IN MY NEIGHBOURHOOD: JONATHAN SWAIN'S GUIDE TO GRANGETOWN
Jonathan Swain of The Plate Licked Clean shares his Grangetown gems.
One of Cardiff’s most valued and trusted food reviewers, there isn’t anything Jonathan Swain doesn’t know about eating out in our capital city. After years of writing his blog, The Plate Licked Clean, Jonathan has explored every corner of Cardiff’s culinary landscape, good and bad.
Here, he shares his recommendations in one neighbourhood that is often overlooked: Grangetown.
Visiting Grangetown to eat has become far more common since Matsudai Ramen opened on Clare Road, but that doesn't tell anywhere near the whole story.
Since the 19th century, Cardiff has been home to one of Britain's longest-established Yemeni communities: the sailors who made Cardiff their home after sailing cargo into the Docks, and making the Bute family wealthier than Croesus in the process, brought their food with them.
At Al-Madina Mandi, the meaty menu is supplemented with a smattering of pulses, but the key order is lamb and chicken served mandi style: steamed over rice until those rich meat juices mingle with the grains. It smells glorious: fripperies are dispensed with here, roll up those sleeves, and just dig in.
Le Mandela is run by a trio of brothers from Cameroon, but it casts its continental net wider for inspiration. They are on a mission to convince the rest of us that African food is all too often overlooked and underrated. Jollof rice is an essential order: aromatic, subtly spiced, gently smoky, wholesome; and don't miss out on ntaba (smoked goat), the spice-crusted chicken wings, the peanut-heavy ‘sauce aux arachides’ and the spicier ‘sauce tomate’ stew.
You won't beat a pint in The Grange, which manages to be that all-too-rare thing in Cardiff: an independently-owned pub committed to good cooking.
Their ‘GFC’ is justly renowned as among the best fried chicken in the city but don't overlook the rest of the menu. Packed full of comforting pub grub classics- sausage and mash, fish and chips, curries, a beer garden pizza oven- everything is done with the flair you'd expect from the people behind The Lansdowne and Milkwood. In short: proper pub, proper cooking.
Many have been drawn to Lahore Kebabish in a quest to answer the burning question: is this Cardiff's finest keema naan? ‘Almost certainly’ is the answer. Made in the Pakistani roghni style, it's unforgettable. Their growing popularity has seen them move from their tiny original base to a 50-cover restaurant.
If it's your first visit, here's what you need: hariyali, haleem, lamb chops, achari chicken, lamb nihari. And, of course, that keema naan. Spicing is robust, and eat in for the best experience. Hariyali, marinated in herbs which give it its distinctive green shade, comes sizzling on cast iron.
Opposite The Grange on Penarth Road, you'll find Blend, one of the disappointingly small number of coffee shops with an excellent cortado on the menu. Owner Shiraz is born for hospitality: the welcome is warm and the coffee the best in the area.
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All photographs courtesy of Jonathan Swain.