Café Malaysia- Woodville Road, Cardiff

Cafe Malaysia is wonderful. Big flavours, huge value. It's a bit of a jewel.

There you go, I've saved you the bother of reading on.

But if you need more of an explanation....

I am kicking myself for not trying it sooner, when I have passed so many times.It's clear very soon that this is another Cardiff local treasure which hasn't (yet) got the renown it deserves.

No cards, cash only. Closed at 8pm. A limited social media presence. You won't see endless Tweets urging you to book a table or extolling the virtues of their menu and establishing a franchise is quite possibly the last thing on their minds. But what they do, they do well. Very well.

And they do it for people who know this kind of food. When we arrived fresh from The Crwys (I couldn't pass up the chance of trying the new Brains Craft 'Zitrus') we were the only non-Malay diners. I say only- there was a party of the kind of people who seem to go out to eat mainly as a way of indulging their hobby of talking REALLY LOUDLY so EVERYONE has to LISTEN to their FASCINATING CONVERSATION about NOT VERY MUCH AT ALL. Luckily they soon BUGGERED OFF and LEFT the REST OF US to ENJOY their FOOD in PEACE and QUIET.

Decor is basic and otherwise unremarkable. It's unfussy and functional. Unassuming. You won't find yourself bothered by that when you realise bottles of Tiger and Tsing Tao are £2.10 each, and Singha comes in at £2.50- ridiculously good value which doesn't stop there.

Our two starters- roti canai and fishball skewers- arrived quickly. The bread was exemplary- soft layers, gossamer thin in isolation but a buttery-flaky-crispy when folded and dipped into the sauces provided, a nutty, smoky yellow lentil dhal and a thin lemongrass-heavy curry sauce. A wonderful start. Rather than the minced fishcakes we had imagined, the fishballs were more akin to deep-fried surimi-like spheres:  their sweet chilli sauce was thankfully not the ubiquitous 'syrup with bits' you get almost everywhere else, but an opaque silky version that pretty much had me worrying at the leftovers with a spoon.

A very encouraging start, then. Our three mains arrived quickly (one each, and another for luck). Hainan Chicken was served on the bone (imagine a Captain Flashheart-style 'Huzzah! at this point.)

The soy sauce based mixture was ideal to pour over the rice: this was 'get stuck in with your fingers' food. The chilli paste was small in volume but punched way above its weight.

 Beef rendang was similarly superb. Butter-soft beef in a punchy sauce fragrant and rich with coconut and lemongrass. The sliced spring onion worked as far more than simple garnish, with its contrasting crunch welcome.

 Presentation here is simple: dishes like banana leaves, perfect domes of perfectly-cooked rice. It all fits with the low-key ambience and the unfussy, unadorned way things happen here.

Nasi Lemak was our third main. Two chicken legs with coconut rice, the meat perfectly cooked to part-it-with-a-spoon softness and the skin still crisp despite the abundant sauce.

The accompaniment was a revelation. Tiny, crisped-up slivers of deep-fried anchovy gave that whack of umami even as the chilli sambal smacked you with sourness and heat (in all fairness, the menu did try to warn us with a three chillies symbol. A sambal symbol, I suppose...). The intense savouriness and pungent warmth was a startlingly good combination, a small but potent lurker in the corner of the dish.

I walked out of there very happy. very happy indeed. And I can't wait to go back. But you knew all that from the first lines of this piece.

 A small menu, clearly favoured by regulars who know this food well. A no-frills yet cleanly presented choice of wonderful flavours. That very reasonably priced beer we ordered though was just the curtain-raiser when it came to value, though. Two starters, three mains, two beers. The total?

I had change from £35. Which means that within a three-minute walk, you have some remarkable options when it comes to bang for your buck. Mina, Café Malaysia and Katiwok. Among others.

That's a golden triangle of good, good food at daft prices. Go on. It'd be wrong not to.

http://www.cafemalaysia.co.uk/

101 Woodville Road, Cardiff
Cardiff CF24 4DY

029 20 235 616

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