33-34 Windsor Terrace, Penarth. 029 2070 0500 / www.mintandmustard.com/locations/penarth
Food **** Atmosphere ****
The flavours and style of cooking here is inspired by Keralan cuisine originating in the south of India, a land of spices known for its fresh, light and healthy food created with a slow food approach – cooking each dish fresh every time. Mint & Mustard is still the best representation of this type of food around this area, and is one of the few places that is consistently good on every visit. The creative touches and the beautifully arranged dishes are reason enough to visit, but it is a genuine joy to dine here, as is the other restaurants in the group, based respectively in Cardiff, Chepstow and Taunton. As with all things that are special, executed well and deliver quality, you will need to book at weekends as it does get very busy.
Dining with a seasoned regular of the Mint, we wasted no time in ordering and selected from both the main menu and the tasting menu. To start, onion palak pakora – homemade crunchy fritters of finely shredded spinach onion and water chestnuts – with Keralan tiger prawns marinated in a paste of Kashmiri chillies and turmeric and deep fried. Mains all arrived with a selection of meat and vegetarian dishes. Saag gosht with chicken – slow-cooked chicken with spinach and chef’s own spices – is a particular favourite, while the tandoor menu yields a charmianar kabab platter: a combination of king prawns, salmon, chicken tikka, sheekh kebab and lamb tikka with chutneys. It does seem a lot but it was all incredibly light and individual in taste, a fragrant taste of many things rather than a blur of spices. With these mains came lemon rice and naan breads with fig and fresh coriander, again very light.
The emphasis is on texture, taste and individual spices and fragrances: don’t expect to leave dragging your belly across the floor, rather anticipate an uplifting and invigorating experience bolstered by polite and charming staff who flit about with both purpose and a smile on their face. Love it every time.
words ANTONIA LEVAY