Times are hard for hospitality and I am probably guilty of going to places and sort of forgetting about them. You know, that place you thought at the time oh that was really good wasn’t it, but then never seem to get round to going back.

One such place, for me, is Maasi’s Kitchen.

I walk Dick the Dog pretty much every week day in the early morning around Vicky Park and just the other day I said to Dick (like a mad man I talk to the dog and often answer on his behalf, he can be remarkably rude to me in these conversations, on these walks – it remains unclear to me why other dog walkers seem to avoid me in the park) that I must get around to visiting Maasi’s again. The same goes when I make my many trips to Hiraeth (my favourite restaurant in Cardiff, despite the fact Mrs. SF constantly corrects what she regards as my wildly wrong pronunciation of the name to which I reply “potato, aubergine“).

As such, an aborted trip elsewhere (they had rather disappointingly run out of what I went for) led me back to Maasi’s (on my way home and parking is pretty easy by the sides of Vicky Park).

The lunch menu is succinct, with naanwiches, stuffed parathas, a thali, their famous samosa (which they started it all off with) and pakoras as the lunch options.

I quite like that, as having 500 things on a menu (how can a kitchen realistically possibly do that) rather puts me off especially at lunch time when you want a relatively quite in and out.

With it being a return visit and the (up to my usual standard) post title (oh I am not even close to the barrel bottom on that front), it really had to be the keema aloo (£13.50) in terms of what I was having.

I personally think a keema curry is chronically underrated in the UK (which is odd based on our love of both curry and minced meat). Mince (particulary the fattier lamb/mutton) takes up spices very well with an even distribution of said spices and thus seems an obvious curry choice, but tends to be one (chunks of chicken is the favourite by a country mile) shunned by the otherwise mince loving Brits.

The dish here was a rather different interpretation of your standard curry house keema dishes, with the keema outside of rather than in the naan and the aloo element matchstick cheesy fries (as opposed to cubed pots).

Have to say it was a fine looking beast, with a decent portion of both the keema and the aloo, with the cheesy (paneer?) topping adding a pleasing touch of gooey milkiness without despoiling the crispiness of the fries.

Nice subtle spicing, with cardamon, clove and cinnimon evident giving it more of a subtle spicey rather than hot feel. This would be regarded as a mild curry, but to me it is all about the spicing which was bob on for me.

The naan itself had a nice texture to it, despite the heavy loading it had to bear nature and added a pleasing bit of bulk to proceedings.

With no mincing about whatsoever, I quickly demolished this thoroughly enjoyable dish.

Drinks wise, the weather had turned rather parky on the day of my visit and I find on such days little hits the spot better than a steaming hot, creamy, spiced up chai (here £3).

On the milder side spice wise, this was unsweetened and I (rarely for me) like to add sweetness which I think amps up the spices (cardamon in particular) in a chai. Three sachets were thus added.

It, duly sweetened to my tastes  warmed the cockles nicely.  I would, however, had liked the cardamon to have been a touch more prominent in nature.

The verdict

It is easy to forget about places in the burbs and I must confess it has been a while since my previous visit to Maasi’s Kitchen. This, in hindsight, has been very remiss of me as the food is top notch and the people very nice. This all makes for a very pleasant place for lunch (with pretty easy parking a bonus) and for me a very welcome “Well aloo again” experiance.

I have also heard (from reliable-ish sources) that their regular curry  nights (one next week) are very good and whilst I can’t make either I will certainly be pencilling in one in the New Year.

I asked about the Daavat (name in Urdu for a celebratory feast apparently) event on the 13th Dec. and it is a charity event (they did say which one, but shamefully I can’t remember what it was). So it promises good food for ( presumably) a good cause.

The details

Address: St Lukes Church Hall, 569 Cowbridge Rd E, Cardiff CF5 1BE

Website: Can’t find one. They are on Itsaamaaaaazingram as @maasiscardiff,  but they don’t seem to be active currently on it.

Opening hours: