卡村饭馆 Cardiff Restaurant, Salisbury Road: review

There’s no denying East Asian food is having a moment in Cardiff right now.

Here on Salisbury Road alone you’ll find Savour, Mini Kitchen, Hong Kong café North Point and the Taiwanese QBAO. Add the city centre’s Chinese Fast Street Food, and Jianghu less than half a mile away in Cathays, and the city’s options in recent years have got richer than ever.

Cardiff Restaurant (possibly not the most search engine-optimised name, though I doubt they’ll care) leans heavily, but not exclusively, on the cooking of Sichuan, with some Cantonese and northern dishes for good measure. The Chinese students who have already half-filled the place within ten minutes of opening clearly know where to find a welcome taste of home.

As a result, the menu promises enough offal- kidneys and chitterlings, pigs’ trotters and tripe, chicken gizzards and giblets- for you to burnish your Top Foodie credentials if that’s your thing. I am the only European in the room and it feels like a good sign. Reports are encouraging, and it’s always good to hear from readers who have found something special, with one reader caught between wanting me to know about his seven or eight visits, and not wanting it to be known about too widely. ‘Review it and I’ll kill you’ takes some beating, though.

As I’m probably bigger and certainly uglier than my nemesis, I’ll risk it. As the provenance of online ‘reviews’ becomes murkier and murkier, and more and more in thrall to ‘content creator’ culture, word of mouth and genuine enthusiasm matters more and more: and because you should know about Cardiff Restaurant and what happens here, these punchily-spiced plates piled with good things.

Don’t come here if you’re one of those pursed-lips pork chop fat-trimmers, though. You know the sort, bless them. Honestly, you’d be wasting your time. But if you’re a true lover of flavour, of uncompromising spicing and the lascivious possibilities of fat, then make a beeline here.

The menu makes little concession to western diners. The name is in Mandarin only, and although the menu is translated into English the agenda is very much regional specialities.

Red braised pork- irreproachably tender, unapologetically fatty- is one to linger over, a lighter shade than some you’ll find but no less aromatic and satisfying for all that. There’s wonton soup, the subtly seasoned pork parcels piled into a bowl of skinny noodles, clear stock and wilted pak choi. It’s an unseasonably bright day as I eat this: as they shorten and chill sets in, come here, have this, and thank me later as you relax into its warming, confirming depths.

Salty lamb ‘chops’ (ribs) hum with garlic and chilli and cumin, the skin crisped into a light crackling-like finish and the flesh and fat poised at that happy juncture where you tear at it with your teeth, then suck your fingers clean of glistening juices. It’s a hefty portion, too: this is a kitchen which enjoys feeding you well.

Sichuan pepper chicken, lightly dredged, crisp and strewn with crisp tea leaves, is one to gnaw and worry at. Little pieces on the bone bristle with heat: finger-thick pieces of fresh green and dried red chillies are scattered with the citrussy heat-burst of Sichuan peppercorns.

Cumin lamb is admirably done, unmistakably aromatic and boldly spiced. It’s that appreciation of fat again, of well-marbled meat beaten thin so it cooks quickly but still stays plump and tender. It is also the most satisfying example of this old favourite I can remember since the demise of Canton’s Old Sichuan.

This is food to blow away the cobwebs. ‘Cardiff Restaurant’ may be hard to track down online, but make the effort to find it. I’m glad I risked it all to tell you about it…

卡村饭馆 Cardiff Restaurant

108 Salisbury Rd, Cardiff CF24 4AE

Monday 11:15 am–10 pm
Tuesday 11:15 am–10 pm
Wednesday Closed
Thursday 11:15 am–10 pm
Friday 11:15 am–10 pm
Saturday 1–10 pm
Sunday 1–10 pm