There’s a good reason why many people’s favourite curry house, Chinese restaurant or fish and chip shop is just a short walk from where they live.
It’s not necessarily because they serve the best food, have the friendliest service, or the best vibes.
Of course, they’re all very important. But, it’s convenience which is the factor that many people neglect to mention when naming their favourite places.
I can certainly relate. At the end of a busy week, I’d rather go somewhere just a small shuffle from home instead of schlepping across town for a shashlik or shish.
Which brings me to Konak, a new Turkish-ish restaurant that’s opened a short walk from where we live and that also happens to be en route to two of my favourite watering holes, Pop n Hops and State of Love and Trust.
Located on the former site of the Juboraj by Roath Park, a konak is the Turkish word for a large stately home. Whilst the building that Cardiff’s Konak occupies isn’t exactly a stylish mansion, it’s great to see the venue back in action after its inauspicious end under previous owners. They’ve done a nice job on the refurb of the interior too, with its dark wood and moody lantern lighting.
Konak’s menu is dominated by a Turkish influenced selection of mezze, grills and casseroles as well as a few European sounding dishes, like creamy garlic mushrooms and seabass with turmeric beurre blanc.
I always enjoy a beer with a kebab, and Konak serves the highly gluggable Efes (£6.50) on draught.
A basket of complimentary bread was warm and squishy with a good glossy crust. Sweet red pepper and garlic and mint yoghurt dips were lovely accompaniments.
Our sizeable hot starter platter for four delivered a bevy of treats and was well-priced at £25. Despite arriving in what seemed like a matter of minutes, it all tasted freshly cooked to order.
There were crisp crumbed calamari and whitebait, golden crusted halloumi that was very good dipped in sweet chilli sauce, loose textured falafel flecked with whole chickpeas, slices of addictively savoury and spicy fried sucuk, and little filo pastry cigars filled with feta and mozzarella.
Four of us ordered the mixed grill and were all impressed. It’s worth noting though that at £23, it’s a good few quid more expensive than the mixed grill at Saray and Troy.
Loose-textured lamb adana kebab had a lovely waft of smoke and was flecked with plenty of herbs. Golden chicken shish and lamb shish were both commendably tender. However, I preferred the chicken over the lamb. Zesty red cabbage, grated carrot, perky leaves and charred peppers and onions were a cut above the usual kebab house salad whilst a mound of carbs combined a buttery mix of rice and orzo with a layer of nutty bulgur wheat.
We ordered a couple of bowls of fries (£4) because you can never have enough carbs. Whilst they were most likely bought in, they hit the mark when it came to crispness and seasoning.
Mrs G was the only person to order something other than a mixed grill and her chicken shish with yoghurt (£20) was every bit as impressive. Hunks of tender chicken were bathed in thick and creamy garlic-twanged greek yoghurt, a fruity tomato sauce, and capped off with a good drizzle of rich and caramel-twanged brown butter.
On the side was more of that excellent salad, rice and bulgur.
We had a lovely dinner at Konak and the witty waiter who delivered a steady stream of puns made the experience all the more enjoyable. I hope Konak is embraced by the local community on its doorstep who will be crucial to its success. The signs are promising as it was packed on the weekday evening we visited.
The details:
Address - Konak, 2 Lake Road West , Cardiff CF23 5PG
Web - https://konakwales.co.uk/
Telephone - 02920 488999
