I’ve reviewed so many restaurants on Whitchurch Road lately that I should probably consider renaming my blog Gourmet Gabalfa.
Usually, after a few beers at the excellent Pop ‘n’ Hops, we’re craving a bite to eat and as a result we’ve recently visited Shiraz Grill, Stella Italia and now Ginger & Clove.
Ginger & Clove opened in January 2025 and it occupies the former site of Wildflower Kitchen and the Aegean Greek Taverna. It’s a lovely space with a colourful mural covering one wall and a third of the venue turned over to bar seating to try and encourage people to pop in for a drink.
The restaurant’s menu draws influences from across India but is mostly focused on southern India as that’s where the expertise of the chefs lies. With nine starters, and eight mains, Ginger & Clove’s menu is compact as far as Indian restaurants go. It’s a much more reassuring sight than 100 curries, all of which are made from the same base sauce.
Complimentary poppadum shards, chutneys and glasses of iced water were brought out as soon as we arrived. It’s the little touches like this which always endear a restaurant to me. Both the chutneys hit the mark - a sweet chilli number and a fragrant mint variety that also had a good oomph of chilli.
To start, gobi manchurian (£5.95) saw lightly battered florets of cauliflower coated in a sticky, spicy, sweet and savoury sauce flecked with garlic and onion. This was very good example of this dish, with the sizeable pieces of cauliflower still having plenty of texture.
It was a very good contrast to a Kerala beef fry (£6.95) with its earthy dry spicing and notes of toasted coconut. The impeccably tender nuggets of beef were lifted by a scattering of fragrant curry leaves and the zip of pickled onions.
For mains we showed a bit of restraint, relatively speaking, by ordering a main, side and bread to share.
A nadan chicken curry (£10.95) was billed on the menu as “included by popular demand”. Made to the owner Matthew’s recipe, I of course had to give such a hyped-up dish a go. Super tender bits of boneless chicken thigh were coated in a medium spiced thick and luxurious gravy with layers of spice, coconut and curry leaf. This was an excellent curry.
Its excess sauce was delicious drizzled over a vegetable thoran (£3.95) made with a fine dice of toothsome carrot and radish that was seasoned with mustard, coconut, curry leaf and crispy onion.
A table-topping triangular masala dosa (£7.99) was commendably thin and crisp and filled with comforting spiced potato. A bevy of accompaniments really made it sing. Fresh coconut chutney, a sweet and creamy tomato and onion chutney, and a velvety sambar flecked with carrot and stringy moringa beans, were all excellent.
The Details:
Address - Ginger & Clove, 72-74 Whitchurch Road, Cardiff CF14 3LX
Telephone - 029 2063 0708