Keralan Karavan (“KK“) have been a feature of the Cardiff food scene since the early years of this blog, with them setting up back in 2015 with a pop up at the long gone Truffles.
What they haven’t had is any real permanency in terms of a proper bricks and mortar presence, but this seems to have been rectified by their new permanent residency at “On the River‘ across from the ” Whoever pays the most spondoolies for the naming rights” (currently the Principality, but I will always know it as a the Millenium) Stadium in Cardiff City Centre.
At first blush it looks to be one of those tricky location not really in town and not on an obvious route into town, but in reality it is not far from Canton Bridge which is very much on a route into the city centre. As such it is a mere short hop from Canton Bridge to where they are and the food of KK is certainly a draw for me.
It is a nice enough spot outside
and by the looks of it can be pretty much fully covered if the weather is more inclement. I also assume you can eat inside of “On the River” itself if need be?
The menu is sensibly pretty short, with KK’s trademark fusion riffs on predominately Southern Indian foods.
I sometimes struggle a bit with fusion food. Sometimes it work e.g. Nyonya, but an awful lot of it leads to utter abominations, such as Iceland’s Chicken tikka masala lasagna and donar kebab pizza (with the person who came up with these needing to be banished to the Ninth Ring of Hell, actually Satan should make a 10th Ring specifically for them and fellow food blasphemers where they are force fed, via a never ending conveyer belt, their abominations until they pop and it is starts all over again in an eternal cycle (I feel I would be a somewhat wrathful god if I ascended). To slightly bastardise Dr. Ian Malcolm’s quote “You chefs and food techlogists were so preoccupied with whether or not you could, you didn’t stop to think if you should”.
KK are certainly more in the nyonya camp in terms of the good side of fusion, so was it a case of being more traditional and going for something like the Frankie roll, which is a very popular street food in Indian for good reason, or something a bit more out there such as their award winning Bombay Tikka Taco or the rather interesting sounding Dehli Diva Dawg
I decided on the Frankie roll and added cheesy fries. Due to some confusion re the actual price they threw in an onion bhaji.
It was about 14.10 on a Thursday and they told me they had just fired up the fryers etc, so it could be up to a 15 minute wait for the food. I was fine with that. I did need to keep an eye on the time mind as I had been shaken down by Cardiff’s parking mafia, aka the Council, to the tune to £3.50 for 1 hour which in itself is daylight robbery, but to add to the racket none of the ticket machines actually worked so I had the hassle of having to download the app. which made me wonder where my £3.50 actually goes (probably towards the cost of free performative goat hairdressing classes for the over 100s, for which there must be strong demand in Cardiff, or tree planting on the Gamburtsev Mountain Range, no mean feet I can tell you but at least they are trying to rectify the acute tree shortage there and thus money well spent 🙄).
It actually came in more like 10 mins and to be honest any quicker would have worried me more than a longer wait.
Good looking set of dishes,
I thought.
The frankie roll was extremely well filled
with a good quality chicken curry replete with fresh curry leaves
There was a touch of heat, but this was all about the spicing rather than heat. I rather liked the addition of bombay mix, which added crunch, the sourness of pickled red cabbage and even the slightly off the wall use of saunf mithai (sugar coated cumin seeds).
The paratha itself had a good flake to it and there was extra curry sauce (heady with cumin and mustard seeds) for dipping duty.
Very good frankie roll this and good value for a tenner.
Not sure why (as were not needed, with the Frankie very filling) but I ordered cheesy chips (£6.5). I don’t normal liked loaded fries as they make the chips go soggy, but I do have a soft spot for cheesy chips (love poutine, but has to be properly squeaky curds).
Good amount of tangy, properly melted, cheese sauce and the fries were still actually crisp and nicely seasoned. Couple of downside in that as the cheese sauce cooled it all got a bit claggy and it was a bit spenny for one at £6.50. I would say these would be better shared so they can be eaten quickly, with the cost thus shared (it was a decent portion size), thus clagginess avoided. I wouldn’t have been adverse to a bit of chilli heat in the cheese sauce.
Due to a slight mix up when ordering (I paid £18 rather than £16.50) I got a onion bhaji thrown in (rather than faffing about with a refund, which resulting in a deal I felt was rather in my favour) and very nice it was too.
Lovely crisp exterior shell, with lots of sweet onion and a nice level of spicing. I liked the accompanying sauces/chutney that came with it. A good zingy mint chutney and a (I think) tamarind based brown sauce. The curry sauce also worked well with this dunked in it.
I would go as far as to say out of the three things I had, the bhaji was probably my favourite.
Drinks wise, inside “On the River” they seem to have a fair amount of beers on tap and in cans
I was driving, so no booze for me and I settled on a can of Beavertown Lazer Crush IPA (0.3°), which was £5.50.
Actually quite good as non/ultra low alcohol beers go, with a nice hit of citrus and a touch of peach. Not sure I would have twigged it was booze free if had drunk it blind. Have to say low/non alcoholic beer have really come a long way since the dark days of me trying a Moretti alcohol free (absolutely vile stuff and I think I would prefer to drink 3 week old dirty dish water if given the choice).
The Verdict
I have always had a soft spot for KK, who seem to consistenly get it right flavour wise and, at their new (it seem) permanent home, the food on offer is no exception.
Great stuff to savour on its own with a quick drink over lunch or a good way to soak up the booze on a longer night out I think. I really hope they do well in this new spot.
This event in September certainly looks rather good.
The details
Address: 59 Despenser St, Cardiff, CF11 6AG
Websites: https://www.ontheriver.wales/eat-1
Opening hours:
Soliciting Flavours 