The rise of James Chant’s Matsudai Ramen has been rapid. Pop-ups in local restaurants, high-profile collaborations, a busy mail order business and recommendations from national food writers – and now this, a first permanent venue on Clare Road in Grangetown. Inside it’s unfussy but homely, and service is sparky and brisk. It has to be: Matsudai Ramen is Cardiff’s most keenly anticipated opening this year, and very busy.
It starts superbly and doesn’t let up. Mushroom karaage is a meat-free alternative to make carnivores jealous. Torn, lightly battered strips of oyster mushroom and a Japanese curry dip of ‘secret ingredients’ which will have you fixated on how good it is: it sounds simple but this will be the one you come back to, wanting to dredge just one more mouthful through their curry mayo. A bowl of chicken scratchings proves distracting in every good way.
It is an oppressively warm evening, so a cold beansprout salad is heavy on the sesame oil yet light and refreshing. The headliners are those ramen bowls, of course. Tantamen is a vivid sunset shade, a silkily-textured broth bolstered by a chunky lamb and chicken ragu (a take on Szechuan dandan), the noodles short and with some chew left.
The lighter, umami-packed nikkō shio is a remarkable thing, designed to hit harder the deeper you get, to have you chasing over every last half spoonful. It’s a hen soup with slender noodles, given depth by dried sardine from the east coast of Japan and a mix of three kinds of dried flaked fish – bonito and mackerel. The flavours in the bowl change subtly as it cools, making it a naggingly memorable bowl ideal for warmer weather.
This is a significant and enviable opening for this Cardiff area, one sure to boost Matsudai Ramen’s reputation still further. Highly recommended.
Matsudai Ramen, 183-185 Clare Road, Cardiff. 029 2022 6510 / website
words JONATHAN SWAIN