Jonathan Swain nominates a quintet of his personal favourite spicy food restaurants from south Wales for those of you seeking a Scoville-based rush.
KERALAN KARAVAN
This Cardiff-based company take their inspiration from Southern Indian flavours and give its spicy food a fun, aromatic twist at the heart of south Wales. It certainly works, as their Best Street Food Cardiff and Best Sandwich awards demonstrate – the latter at the British Street Food Awards, no less – for their Bombay Tikka Taco. Keep an eye on their Instagram for their next pop-up or takeover and indulge yourself.
Info: Instagram
MOO MOO
You might take issue with Moo Moo calling what they do “Thai Tapas”, but there’s no arguing with their bold flavours. Theirs is an impressive menu of curries, stirfries, rice and noodle dishes – but wherever you are in the city, their phed makham (tamarind duck) is worth the trip alone.
City Road, Cardiff. Info: here
NEWPORT MARKET
If you need to indulge those spice cravings but you fancy something a little different, many of the traders here lean toward Asia. So whether it’s Seven Lucky Gods’ bento bowls and Korean fried chicken, Tasty Peninsula’s Malaysian influences, or the noodles, bao, small plates and glazed Korean short rib from Greedy Bear, you’ll be spoilt for choice.
High Street, Newport. Info: here
CURRY HUT
You have to know where to look in south Wales for good spicy Sri Lankan food, and in this case, it’s tucked away on Salisbury Road. Curry Hut specialises in big, uncompromising servings like Paneer Devil and Ceylon crab curry, as well as string hoppers and koththu dishes.
Salisbury Road, Cardiff. Info: Facebook
SO GOOD
The kind of robust regional Chinese dishes which are rare in Cardiff – your typical Westernised Cantonese this is not. If hot spicy pig intestine or frogs’ legs in chilli soup aren’t your thing, have the Sichuan beef chilli soup, a serious proposition which is hugely flavoured and hugely proportioned, for a bracing broadside of spicing.
Crwys Road, Cardiff. Info: here
words JONATHAN SWAIN
