Base Camp, Cardiff, Indian and Nepalese restaurant review

There are a few awkward Cardiff restaurant spaces that I’ve always thought were doomed to failure but have gone on to confound my expectations.

Café Rio, Il Pastificio and Da Mara couldn’t make 2 Penylan Road work before it became the successful Scaramantica.

Jerkit and Munchies (who were infamous for their fried breakfast in a jar) were unable to make a go of 22 Crwys Road before Thai restaurant Tuk Tuk became long term residents.

Arguably though, the trickiest venue of all is 29 Park Place, a whopper of a 110-cover space that has been home to a string of businesses including Bacchus, the eponymous 29 Park Place, Cardiff Arts Institute, Steam Cardiff and Club 29. I’d contend that the handsome building’s size and its neither here nor there location have both counted against it.

Base Camp, a Nepalese and Indian restaurant which opened at the start of December 2024, is 29 Park Place’s latest resident. Could this be the restaurant to finally break the venue’s curse?

There’s an experienced team in place with general manager Ram Sapotka, who originally hails from Kathmandu, a veteran former manager of Whitchurch Road’s Mint & Mustard. In the kitchen, Rahul Chauhan was head chef at Mint and Mustard and Himalayan born Soban Singh Pokhriyal is formerly of London’s Dishoom.

With a menu that draws culinary influences from the Himalayas all the way down to the tip of southern India, I was drawn most towards Base Camp’s Nepalese dishes as there’s not much of this kind of cooking in Cardiff.

Eye catching dishes include lamb jimbu, named after the Himalayan herb used in its preparation, Khumbu noodles and crispy fried Lukla Chicken. However, if Indian cooking is more your vibe, then elevated sounding options include Goan fish curry, Hyderabadi dum biryani, and okra bhel.

We both ordered alcohol free drinks, not because we’re doing dry January, but because we had a big sesh the night before. A Virgin mojito (£6.50) was a good balance of fragrant mint, zingy lime and sugar sweetness whilst a creamy and tangy mango lassi (£3.90) was cleverly spiked with cardamon.

A quintet of steamed Nepalese momo dumplings (£8.50) were well stuffed with fragrantly spiced and juicy chicken mince. They were lovely dredged through a pot of excellent thick sesame and tomato dip seasoned with smoky and palate warming Nepalese timur pepper. A minor criticism, but the dumpling cases were slightly chewy around their sealed edges.

Cubes of gorgeously soft and creamy paneer (£7.95) had a good scent of smoke from the tandoor oven as well as a delicate honey sweetness and earthy funk of truffle.

Onto mains, and lamb Pahadi (£13.50) was rammed full of super tender slow cooked pieces of meat in a thick well-spiced gravy. The cracking curry was pepped up with the addition of batons of fresh ginger and coriander leaves.

Annapurna Himali Dal (£9.95) saw lentils and beans in an earthy gravy that was lightly spiced with turmeric, cumin and garlic. I prefer a slightly thicker dal but Mrs G thought it was bang on.

On the side, bhuteko bhat (£4.95), aka Nepali style egg fried rice, saw beautifully fluffy and savoury rice seasoned with a well-spiced masala and flecked with egg, sweetcorn and spring onion. It was a delicious hybrid of Indian and Chinese influences.

A basket of strikingly dark-coloured Himalayan millet bread (£4.90) was crisp, fat rich and an ideal dipping tool for our pair of curries.

We were impressed by the refined Nepalese and Indian cooking from Base Camp and it’s clear to see the attention to detail and passion in their cooking and service. I really hope they break 29 Park Place’s curse because they bring something a little bit different to Cardiff’s restaurant scene.

The Details:

Address - Base Camp, 29 Park Place Cardiff CF10 3BA
Web - https://www.basecampkitchen.uk/

Telephone - 02921304333