My search for cheapish lunch time options, outside of the city centre, continues and I would (before I get to the meat and drink of this post) just like to have a little moan (how unusual I hear you cry).

This venue was reached after a couple of aborted lunch time forays to places where all indication (online) were that they opened at lunch time (on the days in question) only for it to transpire that they very much weren’t.  I know times are hard and a lot of places are no longer opening for lunch (a shame, but an inevitable consequence of  the cost and revenue equation simply no longer adding up, due in no small part I suspect to the continued working from home trend), but letting Jo Public know that is the case would be great (as if we don’t know when a place is open we are less likely to turn up when it is).

After said couple of fruitless trips, I took myself off to Whitchurch Road in search of sustenance (at a cheapish price).  Another moan here regarding the menace that are delivery cyclists.  Not content with trying to mow me down as a pedestrian on the pavement, they also seem to have suicidal (on top of the homicidal) tendencies on the road. Parallel parking on Whitchurch Road is tricky enough without a maniac Deliveroo (very nearly deliveroo’d unto God) cyclist with a death wish, trying to undertake me (actually going into the parking space itself) as I was reversing into said quite tight space.  Why he couldn’t wait the 10 seconds or go around me on the outside is beyond me.

Anyhow having parked up and finished muttering obscenities (twxt and f’ffing – not in that order –  were mentioned a fair few times) in respect of the death wish cyclist, I made my way into Chai Social for the purpose of trying their £7.50 (seemingly the new £5, with rampant inflation) lunch menu.

Very pleasant inside I though,

and it is always nice to get water put on the table unprompted. Service was very amenable throughout.

I rather liked the look for the lunch menu,

which offered a pretty decent choice all at the fixed £7.50 price and (praise the Lord) no supplements in sight.

Whilst tempted by the Kerala Fried Chicken and the Scotch egg (the latter arguably a classic bit of Brindian/Indlish) I fancied the curry (with options being a dhal affair – I find these lentil based veggie curries are actually far from “dhal” 🙄 and one of my favourite veggie meals – and a coconut chicken number). After a bit of indecision my carnivore instincts took hold and chicken it was.

Decent sized plate for the £7.50 price tag, I thought,

with rice and a poppadum included.

The curry itself managed that tricky task (where coconut milk is involved it can all get a bit sickly) of balancing out the sweetness with a bit of heat and a nice level of spice (curry leaves were particularly evident).

The rice was nice and fluffy and the poppadum reassuringly crisp. My only complaint was the slight paucity of chicken, with a rather high sauce to meat ratio, but at £7.50 including rice and a poppadum it was probably fair enough to be honest.

Enjoyed this, with it being a respectable size for the price tag and (most importantly) nicely flavoured.

The wider menu looks interesting and still  pretty good value.

Initially I questioned (in my mind) the logic of the kati rolls at £6.50/£6.90 (dependant on filling) on the main menu and (seemingly) the same thing on the lunch menu at £7.50.  I assume the chips with the lunch menu are the reason for this, but I would still question why in the main menu the paneer wrap is cheaper than the chicken one but priced the same on the lunch menu.

On the drinks front there is an expansive menu

with the inevitable plethora of cocktails. Can’t say I have ever thought/would want to pair an espresso martini with a curry to be honest.

The wine offering (always of interest to me in a restaurant) is a bit by the numbers (what people are use to seeing rather than what goes with the food), with not much on it that actually goes that well with spicy food (no gruners or rieslings – great with curries and spicy food in general in my opinion –  and some oaky and boozy reds that would likely actively clash with the food offering).

If I had not been driving I would likely drink beer here or the pinot grigio at a push. Would normally say go rosè in these circumstances, but I would rather drink toilet duck than a lot of the white (blush) zindanfels on the market (not however tried this one so I suppose it could be that rarity of a nice white zin.).

Having said all the above, looking at the wines mark ups these are by no means hideous. The white (rather than rosè) pinot grigio retails at about £13 and is £24.50 on the list and the Don Jacobi rioja similarly  retails at about £13 and is £27.50 on the list. These mark ups are pretty fair by UK standards.

Due to driving, it was no booze for me in any event and I therefore went for the masala chai. Love a good one with a decent spice hit to it and loath a lilly livered one.

This was very nice, with a good hit of spice.  The cardamon and star anise, particularly, came through nicely.  Oddly it wasn’t sweet enough for my tastes, so I added sugar. I say oddly, as I normally actively hate sugar in tea or coffee and can detect a single grain of the stuff (which prompts it being thrown down the sink), but with chai (it is not chai tea as that would be tea tea) and Turkish coffee I like a bit of sugarly sweetness.

Again a minor quibble is the chai (or indeed any hot drink) is not include in the lunch offer,

which has regular soft drinks, a glass of wine or half a pint of beer for an additional £2.50 (making a nice round tenner).  As the cheapest glass of wine on the list is £5.80 (175ml mind, but a 125ml would logically round down to £4.14) and the chai was £3.25 that seems a bit odd to me.

The verdict

Good value lunch this and certainly worth dodging the Deliveroo maniacs to try of a lunch time.

Lots of lunch options on Whitchurch Road and you are certainly spoilt for choice if you work at Companies House (if they are not all working from home – a trend that must be the bane of any restaurant opening at lunch time, with I assume footfall dramatically down due to it).

The details

Address: 134 Whitchurch Road, Cardiff, CF14 3LZ.

Website: https://chaisocial.co.uk/