Not entirely sure what this place is actually called. The signage is a bit unclear, with Madhav in large, but slightly faded letters and Maruti, on a smaller rather more bold coloured sign. Regardless, it has been around for ever since I can remember, with a management buy out (in 2023) when the original owners retired after an amazing 43 years running it as a shop and then adding a restaurant and takeaway.

As such, it is not a new restaurant, nor is it in any way remotely Instagramable. So as the title suggests, with it going for eons it is definitely an oldie, but is it a goldie?

My assumption was very much  they must be doing something right to have survived all these years, with in the last 43 years there have been 5 proper recessions and some really dire economic conditions, so to still be soldiering on after such trials and tribulations is impressive ( I have lived through 7, working through 4 of those, so far).

In terms of the name, I am going to call it Maruti and as a long standing Maharashtrian (state in Indian, to the North of Goa, that has Mumbai as its capital) restaurant and grocery store it is somewhere that has piqued my interest in the past (when I worked in town, I use to often drive pass the place and wonder what it was like).

Despite its slightly shabby exterior,  I always thought the food must be good, as they seem to do little to actively attract customers (relying on word of mouth, it would seem).

A rainy Thursday in the inglorious summer we are having was the prefect excuse to barrel down Cathedral Road in the jalopy (no fear as to the 20mph limit as, as a Volvo driver, I rarely exceed 20mph although at that speed Mrs SF still thinks I should break earlier than I do so as to ensure I don’t hit the car 15 miles ahead if its brake lights flicker) to this place and then spend 10 mins + trying to find a no permit parking only space (is it me or is it a bit odd that the residents permit parking regime restrictions seem to apply only when the people who live there don’t need the space i.e  in the day, but stop when they do i. e. at night).

Anyhow I found a space that I think was 2 hours free (was a bit confusingly with one sign saying permit only and another saying 2 hours free, so which was it? Didn’t get a ticket, so I don’t really care) pretty close and made the short walk in the delightful drizzle to Maruti.

Whilst not exclusively so, Maharashtrian cuisine is quite heavily vegetarian based and the menu here is entirely meatless. As an omnivore I am perfectly happy with that and see no particular reason for it to have a meat dish on the menu (in the same way I see no particular reason for a steak restaurant to have a veggie/vegan dish on its menu). Despite me loving quality meat and fish, it is actually quite nice once in a while (but that is it) to go meatless for a meal.

To say it is barebones on the aesthetics front would be an underestimating (bit like saying the Titanic is currently lacking a bit of buoyancy),

but I (being very barebones on the aesthetics front myself) have never really cared much about such things. Serve me good food on a paper plate for all I care to be honest, rather than the all fur coat and no knickers (Istamaaaaazingramable) bollocks you get at the likes of the Ivy (both standard and Asian).

Some of the best meals I have had have been in tin shed affairs and the some of the worst in glitzy gin palaces. Former are the sort of places that have always treated me as a valued customer, whereas some of the latter (in Paris mainly) viewed me as an unnecessary annoyance/a bad smell.

Can’t say I noticed the hygiene rating (got a 3 apparently based on a quick internet search), but it all seemed pretty ship shape, with both the dining area and the open kitchen (thus tricky to hid issues) all looking fine to me

So not much to look at inside or out, but the menu looked interesting,

including it providing for a slightly alarming illustration of the ills of inflation with the prices quite a contrast to those in Gourmet Gorro’s post on the place back in 2018.

Prices back then included £6.99 for the thali, £4.70 for the masala dosa and £2.50 for the onion bhajis (3pcs). Those translate now to £10.99  for the thali, £6.50 for the dosa and £3.50 for the bhajis. Not sure why the thali seems to have risen in price rather more (over 70%)  than  other items (bhajis –  40% and the dosa – 38%) ?

Whilst tempted by the thali, I really fancied the pani puri (£3.50) and those plus the full on thali seemed a tad excessive for an intended light-ish lunch. 

I, therefore, decided on the pani puri and the masala dosa.

The half dozen portion of the pani puri made for a rather pretty picture.

The crisp shells were filled with a potato, chickpea and onion mixture with serv and chopped herbs on top (coriander, I think), Nice spicing to the filling, with chaat  masala and cumin in the mix (I would say).

In the middle was the pani,

which was a very deep green, quite loose, concoction (pani translates as water, so the looseness makes sense in that context).

Really nice flavour to this with a hit of green chilli heat, citrus sourness, spicey tanginess from ginger, a refreshing herbal hit from coriander and mint and underlying spice (again from cumin and chaat masala, I would hazard a guess).

The pani was lovely poured into the puris, made for a delightful all in one into the gob snack.

Great solo dish or one to share this and very good value for the miniscule £3.50 price tag.

The masala dosa was next and it was a hefty beast.

The dosa itself was nice and light, with a good crisp exterior.

It enclosed a decent portion of crushed spiced potato curry (with plenty of curry leaf, cumin, mustard seed and a touch of  chilli in the mix).

Accompaniments to the dosa were in the form of a coconut chutney and a vegetable curry, both hearty portion sizes.

Whilst the coconut chutney was quite refreshing, I thought it was a touch underpowered. The vegetable curry, on the other hand, was dynamite. Lovely spicing to this, with full on flavour and a pleasing level of heat that didn’t operate to blow my socks off but rather made my lips and tongue tingle.

Lovely stuff this, that made me miss the absence of a meat element not one jot.

On the drinks front, the menu is somewhat limited.

If the weather had been remotely summery, I would have probably gone for the mango lassi. As we were having a typical “this shxte summer” day, with it being dank and drizzly, I defaulted to a hot drink in the form of a masala chai (£2.50).

With both tea and coffee, normally I loath the addition of even a grain of sugar. As with Turkish coffee, though, masala chai to my mind absolutely requires sugar. Here the sugar isn’t added in advance, so can be self administered. I applied a fulsome two teaspoons which worked a treat.

Rich and creamy, with a good level of spicing, this was a very nice iteration of a classic.

The verdict

People who read the blog will know I don’t really buy into the veggie/vegan thing. Each to their own, but I think I would really struggle not eating meat/seafood at all. Tried it once (mainly to impress a girl – it didn’t – in my youth) and it wasn’t for me.

Having said that, I have no issue with interspersing my omnivore diet with meals that are pure veggie and I would much rather eat just veggies that vat grown frankenmeat.

In terms of veggie meal options, to me Indian cuisine tends to be my go to. It doesn’t generally rely on fake meat or calling stuff stupid names like chuck’n or facon nor does the dreaded tofu seem to feature, with proper veggies and robust spicing of the same to the fore.

The food here is very good, with bountiful portions, really good spicing and great value.  Give me places like this over the garish gin palaces like the Asian Ivy any day of the week.

The bill, for effectively a substantial two course meal and a hot drink, came to the princely sum of £12.50 (sans a tip – which I gave). Excellent value, I thought, especially as you could easily share what I had to myself.

If (god forbid) meat (and by that I mean proper meat) and dairy ever gets banned by the powers that be (hopefully only after I have long shed my mortal coil), prior to me setting up an underground charcuterie and cheese shop (I shall call it Fat Spam’s Parmesan Speckeasy), this is the sort of place I would happily frequent (and will continue to happily do so even if they don’t) whilst plotting the meat counter revolution.

The details

Address: 59 Lower Cathedral Rd, Cardiff CF11 6LW

Website: Can’t find one.

Opening hours: