I am always on the look out for spots for lunch (preferably where I can either walk to or drive and easily park – no cameras, driver assists etc. on the jalopy).

Picking up some stuff from Rees Butchers (after walking Dick the dog in Vicky Park) I notice a rather intriguing new shop front.

Shortly after that Plate Licked Clean put up a very positive review and, as a result, it went on the list.

Odd little set up, to be honest, with it looking more like a takeaway (it is predominantly that to be fair) rather than a place for a sit-down meal. If it weren’t for Plate Lick Clean’s review I think I would have likely assumed it was take out only and as I eat take out about twice a year it would have gone a lot further down the list. A clear benefit of reading reviews there.

The online menu has lots of familiar classics such as biryanis, hoppers and kottus, with a clear Sri Lankan focus,

but the thing that rather caught my eye was something I had never heard of  before in the form of an ambrella curry.

Having no idea what an ambrella/ambarella was (others than the probable name of many a trustafarian – you know Ambarella, she work part time, 1 hour a month, doing marketing for the Intereprative Dance for Retired Tibetan Lobster Herders Foundation in Shoreditch that her parents set up with the money their parents made selling land mines back in the day), I looked it up and it transpires it is a fruit native to South East Asian called the June plum in Sri Lanka (also the Polynesian plum).

Initially, I thought it a bit weird for a curry, but it seems it is a popular item in vegan and vegetarian dishes in Sri Lankan cooking with it lending sweetness to spicy curries. As sweet tends to go with heat and having never had anything like it in a curry before, I thought I would give it a go if it was on the menu. Always up for trying something new.

On arrival, the menu was on the window.

Shame has burger on it, but needs must in terms of getting as big as possible a customer base I suppose.

I was slightly nervous on looking through the window as it didn’t exactly scream sit down restaurant or even open.

Inside there are, however, a few tables

and I plonked myself in the window seat. Mr. Benn – esque, the shopkeeper appeared asking if I wanted takeaway or eat in.

The eat in menu on the day didn’t have the ambrella/ambarella curry on it, so I asked and apparently you have to order it well advance as it takes a while to cook and there is (perhaps unsurprisingly) quite a  niche level of demand (Ambarella will have had the ambarella on her 3rd/4th gap year in the last 3/4 years) for it in Vicky Park/Canton.

In the absence of the ambrella/ambarella, I decided on the mutton rice and curry at £9.90 (£2.10 more than for the chicken and £1.40 more than the beef, which seemed about right). Weirdly, the mutton kottu is £15.99, which is £5 more than the beef and £6 more than the chicken ones. Can’t quite tally that, to be honest. More I get, but 50% odd more for mutton?!

Back to what I actually ordered, I didn’t really know what to expect. Would it be a straight-up rice with a blob of standard  curry on top or something more elaborate?

After a reassuringly not too short wait (as in they didn’t bung it in the microwave), my lunch arrived and what a rather bountiful banquet it made for.

A two parter, with a loaded main plate and multiple additional pots.

On the plate, there was a mound of well seasoned rice (good grain separation), a cabbage mallun(g), a green bean curry and an onion sambol.

The pots contained the mutton curry, a beetroot curry, a dhal and more rice (latter not needed, as more than enough rice on the plate).

The mutton was on the bone

and required fingers to be applied so as to gnaw away at the meat on the bone.

Nicely tender, with that earthy (slightly gamey) flavour you get from mutton (ramped up by being on the bone and them not being prissy about leaving the fat on it) and a fair bit of heat. Nice spicing here, with a rich coconut gravy bringing it all together.

The beetroot curry

was a pleasing blend of heat and sweet, with a nice earthiness. Curry leaf and cinnamon and chilli in the mix, I would say.

The dhal had a good flavour, but was just a touch on the gloupy side for my tastes.

On the plate, all three veggie curries had lovely spicing and packed a fair bit of heat.

I think the green bean one had green chillis camouflage in between the bean and really left a tingle on the tongue

The onion sambol had nice caramelisation, and thus sweetness, to it

and a fair thwack of heat from an abundance of red chilli.

The star of the veggie show was undoubtedly the cabbage mallun(g)

Lovely mix of green and golden (turmeric) cabbage, stir fried to a lovely crunchy crispiness, heady with curry leaves, chilli, garlic, and ginger, as well as coconut.

Good as the mutton curry was, I would have happily eaten this ensemble of dishes sans any meat. The veggie elements were all so good, with a deceptive level of heat that sort of crept up on the palate. No instant chilli blast, but a gradual building of heat to a belated crescendo.

Drinks wise, the options are limited. I had a can of coke (£1.50, I think), which was cold, wet and sweet. Not normally a huge coke fan, but the sweetness actually worked very well with the (at times fairly robust) spicing.

The verdict

Really good food this, generously apportioned and heady with spice and chilli heat.

Very impressive flavours on display here  and next time, perhaps, I will order in advance so as to get in (plum) line for the ambarella curry.

This is the sort of place that deserves to be really busy. It may not look much from the outside, but enter inside and you will find a place that offers an abundance of really interesting food, jam packed with flavour, at very reasonable prices. I mean, what is  not to like about that?

Despite no ambrella/ambarella for me,  this is a real plum of a place.

The details

Address: 358 Cowbridge Road East, Canton/Victoria Park, Cardiff, CF5 1HE

Website: https://cuisinesnegombo.com/