham and pineapple pizza, no problem, but the focus is on an "international range that will catch everyone's imagination".
Take, for example, the Nonna's Special: a zhoug chicken and mozzarella pizza on a harissa sauce base with flame roasted peppers, red onion, grilled eggplant, coriander and fetta with a garlic swirl. Or the Cousin Enzo: a penang prawn pizza with peppers, onion, basil, chilli, coconut, lime and coriander.
As for pasta, consider the Uncle Bruno: 12-hour braised lamb, reduced braising liquor, confit garlic, cream, herbs and pecorino.
"I've taken ideas from travelling to, and cooking in, all different corners of the globe," Anwar explains.
"We don't just have your traditional tomato bases, we've got harissa bases, and everything is made in-house, from our dough through to our sauces.
"We make our own desserts too: a New York cheesecake; a tiramisu but it's called 'birra-misu' and we use a stout coffee beer, it's absolutely beautiful; and we've got a dessert pizza that is covered in Nutella, bananas and strawberries."
Staff - many of them young people from the Cardiff area - are being trained to make pizza dough from scratch, to Anwar's high standards.
"There's dough and then there's handmade dough with the fluffiness and the texture. As soon as you bite into it, it's just so soft."
A second Fat Nonna's will likely be opened "in the east end of Newcastle in a couple of months' time", he says: "Our aim is to strategically place a handful of stores around Newcastle and Lake Macquarie where we can cover the radius of delivery and do a good job of it."
Fat Nonna's, 199 Main Road, Cardiff, is open 7 days, 4pm to 9pm, delivery and takeaway only. Phone 4957 1540 or order via Menulog, UberEats or DoorDash.
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