Uncategorized

Cardiff Market: my favourite eats

On October 17, 2025 by The Plate Licked Clean

Unfortunately, this post is not yet available as a wipe-clean laminated checklist. Apologies, we’ve got our best people working on it, but read on anyway.

Cardiff Market is still very much that- a daily working, seemingly random, clutch of stalls, where you can find everything from yarn to shoe polish, wigs to waistcoats, and charging cables and dog toys to vintage vinyl.

What it hasn’t turned into- and let’s be thankful for this- is some manicured ‘food hall’ ‘concept’. It has grown organically, definitely and defiantly, and it hasn’t sprung into existence from some designer’s iMac. Generations have bought their bread, vegetables, fish, meat here: JT Morgan Butcher has been run at this location, by the same family, since 1861.

What is the Market, then? Well, it’s ‘no bullshit, just flavour, no window dressing, what you see is what you get’ casual eating. What you get is, hands down, the best collection of street food traders in South Wales.

So in no particular order, here are ten of the best things you can eat. Oh go on then, have a bonus one on me. Eleven of them

GROUND FLOOR STALLS

1 Fish tacos, The Bearded Taco

Bearded Taco go about their business in a laid back, unassuming way, all while knocking out some of the most consistently good tacos in the area. My pick? The fish (‘pescado’). Punchily flavoured, with a batter any chippy would be proud of, and fish fresh from Ashton’s at the other end of the same building. Gluten free tortillas, too, to go with the gluten free batter.
They say: ‘Lemon and agave slaw, chipotle aioli, mango and habanero hot sauce and fresh coriander’. I say: an absolute standout.

2 Beef shin ragu, Dirty Gnocchi

Three words I’ll always tell anyone for their first visit: have the beef. Big chunks of Welsh shin, cooked for hours until rich and glossy and coaxed into (almost) falling apart. Whether you want it with the fresh tagliatelle given an extravagantly cheesy runaround on the wheel of Grana Padano, or piled onto the twice-fried gnocchi tossed with smoked paprika and cheese, the message is the same: Have The Beef.

Fun fact: A popular listing on prominent Chinese social media site Xiaohongshu (‘Little Red Book’)- and a stream of customers as a result-  means this has a strong claim to be Cardiff’s most internationally famous dish.

3 Salami zapiekanka, Smak

Zapiekanka- traditional Polish open sandwiches- are rarely found in Cardiff so make the most of the opportunity.

Take a baguette, over a foot long, spread it with a rich mushroom and onion base, serve with a slathering of melted Gouda. Crispy onions, meat, garlic sauce, bosh. As I believe people say these days. Grab napkins, you’ll need them: you won’t necessarily look your most gorgeous while you’re eating one, but you won’t care.

4 Pork shoulder gyro, Ya! Souvlaki

The chicken is popular here, and with good reason, but it’s the marinated pork shoulder which always keeps me coming back. And back. And back again. You can have it as a pita club sandwich and a large merida, but if you’re on the move, my pick is the gyros pita wrap. A fistful of good things- that bread, those oregano-seasoned chips, that salad, that sauce, that meat: one of those things guaranteed to put a smile on my face, every time.

5 ‘KFC’ rice bowl, Bao Selecta

Much as I love the buns which made their name, you’re missing a trick if you overlook their bowls. Pickles, kimchi, house sauce- an addictive hit of gochujang, ginger, garlic, and more, and made with syrup not honey, because everything here is vegan- and crisp pieces of breaded Korean ‘chicken’ top steamed rice. Always prettily put together, always wholesome, always lovely.

6 Pad See Ew, Thai Asian Delish

Thai Asian Delish has the biggest menu in the Market, especially when you realise many dishes can be made with your choice of chicken, prawns, pork or beef. It’s a mystery how they can do it all out of that small kitchen kitchen, but the pad see ew rice noodle dish (prawns), stir fried with egg, cabbage, soy and oyster sauce, is a bargain at this price.

7 Oxtail bowl, The Real Ting

Distinctively spiced, deeply flavoured Jamaican cooking. The Jerk, Rasta, Portland or Curry goat bowls all make this a popular stall, but it’s the
oxtail bowl which is my go-to: this is deep comfort eating, with beautifully tender (and sizeable) chunks of slowly-simmered meat topping rice and peas, with a crisp-doughy dumpling on the side. Big flavours, and if you’re lucky you’ll get some pieces on the bone.

BALCONY LEVEL STALLS

8 Keralan Fried Chicken, AG Street Kitchen

You might know the stall under its previous name, Tukka Tuk, but the heart of what they do hasn’t changed. Different name, but the same classic dish. You could argue this ‘KFC’ is one of the few genuinely iconic dishes to emerge from that first wave of South Wales street food. You’d be right, too. Three flours in the (gluten free) coating, a complex marinade of double-digit ingredients, and remarkably crisp, aromatic and juicy chicken. Unforgettable. A classic.

9  That garlic bread, Ffwrnes Pizza:

Reliably and consistently high standard pizza, but you have to have the garlic bread. Many know it as ‘THAT garlic bread’, the cult favourite from 591 by Anatonis, the recipe handed on personally by Tony Frawley on his retirement.
You may see other versions in the city, but this is the ‘Accept no substitutes’ original which raises money for Velindre treatment centre every time you buy one. A doughy, oozy, pungent pleasure, and a local icon. (The garlic bread, not Tony).

10 Beef brisket pierogi, Pierogi

Through the window you can see them being made, a busy production line making sure your dumplings are finished just moments before you eat them. You can’t go wrong with any of them, but the beef brisket just edges out the duck with plum as the pierogi I think of most often. That peppercorn sauce brings a welcome heat. Unmissable.

11 Pork tonkotsu ‘sando’, Tokyo Nights

Welcome to one of Cardiff’s most recognisable dishes. Take crispy pork loin steak, top it with cabbage, that rich, thick tonkatsu sauce, mayo and mustard, and and sandwich it all in milk bread. Unmistakable.