Cardiff on a Fiver: Katiwok, Crwys Road

Another confession.

Perhaps it's slightly unfair for me to review Katiwok for this project. It's not that I'm in there much, it's more that they'll be charging us rent soon. Perhaps that means this is long overdue.

I've written about the food on this blog before, in glowing terms. If you'll forgive the frankly nauseating self-regard involved in quoting oneself, I was enthusiastic in my praise:

And here's the clincher- not only is this freshly-cooked, vibrant, punchy food- but it constitutes what you might term 'a right bargain'. Value for money is not something I typically spend much time discussing on this blog but in the case of Katiwok it's impossible to overlook. The kati rolls are £3.99 each; the roll, soft drink and side dish meal deal comes in at a very reasonable £7.99 (add a pound to substitute a beer).
Now- factor in the offers which pop up on their Twitter feed- add an extra kati roll for £1, for example- and you'd be daft not to. You're no longer in the realm of 'really good value'- you have crossed into the kingdom of the borderline ludicrous.
I'm struggling to name a better 'flavour, divided by price, equals value' example in the city.
Can you?

But...
There's always a but.
A big but.

And I like big buts; I can not lie.

The prices at Katiwok have changed. Kati rolls are no longer £3.99 and are now only within the budget of this Quest by a single penny. As the focus of this series of posts is purely about finding great food for a good price- and as it was suggested several times over on Twitter- it's only fair I revisit.

Rude not to.

And I get to eat more kati rolls.

It seems that the eponymous rolls have been pumped-up in line with the price hike.

They certainly feel even more substantial than ever. They've been beefed up. (Not literally, vegetarians...)

And then they threw a Spaniard in the works of this post, because they Tweeted this...

...which I reckon comes under the banner of 'life imitating art', except that to describe this here piffle as 'art' is a smack in the chops for any Muse worth her salt, pepper or garam masala.

By the way, they weren't kidding...

The lunchtime offer menu offers any kati roll (except beef and mutton), plus one each of their spring rolls, samosas and bhajis. The kati roll which is yours for just under a fiver in the evenings, is now yours with bells on. That's the long and short of it. You can't really go wrong, can you?

The flavours here, of course, are absolutely bob-on. The spicing is bold but never overpowering, and to a large extent up to your tastes: I've always loved the offer of two spicing levels in the cooking itself, with another couple of sauces provided with which you can ratchet the heat up- or down- even within the same roll. Nice. For the record, I find taking a cross-sectional bite before lacing with the sauce of choice is the way to go. Some unroll the whole thing and add it from the start. Each to their own. (They're wrong, clearly.)

Sat here, I'm thinking I appreciated this roll even more because I tried some highly-recommended examples last summer in London (report here). Though good, it hammered home my original thought- that these are the finest kati rolls I've encountered. They might not have branches in NYC or Soho, London, but these remain a remarkable fiver's worth. They were bang on the money before they launched the offer. These would be high any Cardiff on a Fiver list; now this is essential Cardiff street food and an unreserved recommendation.

If you've not yet come under the spell of the kati, go seek it out.  And if you keep a close eye on their Twitter and Facebook, you might even find them doing 'buy one, get one half-price'.

But be prepared to acquire a serious habit.