Forty covers in Roath since 2011: a clay tandoor lit at four, forty-eight dishes marked one to four for heat and flagged for vegan and gluten-free, a Sunday thali for £16.50, and a takeaway with the collection time quoted from the clock.
Closed for tonight; the kitchen opens tomorrow at 5pm
118 Albany Road, Roath · the Sunday thali sunday 25 October, from 12:30pm
The restaurant
01
Eight starters, seven from the tandoor, six chef's specials, eight curries, three biryanis, seven vegetable and dal dishes, the rice and breads, and three puddings. Every dish carries its heat from zero to four chillies and whether it is vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free, and the menu page on this website filters by both. Mains from £10.50, the Sunday thali £16.50.
Starters from £5.
02
A clay tandoor, charcoal-fired, lit at four every afternoon and at eleven for lunch. Chicken tikka from thigh marinated for a day, lamb chops, five king prawns, paneer tikka, a half chicken, and a mixed grill for £18.50; naan and roti slapped on the wall to order. Seven dishes, all gluten-free, two to three chillies.
Chicken tikka £14.
03
Thirteen of the forty-eight dishes are vegan and twenty-five vegetarian, flagged on every line and filterable on the menu page: chana masala, tarka dal, aloo gobi, bhindi masala, a coconut vegetable korma, an aubergine and tamarind curry, vegetable biryani, pani puri, onion bhaji and more. A vegan thali on Sundays, and a vegan tasting menu for tables of six or more with a day's notice.
Vegetable and dal dishes £8.
04
From half past twelve to four every Sunday: a thali of six small dishes (two curries, a dal, a vegetable, a chaat and the day's special), rice, two puris, raita, pickle and a sweet on a steel platter, £16.50 an adult and £8 for under-twelves. A meat thali and a vegan thali, the dishes changed every week and published by Thursday. No booking for two; book for six or more.
The thali £16.
05
Ring or order on the takeaway page and we quote the collection time from the clock: twenty-five minutes from now, rounded to the next five, within kitchen hours. Ten per cent off the menu price for collection. Delivery by our own driver to CF24 for £2.50, to CF23, CF14 and CF10 for £3.50, and to CF11 and CF5 for £4.50, free over a published amount in each zone, with a £15 minimum. We are not on the apps.
Collection: the menu price less ten per cent, ready in twenty-five minutes.
06
The back room seats twelve to twenty at one long table behind the carved teak screen, with its own door to the kitchen and no room hire. A set menu of four courses at £35 a head, chosen with you a week ahead from the whole menu with the heat and the diets sorted in advance; drinks from the list or a bar tab. Tuesday to Saturday evenings and Sunday lunch; a £100 deposit comes off the bill.
The set menu £35 a head for four courses, chosen a week ahead; a vegan or vegetarian version at the same price; children's plates £12.
From the tandoor
Birmingham paneer, peppers and onion on the skewer, a day in the marinade
Thigh, twenty-four hours in yoghurt and spice, eight minutes in the clay
On the bone, marinated overnight, for one hungry person
Chicken tikka, a lamb chop, a seekh kebab, two king prawns, a roti
Marinated with extra ginger, cooked pink unless you say
On the skewer last so they are not overdone; lemon and mint
Sunday
From half past twelve every Sunday: a steel platter with six small bowls, two puris blown up as it leaves the pass, raita, pickle and a sweet. The six change every week and are below by Thursday; a vegan platter at the same price, under-twelves £8 with a lassi, second helpings £2.50 a bowl. No booking under six; six or more, book and we hold the table for fifteen minutes.
This week's six
Takeaway and delivery
The kitchen is closed for tonight. It opens tomorrow at 5pm; order ahead and the first collection is at 5:25pm. Ten per cent off the menu price for collection. Delivery by our own driver, minimum order £15; we are not on the apps.
Order a takeawayRoath, Plasnewydd, Adamsdown, Splott
£2.50 free over £25
30 to 40 minutes from the order on a normal night.
Penylan, Cyncoed, the Heath, Birchgrove, the city centre
£3.50 free over £40
35 to 50 minutes from the order on a normal night.
Grangetown, Canton, Llandaff, Fairwater, Ely
£4.50 free over £60
45 to 60 minutes from the order on a normal night.
How we work
A clay tandoor, not a gas grill, lit with charcoal at four every afternoon and at eleven on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Naan is slapped on the wall to order and chicken tikka is marinated for a day. If the tandoor is cold the tandoor dishes are off, and we say so.
We are not on the delivery apps, so the price on this website is the price on the table and in the bag. Collection is ten per cent less than the menu; delivery is the menu price plus the published fee for your zone, nothing hidden in the dishes.
Kiran has run the kitchen since 2011 and Anjali has run the room. Four more in the kitchen, five on the floor on a Saturday, and a driver who has done the Roath round for nine years. Nobody is reheating a sauce from a bucket.
Closed Monday for the shopping, the marinades and the rest. Open Tuesday to Sunday with lunch on Friday, Saturday and Sunday; last orders thirty minutes before the kitchen closes, and the kitchen closes when it says.
The back room
Behind the carved teak screen: one long table, copper chargers, its own door to the kitchen. A four-course set menu chosen with you a week ahead so the vegan at the end of the table and the uncle who wants a vindaloo both get what they want without a conversation on the night. A £100 deposit comes off the bill; no service charge; bring a cake and we plate it.
How the room worksCustomers
Ordered on the website at 6:40 and it said ready at 7:05, and at 7:05 the bag was on the counter with my name on it. The chicken tikka is thigh and you can tell. Ten per cent off for walking round the corner, which is more than the apps ever gave me.
Six little bowls, puris that arrive like balloons, and a second helping of the dal for £2.50. Our daughter has the £8 one and eats more than we do. We go at half twelve because by one you are waiting, and they warn you about that on the website.
The only Indian in Cardiff where I have filtered the menu to vegan on my phone and found thirteen things rather than two. The aubergine and tamarind special is the best thing I have eaten this year, and they cook the vegan dishes in their own pans and will tell you so.
Every dish is marked zero to four on the menu and on this website. Zero is a korma with no chilli, two is where most of the menu sits, four is the Goan vindaloo. Any dish can be cooked a notch either way; say so when you order.
Thirteen vegan dishes and thirty-eight gluten-free, each flagged on the menu. The menu page filters by vegan, vegetarian or gluten-free so you can see them before you come. Vegan dishes are cooked in oil in their own pans; the gluten-free breads have their own tawa.
Twenty-five minutes from the order to the bag, quoted from the clock on the takeaway page and rounded to the next five minutes. Ten per cent off the menu price for collection. If the kitchen is closed the page says when it opens and when the first bag will be ready.
If you are in CF24, CF23, CF14, CF10, CF11 or CF5, yes, with our own driver: £2.50, £3.50 or £4.50 by zone, free over £25, £40 or £60, minimum order £15. Anywhere else is collection. We are not on the apps.
For a table on a Friday or Saturday evening, yes, by phone or the booking page. Tuesday to Thursday you can usually walk in. The Sunday thali is no booking under six; for six or more, book and we hold the table for fifteen minutes.
The back room takes twelve to twenty at one long table for a four-course set menu at £35 a head, chosen a week ahead so the diets and the heat are sorted. No room hire, no service charge, a £100 deposit that comes off the bill.
Book a table for dinner, the Sunday thali for six or more, or the back room for twenty on one form, with a reply within the hour while the kitchen is open. For a takeaway, the takeaway page quotes the collection time from the clock and takes ten per cent off.
