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Unsung heroes: an alternative Cardiff list

On September 26, 2022 by The Plate Licked Clean

It’s easy to come up with a list of Cardiff’s restaurant peaks. Those times when inspiration, sourcing and technique bring us something definitive, something which sets the local standard to widespread recognition.

Think Tom Simmons’ chips or mushroom butter. Bar 44’s croquetas, Asador’s chuleton, or anything Tommy Heaney does with lamb (and oysters). Milkwood’s breakfast bun or Purple Poppadom’s Syrian beef or sticky beef roti from Brother Thai or the rabbit pappardelle at The Heathcock or Tukka Tuk’s mutton rolls or… You get the picture. This is consensus cooking.

But this isn’t about any of those. You already know about them, anyway. Neither will there be predictable namechecks for Welsh cakes, Caroline St chips or Clark’s Pies.

No, this list is a mix of lower-profile hits and well-kept secrets which demand your attention. All tried and tested, of course, on multiple occasions. (And if you find yourself thinking this list leans more heavily on fascinating patchwork of cultures and traditions embedded within, and enriching, this city, then all the better.)

Besides, it’s my list, I know this stuff, and I make the rules.

Here you are then: some good things you might have missed.

Ready? In no particular order:

The Betty Campbell- Ansh

Let’s start with perhaps the most obvious one.

What Ansh does is rooted in Welsh soil. And it’s a Wales for all, so here’s a burger in honour of the country’s first black headteacher, Butetown’s Betty Campbell.

Two Welsh mutton patties from co-owner Shaun Jones’ Llygadenwyn farm; a Caribbean-spiced mutton curry; Welsh Cheddar; pineapple and Carolina Reaper chilli jam. It’s easy to list the separate parts. But combined? The results are nothing short of epic. And you get that trademark distinctive crisp cheese thingy too- they haven’t settled on a name, I like ‘skirt’, though so do Gordon Ramsay Street Burger- enough to charge you an extra £3- so perhaps ‘collar’ will have to do.

And yet many who are in love with Ansh haven’t tried this, unable to resist the siren call of yet another Grav or Barti. Hence its inclusion here. As a bonus, it was developed alongside the family and if you’re lucky her granddaughter will serve you when you visit. For me, the pick of the menu at the pick of Wales’ burger joints, for whom terms like ‘sustainable burgers’, ‘regenerative’ and ‘ethical’ are more than just PR-friendly window dressing.

Ansh, 598 Cowbridge Road East, CF5 1BE
Read the original review here.

Keema naan- Lahore Kebabish

Look, it is absurd that something this good should cost you just £2.50. First time I go, I tell them this. They don’t skimp on the lamb and neither should you: the entire menu here represents some of the entire city’s standout value. Its popularity with the local Pakistani community tells you everything. They’ll move soon to premises three times the size: make sure you’re at one of those tables. (And try the haleem.)

Just have one of those keema naan and tell me I’m wrong.

I’ll be waiting.

And waiting.

Lahore Kebabish, 160 Penarth Road, Cardiff CF11 6NJ
Read the original review here.

Vermut rojo, Vermut

It takes a leap of imagination to have an hora del vermut in Cardiff rather than Bilbao or Seville. But it’s a hell of a lot easier to imagine yourself there within the sunshine-yellow walls of this little bar. Excellent, personable service and advice on hand makes this a joy. An excellent way to start or finish- or start and finish- you night out.

Buy a glass of that quintessentially Spanish fortified wine, dip into one of their imported tinned conservas and picture yourself even more sun-dappled and glamorous than Cardiff. A tough challenge, sure, but I believe in you. And make mine a rojo.

Vermut, 2 Guildhall Place, Cardiff, CF10 1EB

Read Vermut’s profile page on Find My Dine

Steak pie, Rees’ Family Butchers

The early worm gets the steak pie, as the ancient Welsh proverb goes. Rees’ has been going here since 1981: they had queues before queues became everyone’s favourite Covid accessory. It was The Rare Welsh Bit’s Kacie Morgan who first told me about these: her mother always loved them, and now she has moved out of Cardiff she still comes from Ross On Wye for her batch and buys ten at a time. And that’s about as good a recommendation as you’ll find.

Rees’ Family Butchers, 376A Cowbridge Road East, Cardiff CF5 1JJ

Chicken tikka naan; Tandoori mixed grill, Khyber Cuisine

Do I go with the bread alone, or include the tandoori mixed grill? Not you typical keema: here the filling is a mix of smooth minced meat and little textured chunks of marinated chicken.

That grill is a Greatest Hits compilation of tandoori meats: a meal in itself. It’s big, it’s robust, it’s heartily spiced. At £12.99 it’s the most expensive thing on the menu but it’s a meal in itself.

Khyber Cuisine, Corporation Road, Grangetown
Read the original review here.

Lamb Mandi, Hadramowt

Next, a strong contender for the best tenner you can spend in Cardiff. The original Post seemed to capture people’s imagination and everyone I’ve heard back from has loved their visit. You should join them.

The original review is here, but here’s the quick version:

Get the lamb.

Everyone does.

It’s great.

Next.

Hadramowt, 42 City Rd, Cardiff CF24 3DL

Chilli mushrooms, Vegetarian Food Studio

My essential order here. Hot, sticky, aromatic, from the ‘Oriental’ section of the menu. I always think of mushrooms in vegetarian restaurants in the sane way as squid elsewhere: if they get them wrong, nothing is going to go well. Happily these are gorgeous. And plentiful. Home delivery can be cripplingly expensive, so eat in and make sure you order these.

Vegetarian Food Studio, 115-117 Penarth Rd, CF11 6JU

Arancini, Calabrisella

Pick a variety- melanzane, salsiccia with ‘nduja, bolognese, quatro formaggi- any of them, and see if you can resist long enough to get them home. I’ll give you evens on whether you make it. We call them ‘Car park arancini’ after such a visit: we couldn’t wait and the appreciative sighs and grunts issuing from the car that day must have sounded far more carnal than is typical. My pick? The funghi: a silky concoction just waiting to be picked apart. Is there a better carb delivery payload in the city? For £2.50 a pop?

Calabrisella, 154 Cowbridge Road East CF11 9ND
Read the original review here.

GFC, The Grange

This is fried chicken good enough to come out of a standalone specialist chicken joint. But in a pub, a proper pub with a dartboard and pickled eggs and Scampi Flavoured Fries and locally brewed beers and a garden with a pizza oven? This pub is an underrated gem all round: and their Grange Fried Chicken is a perennial favourite, a hulking thigh in a coating of paprika onion powder garlic powder oregano and Cajun seasoning.

The Grange, 134 Penarth Road, Cardiff CF11 6NJ
Read the original review here.

Jollof and smoked ntaba at Le Mandela

These two count as one, for the purposes of this list: the jollof is just a big bowl of subtly spiced, tomato-infused rice goodness. Get stuck in. Hugely wholesome and oddly comforting: aromatic, subtly spiced, gently smoky. Pair it with little pieces of goat (on the bone), slow-cooked then finished on the grill for a complete meal.

Le Mandela Restaurant and Grill Bar, 156 Penarth Road, Grangetown, Cardiff CF11 6NJ
Read my original review here.

Kabab jigar: Amo’s Cafe

Offal rears its underrated head with this little City Road Persian menu. Getting your hands on this one is all about the timing. They are scrupulous rigorous about using only the freshest liver for this one, so much so you’ll probably only find this on Thursdays or Fridays, when they can get it from the Halal butcher next door.

Skewered, grilled then chopped into little, impeccably tender pieces. It’s lot of meat, so here’s a tip to stave off meat fatigue: share it, or introduce some variety by eating some ‘as is’, sprinkling it with lime juice, or adding sumac for some zesty, citrussy flavour. While you wait you can watch the kitchen carefully making the koobideh and joojeh.

Amo’s Cafe, 444 City Road, Cardiff CF24 3BQ

And talking of joojeh…

Chicken joojeh, Mowlana

This Persian restaurant just around the corner from Clifton St has been doing its thing quietly for years. The joojeh chicken kebab is the best I’ve found in the city. And if you add the beaten-thin barg lamb fillet and one of their giant naan, you’ll only go up in my estimation. Their closure for refurbishment over the summer caused mild panic among those of us in love with what they do: happily, they reopen soon.

Mowlana, 2-4 Four Elms Road CF24 1LE
Read the original review here.

Tamarind duck (Pbed Makham), Moo Moo Thai Tapas

We can quibble with the name all day. I already have. But this is a highlight. Slow cooked and then finished with a blast of intense heat so the skin turns puffed and delicate, before it is laced with a hot-sweet-sour-sticky glaze. It’s a standout dish.

Moo Moo Thai Tapas, 333 City Road, Cardiff CF4 4XX
Read the original review here.

Lamb chops, Dino’s Cafe

Dino’s looks like a bright little all-day Canton cafe; but within the expected bangers and mash and tuna mayo baked potato, omelette and big breakfasts there are Mediterranean treats.

Hot crisp little falafel and garlicky hummus are good with warm Lebanese bread; but have the lamb chops, cut thin for fast grilling, which bring that evocative rich smoky rich fat and saffron rice to catch those juices.

Dinos Cafe 327 Cowbridge Rd E, Cardiff CF5 1JD