TRIBETRIBE ★★★★
169 Cowbridge Road East, Cardiff. 029 2066 6111

The history of African migration to, and subsequent settlement in, Cardiff is long and keenly documented. However, it’s most readily associated with the bay area and especially Butetown. TribeTribe (“you know, like an African tribe,” I hear one of the owners explain to someone on the phone) is found in Canton; to my knowledge, it’s the first establishment of its kind this side of the bridge. The capital’s population breakdown might make you think that pitching West African food – which makes up the majority of TribeTribe’s evening menu – in this district is a bold move, and it is. I walk past it most days, though, and it tends to be bustling enough, so the two main owners are evidently doing their homework.
In the daytime, TribeTribe is a largely, well, Westernised cafe selling chips, burgers and suchlike. From 6pm, all is given over to the African palate – mainly, but not exclusively, Nigerian-inspired. We didn’t have a starter, but you can get things like akara (bean fritters), suya beef kebabs, or goat pepper soup. As it goes, my main course of shola fish with Ikeja sauce and deep fried plantain was pinpoint satisfying: a whole grilled tilapia with a lush tomato and chilli sauce and skin on its underside which tasted like fried chicken. It would be decent to extend thanks to my vegetarian partner for not being skeezed out by a big googly fish head while eating her choice – a rice dish with Ikeja stew, plus plantain and salad. Reports were of good eating, spicy but not overly so, and a combined pledge to eat more plantain in general.
These two dishes plus a Coke and a bottle of Heineken came to £25. Bearing in mind most things on the menu cost at least £3.50 less than my meal, value is barely in question. TribeTribe currently occupies about as small a niche as a restaurant can in Cardiff, but could hardly be less pretentious about its (great) food either. NOEL GARDNER