Cathays keeps on going from strength to strength when it comes Chinese cooking.
Over the last few years, the excellent So Good, In Café, Fang’s Oriental Bakery and Q Bao have joined the ranks of my old favourite Zi’s Café.
Jianghu is the latest addition to the area, opening recently on the former site of Irie Shack.
Billed as specialising in Chinese barbecue skewers, there’s a good range on offer including pork belly, lamb kidney, pork intestine, and sliced potatoes. Larger Sichuan style dishes include deep fried chicken with dried chilli, Chengdu fish with pickle, and dry pot frog legs with spicy sauce.
Inside, the restaurant is a cavernous space that could be described as functional rather than fashionable.
Ice cold malty Tsingtao beers (£3.60) did a great thirst-quenching job.
Gorgeously tender lamb skewers were seasoned with the tingling warmth of cumin and chilli. But if these were the large ones (£2.80) then the small ones (£1.80) must be seriously weeny. Crisp squid tentacles (£2) had the same excellent seasoning and were just the right side of chewy.
Kung pao chicken (£11.80) was an excellent example of its type. Tender chicken morsels, crunchy peanuts, spring onions and a judicious amount of dried chilli were coated in a glossy savoury, sweet and spicy sauce.
Sea spiced pork (£12.80) was equally delicious. Thin shreds of pork were tumbled together with cucumber batons in another big-flavoured sauce with a decent hit of chilli. I’ve never had cucumber in a hot dish before but I’m definitely a fan of the unmistakeable fragrance it brings.
A quartet of scallops (£6) were the most underwhelming element of the meal. Small, even by queen scallop standards, they were sweet and tender with a good wallop of garlic. But they required a surgical procedure to detach them from their shells, with a good proportion of the flesh remaining welded on.
A generous mound of grease free egg fried rice (£4.80) provided extra ballast.
We really liked Jianghu's bold flavoured and good value Chinese cooking and I’d be very keen to guzzle a lot more of their skewers with some ice-cold beers. It’s another strong addition to Cathays’ wealth of very good Chinese eateries.
Note – Jianghu is currently cash only
Note – Jianghu is currently cash only
The Details:
Address - Jianghu Restaurant, 106-110 Woodville Rd, Cardiff CF24 4EE
Telephone - 029 2063 9281
Surprised not to see ‘Savour’ mentioned in the list of best Chinese in Cathays! I love those you listed too, but Savour is the winner for me, and their kung pao chicken has warm cucumber in it if you are a fan 😂 our favs from there are the 松鼠玉 (Squirrel Fish) and the 水煮牛 (can’t remember what it translates as, something like beef in hot cooking oil/water). Their skewers are also delicious. Looking forward to trying Jiangs soon to see how it compares.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendation! I've had a couple of meals this week and really enjoyed the cumin lamb and the squirrel fish. I need to go back and try the beef in hot cooking water. I hope you enjoy Jianghu!
DeleteWent in there last week about 7pm 2 people sat in corner massive space , No atmosphere at all .stark ish ! , Given menu asked for bottle of wine said bar man not in tonight? behind bar seemed sparse , said thanks and left .did not eat said thanks and left.
ReplyDeleteWent round to The Happy lock opposite The Crwys pub on Corner great 4th time there 3 courses for two,1 bottle of wine nearly full at 7pm £65-00p total try it also not posh but Snap dragon down city road food great and service , Being a foodie and following you for 5yrs plus keep it up
Oh that's frustrating! Seems a bit weird that they could only serve you beer and not a bottle wine. I really need to go back to Happy Lok... it's been far too long since our last visit and we thought it was excellent. I'm also very keen to try Snap Dragon.
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