An underground tapas bar near the Millennium Stadium, Pica Pica brings a little sunshine to rainy Cardiff.

The Venue
Formerly a Belgian beer pub, this cocktail and tapas bar is located in what was the last remaining bonded warehouse in the city and is the brainchild of three former cocktail shakers. It opened a couple of years ago, giving Cardiff a taste of the Med.

It’s a basement bar so you descend a few steps to find the tiled bar itself in the middle of the room under an arched brick ceiling. In fact it’s sort of a mirror image with another bar backing on to it and facing the other way. Lots of stools line the bar and there’s exposed brickwork, with other parts of the walls painted green and hung with pictures of Latin scenes. Elsewhere there’s booth seating along the walls and on brown leather sofas.

The People
It’s a popular place with students who seem to love the Latin touch but it's also the stylish weekend haunt of the office crowd. You could spend all day here, and people do. After a late lunch and a coffee it's easy to get tempted by the cocktails which, as you'd expect from three mixologists, are expertly created.

The Food and Drink
You’ve got Heineken on draught alongside Moretti and Amstel, but all the other beers are in bottles including Sagres, Superbock, Peroni, San Miguel and Cruzcampo, There are plenty of bottles of spirits at the bar and a good range of cocktails for around £6 to £7 including Spanish Fizz which is brandy, sugar and bitters for £6.30 (pricey for Cardiff). The house special is Pica Pica Hurricane which is made to a secret rum based recipe.

Happy hour is till 8pm. On the wine list are over a dozen reds and the same number of whites or there's a sparkling Cordoniou at £15.90 a bottle. The menu includes tapas dishes such as tortilla, patatas bravas, chicken croquettes and pan-fried chicken liver in sherry, all for around £2 to £4. Or you can get six for £12. Finish off with a crema catalana for £3. And watch out for the spelling mistakes on the menu!

The Last Word
A touch of Mediterranean style is always welcome in the Welsh capital.