South Wales Curry

Restaurant Name: Jamuna

Town: Birchgrove, Cardiff

Date Visited: August 2009

Location
On the main road from Cardiff to Caerphilly, near Birchgrove pub. Parking tricky at times.

Ambience
Décor somewhat like a transport café, with no tablecloths. Lack of cleaniness in some places. Door to toilets open for all to see from nearby tables. Generally poor hygiene in the gents’ toilet.

Service
Very polite waiters and quick service but poor presentation at table.

Menu Choice
A reasonable choice of chef’s specialties together with the standard Indian dishes. A range of prawn and vegetable options.

Food Quality
Puppadoms slightly old and sweaty. Good rice (plain and pulao) ,fluffy, if a little tepid. The sauces of the main dishes were lacking in depth and tangy taste. The chicken, particularly, was very chewy.

Value for Money
Average.

Overall Rating
1/5 – disappointing. The food was adequate, but the surroundings, presentation and questionable cleanliness standards let this rsetaurant down badly.

Restaurant Name: The Bay Leaf
Town: 28-30, High Street, Llandaff, Cardiff
Date Visited: July 2009
Website:

Location
Situated on the road to Llandaff Cathedral  (turn off the A4119)

Ambience
Somewhat small and tables rather close together but pleasant atmosphere.

Service
We have visited this restaurant on a few occasions previously and have not         been disappointed. On our review visit however the staff seemed quite detached and not particularly welcoming. Service speed was average. It was a moderately busy Friday evening

Menu Choice
Excellent choice to suit all tastes with some interesting and unusual chef’s specialties.

Food Quality
Again we were disappointed with this particular meal. The Prawn Balti lacked onions and peppers and was almost indistinguishable from a prawn curry.  Chicken Tikka Jalfrezi  did not live up to its usual chilli pepper strength. Real and delicious  lime pickle though.

Value for Money
Prices average for Cardiff and therefore reasonable.

Overall Rating
No more than 3/5 for this visit, but we plan to return.