MÜNCHSTERS | FOOD REVIEW
22-23 Trinity Street, Cardiff. 029 2023 4000 / www.munchesters.com
From the outside this Indian inspired cafe looks like a place picked out of an IKEA catalog but, given that, feels simple, fresh and unassuming.
With prices pretty standard for a slightly up-market lunch you can easily get a good meal at Münchesters, especially if you’re willing to tip over a fiver. Currently you can get a Meal Deal for £3.50, that includes a drink and either a chicken or chickpea wrap. Both of these are tasty and satisfying options, the roast chicken with vegetables and parley is particularly tasty, and is a little like having a small Sunday lunch wrapped in a chapatti.
Personally I would highly recommend that you forget the meal deal, however, and go for one of the more exciting wrapped up choices. A highlight being the stunningly tasty long-cooked lamb. The 24-hour cooked meat is soft, succulent and slightly sweet and combined perfectly with green and purple vegetables.
The only problem with Münchesters is perhaps that it doesn’t quite know what type of place it wants to be. Its backbone is in its fresh wraps, which are packaged up and ready to be eaten on the go, but the first time I ordered a simple tea I was handed a wooden board which carried on top of it a tea cup and a rack of egg timers. Although this can be a nice touch it felt like a flourish more suited to a fancy tea house, and it seemed out of place with my quick and easy food.
Saying that however, this is only a minor problem and one that time will likely address. All in all Münchesters has new and interesting meals and some really great tasting food, which is unsurprising when you realise that it was created by celebrated chefs Anand George and chef Kuldeep Singh.
words HEATHER ARNOLD photo RICHARD SWINGLER