This is a milestone in the history of teaandbiscuits.co.uk. For years we've been looking for an authentic Italian eating experience in Cardiff and at last it's been located.

Visiting Casanova on a match day is like heading off the crowds of the Gran Canale in Venice for a back-street family Trattoria. The voices are Italian, the floor a quasi-ecclesiastical mosaic, there's a pokey kitchen out back, a drafty banging door, and even a permanently faulty water system in the unisex toilet. Brilliant. This really is like Italy. And in the very best traditions of good Italian food the menu is both small and largely a world of fantasy. Much of it is unavailable but there are recommended replacements. Take them. These guys know what they are doing.

Starters tonight included a pan-fried calf's liver (deliciously soft-textured) and a mushroom soup with truffle infusion (amazingly the taste of a mushroom pate with the texture of a soup). Main courses featured the best risotto you will have in Wales. Guaranteed. To get so much flavour into the perfectly cooked slithers of squid was a super-human feat. Then there was the linguine with season-defying juicy cherry tomatoes, plus a plate of brill as fluffy as fairground candy-floss. There's a must for dessert too - the Pannacotta comes with a stunning saffron and honeycomb topping. Remarkable.

So where's the bad news? Well, the prices are high, and there's a bit of a wait for the food. There are some pretty iffy discs in the jukebox too. But it's all part of the authentic Italian experience don't forget.