Sri Lankan food is having a ‘moment’ in Cardiff right now. A sudden proliferation of pop-ups and brick-and-mortar openings means you have options, with Broadway’s Ceylon Spicy Pot the newest.
From a small drinks section, the pick is a thick mango lassi. The menu is full of familiar crowdpleasers: mutton rolls are handmade here, and stuffed with nuggets of meat and boiled potato. If they fall short of the best locally – Cardiff Market’s Tukka Tuk – they’re a bargain at £2.50 a pair.
No Sri Lankan menu is complete without hoppers. If the egg is slightly too ‘over’ to enable dipping, it’s still satisfying to enjoy the textures of these rice flour pancakes with their telltale filigree. Kottu is a wholesome tumble of chicken and shredded vegetables, and it makes for perfect comfort food: it’s the sort of thing we are glad we double-ordered.
The chance of crab curry is too good to pass up, though prospect trumps reality. That body comes hewn into rustic hunks, in a deep brick-red sauce it’s impossible to resist dipping into. However, there are no picks provided, just standard cutlery, so as the debris mounts, you might find the effort involved in winkling out any flesh brings little reward. Meanwhile, if your expectations of mutton stew are soupy, what arrives might surprise you – a dry stirfry of onions, peppers and meat, with more of the sauce we’ve already met in the crab, though that’s no bad thing.
There were issues with service, with some polish needed. Yet there’s plenty here to make this an interesting and inexpensive visit: we ate heartily for just £15 a head. As any issues become resolved, this might yet prove to be quite the lovely little local gem.
10 Broadway, Cardiff. Info: 07455 192175 / Just Eat listing
words JONATHAN SWAIN
