When you head out for food on Cowbridge Road East, there’s a very wide divergence between the best you can get and the worst. However, Purple Poppadom (Cardiff), is definitely at the top of the pile when it comes to nouvelle cuisine.
The location and the relatively standard decor don’t in any way prepare you for the genuine taste sensation that is to follow. If it weren’t for these two minor setbacks, rumours of a Michelin Star for Purple Poppadom head chef, Anand George, wouldn’t be quite so far flung.
The food itself is deftly crafted with subtle flavours that infuse every mouthful with perfect tastes, smells and texture. The addition of more of a fish focus on the menu than you’d normally find at a standard Indian restaurant makes the menu a stand-out success.
However, this isn’t a standard Indian restaurant; it’s a nouvelle cuisine Indian restaurant and it’s this dedication to fine dining that makes the food at the Purple Poppadom so sensational, helping it win the Welsh Curry House of the Year 2012.
There’s a bright chef taster menu to choose from and the starter menu includes mussels cooked in a moilee sauce with kaffir lime, poached scallops and the very tasty Streets of Mumbai, featuring Aloo Tikki potato cakes and Bombay Chat pastry snacks.
The main dishes are just as wonderful, with ace names like Spirit of the Sea (swordfish marinated in coriander and lime), Raan Akbari (spiced and marinaded slow braised lamb shank) and the Tiffin seabass, Anand George’s signature dish. All of which taste amazingly.
In a nutshell, Purple Poppadom isn’t just instantly the best tasting Indian restaurant in Cardiff, it’s one of the best the country.
Purple Poppadom, Cardiff restaurant review: 4.5/5.
