CARDIFF CURRY SCENE

I'm curried up to the eyeballs on the 1605 train trundling out of cold, windy Cardiff.  I've just completed one of the gastronomic achievements of my short life, a feat of metabolic gymnastics, 1 weekend, 4 back to back curry meals.  If tomorrow ever comes I'll be sweating garlic, secreting chilli resin.

There’s an episode of The Simpsons where Homer is told he has 48 hours to live and goes into overdrive to devote as precious time to the things in life and the people he loves.  I had Friday evening, all of Saturday up until Sunday afternoon to meet, greet old friends, flames and as it turned out eat my way around the Welsh capital.

Friday evening at the BAY OF BENGAL, City Road.  Pink breeze block, stood back off the road, small parapet, shin height separating the restaurant front from the pavement.  Adjacent to the bowling alley, recently gone under...an emotional closing night, free drinks, a big gave away, bowling balls, red-white leather shoes.  Inside lights were low, tea lanterns flickered, glowed orange under shiny silver serving bowls at the tables of a handful of diners benighted except for the white glare beaming from the kitchen port hole proclaiming 'Fish Is Good Brain Food'. Something tells me the chefs aren't buying omega 3 fish oil tablets for their kids.  Starters included simple but successful blend of Cod fish and potato, a noteworthy Lamb Passanda. Portions are large, perhaps why I was enamoured with the portions as a student (e.g. delicious Mulligatawny Soup, so thick you'd have trouble wading through it, up to your waste...man overboard, fit for a Captain).  Alas how the memory distorts,  rest of meal well below par.  I ate brown sludge masquerading as Chicken Tikka Jalfrezi with more brown sludge with a pea or two thrown in to create impression of Mixed Veg Curry. 

George’s CTM  uniquely flavoured with food additive.  Yuck!  Beaujolais to wash away taste looked as though it had been raided from a nearby tomb such was state of bottle, still it was OK.  Had we ordered the House Wine the waiter may have thrown it across the room like he did for one customer before retreating behind a partition then reemerging, trying to look serene, with same bottle. 4 course meal deal cost £7.95.  On reflection a much better choice for a cheap curry in Cardiff opt for CHILLIES (£9-10), small conservatory style joint with mismatched tables or THE RADHUNDY (£5.95) – an Indian, English & Mexican restaurant!

Saturday AM, woke up, calorie count artificially boosted by E nos.  Wandered the city’s back streets strewn with the pages of yesterdays news for 3 hours.  Down Whitchurch Road, past various 'green' coffee joints.  'Hoffi Coffee', run by idealistic ex students, 'Mad Hatters baguette bar', Carlos Alberto's 'original' Brazil shirt hanging in the window...past Chop Suey, Chinese takeaway long since vacant, oily, unclean, busted by the hygiene standards agency...over the railway, left hand side of the road...the Mosque, copper green minaret, skull capped Muslims filing out after morning prayer.  Busy traffic, lights still red I cross...Topoli, fun little Lebanese joint with a big clay oven, shaped like a beehive, for cooking table naans, where 'Nadkin’ from Portsmouth spontaneously combusted one evening, spent whole meal scolded hand in a glass of tap water, made no fuss...further out to Lakeside West and the JUBORAJ flagship restaurant.

My appetite fully restored after walk I nevertheless spent first 10 minutes spent pulverising feeling back into black/blue fingers.  Sensation returned I ordered.  Recall sensational Katchuri Dhansak (pastry balls with filling of veg and Moong Dhal) on previous lunch visit but chose Chicken Kholapuri with rice, bindi bhaji. Curry, hot and spicy, tomato flavour heightened by green chillis enriched by cumin and turmeric.  Ladies fingers pulpy and buttery, brilliant. Resolved to return for lunch next day to catch up with friends Kev and Sam rather than visit The Spice Quarter, the other uber smart contemporary Indian in a central location.  At the SPICE QUARTER you can perch at the bar, watch the chefs, chefs recruited from 5 star hotels in Delhi wielding large succulent cubes of paneer on skewers, dicing chillis. 

Decor, deep maroons, stately browns, expensive hardwood, colourful eastern lanterns, ruby red, octorine, sequin blue.  One rainy afternoon, senior looking man to my left told waiter the Rogan Gosht was the best he'd ever tasted eliciting a half nod, 'thank you kindly sir'. Everyone's a Sir at the Spice Quarter, treated like the Raj.  Authenticity, particularly in the food...Prawn Patia, Pork Vindaloo, Lamb Sag, Crab Malabar. Amazing value, £20 a head a la carte, £6.95 3 course lunch menu (starter, curry, rice, desert).

Obviously prices in Cardiff are lower than the South East but I spent £90 during my visit and didn't hold back.  Saturday evening spent celebrating Ceri’s birthday (she’s 22) at Taj Mahal. Waiter failed to ID the Palace of Winds in Bombay, fair enough, probably from Bangladesh. Cooking, North Indian in that it was rich and heavy. An unremarkable Shami kebab to start, but a decent Lamb Bhuna and a good Cauliflower Bhaji with saffron yellow pilau rice, characteristic inconsistencies too, Lemony Chicken Dhansak versus rubbery Lamb Tikka. Overall nothing out of the ordinary but a place to enjoy a long, intimate evening., we were off to a house warming party so no chance of that.

New morning, new sun in the sky, I feel old.  Ice in the sink where I brush teeth, snail in the shower, head out unwashed and somewhat slightly dazed. 

No breakfast, I'd no fast to break anyway.  Midday I'm standing outside the JUBORAJ again with companions on my mobile asking staff to open up (!). 

From the waiters all young, lithe and spritely to the old style bangra on the stereo, the amazing palatial surroundings, wooden elephants, pristine white table cloths, arched whicker thrones we sit on though to the food its hard to find fault.  Fish Tikka might have been a little unexciting to begin but again main dishes were very good.  Arrive at table in sealed black pewter pots, surprisingly deep.   My Dupiaza all sweet chunky onion, fresh fresh tomato, sly red pepper, accompanying side dish Dhal Shamber (lentils and mixed vegetables), full of rich, spicy goodness, so good I'd eaten half before even investigating my curry.  Yes this place deserves its reputation as a UK Top 100 curry restaurant, (an accolade shared with the SPICE QUARTER), good value too…per head with very decent house red wine circa £25.

A fitting end to my Odyssey.