A tiny shop in Roath with just 10 seats is serving some of the best pizza in Cardiff.
RomEat, on Albany Road, sells crisp and airy Roman style pizza by the slice, which is inspired by the owner’s childhood growing up in Italy.
It’s owned by 29-year-old Matteo Pellico, who originally comes from a small village near Rome but moved to Cardiff seven years ago to pursue his dream of one day opening his own business.
Read more: The definitive guide to eating and drinking in Roath
"I always loved to cook, even at home for friends. So as soon as I finished school, I started to work as a sous pizza chef. And then after a couple of years, I became a pizza chef,” said Matteo.
"Unfortunately, the career possibilities in Italy are not so good and I was looking for something more for my life and to open my own business.”
Despite his cheffing background in Italy, when Matteo arrived in Wales he couldn’t speak English and so went back to the bottom of the ladder in the kitchen.
“I didn't know anything about English, it wasn't my language at all. I worked as a kitchen porter for six months, and then slowly, slowly I took a step up in the kitchen and started to learn a bit of English.”
Matteo has worked at some of the most well known Italian restaurants in Cardiff, but none more so than the now-closed Anatoni’s on Wellfield Road, where he spent three years working with Tony Frawley, one of the city's most acclaimed pizza chefs and the man behind Scaramantica.
I saw that Tony was opening the pizzeria in Wellfield road and I was like "Okay, this is a real pizzeria. That's where I want to go because I want to learn more," said Matteo.
"I learned a lot from him - how to sell, how to make pizza, how to be faster and how to chat with people. I really got a lot from him and I will always be grateful for that."
Matteo left Anatoni’s at the start of lockdown in 2020 and it was then he decided to pursue his dream of opening his own business serving Roman-style pizza by the slice.
"Where I come from near Rome, pizza by the slice is the most common type of pizza. On Friday or Saturday if I am with friends at home, we go to the pizzeria and we don't get a pizza each but we get one, two or three kilos of pizza to share.”
"This is my concept and I always saw a gap for this in Cardiff because at lunchtime there wasn't something affordable on the pizza market. You can go to Greggs or you can go to La Mina but there wasn't pizza."
RomEat opened in July 2020 and sells pizzas by the slice as well as whole pizzas topped with classic ingredients as well as more creative flavour combinations.
Matteo is a firm believer in the quality of Roman style pizza and there’s a number of things which make it different to the more commonly found Neapolitan style pizza.
"Roman pizza by the slice is made on the tray, it's cooked for a longer time, has a higher hydration and is double proved for 48 hours," said Matteo.
“It's cooked in about 12 minutes at about 350 degrees so all the water gets dried out and the pizza gets airy and soft in the middle and crunchy on the base"
Whilst many pizza traditionalists stick to familiar toppings such as pepperoni and margherita, RomEat’s pizza toppings are far more innovative.
"I think I can be creative because we are in 2022 now and I'm just 29 years old. I think the generation is changing and I have to change because different people are eating pizza," said Matteo.
“For us younger chefs it's important to follow new ideas, because we can't just keep doing marinara and margarita.
"I look at a pizza as like a frame on the wall. It has to be colourful and it has to be attractive. I think people eat first with their eyes and then with their mouth."
Having opened in the middle of the pandemic, Matteo has had to deal with his fair share of challenges from day one. Mainly, he’s had to rely far more on whole pizza home delivery than selling slices to lunchtime workers than he originally hoped.
"Since the beginning we have had such good feedback but unfortunately we opened in the worst time ever."
"I wanted people to know RomEat as the pizza by the slice place but unfortunately with the lockdown I had to adapt the business because we didn't have much footfall and I had to start to push the whole 12 inch pizzas"
"We're doing well with the slices but we're doing even better online with the whole pizzas."
Matteo hopes people return to the high street soon so he can start selling more pizza by the slice. He’d also love to one day open a pizza by the slice place in Cardiff Market.
"I think the market would really work for us because the city centre has a lot of footfall at lunchtime. If one day we have the chance to go in there and do authentic Roman-style pizza by the slice I will be so happy."
Matteo and his partner had a baby nine months ago but he’s barely been able to take any time off work since. It’s part of the sacrifices he’s had to make to build his own business.
"I remember when I picked up my partner from the hospital with the baby when she was five days old and I just had to leave her at home to come and open the shop. Because when you're in business you can't afford to close whenever you like, especially in the first couple of years."
"It's been hard but it's been so good and I'm so grateful. Right now, after seven years, if I look back and see all the steps that I've taken, I'm so happy.”
To get the latest What's On newsletters from WalesOnline, click here
