La Gondola is situated near the end of Clifton Street, Adamsdown, just off the Newport Road. This café sits in amongst the typical local inner-city high street excitement of second-hand stores, fast food outlets, and a ramshackled branch of Woolworths. Despite its dazzling bright yellow canopy there is nothing on the outside of the café that would make you think of doing anything other than throwing together the words 'greasy', 'café' and 'spoon'. From its appearance one would probably assume that the food is also thrown together in the same careless, random manner.

Luckily, that's not the case. La Gondola is one of those rare examples of a cracking little inner-city café waiting to be discovered and cherished by those few that know of it (although, it has to be said, the place is often fairly busy).

The portions are huge, not just eye-bulgingly big, but the sort of thing where you might begin to worry whether the spindly table legs are going to cope for any length of time (or, for that matter, your own legs when you try to leave). Even though the café is run by a very friendly Italian chap called Tony, it's still in Wales, hence most dishes also come with a huge side of chips as well. A typical meal is ridiculously cheap - around three pounds - and that includes the Sunday Roast, which is the best in the area.

Put simply, La Gondola is a great place to grab a bite to eat in Cardiff. It may not look like much, but like so many things, it's what's on the inside that counts.