If you have typed "Indian restaurant Cardiff city centre" into a phone, this is the page that answers it.
Cardiff has a lot of good Indian cooking, and most of it is a bus ride out: Cowbridge Road, City Road, Whitchurch Road, Albany Road. In the centre itself the choice is smaller. Chai St is the one on High Street, between the Castle and the Market, with a bar, a kitchen that runs from twelve until late, and a menu that moves across India rather than settling on one region or one idea of a curry.
Where we are, exactly
15 High Street, Cardiff CF10 1AX. Stand at the Castle gate, face away from it, and walk down High Street for three minutes. We are on the left, a few doors before the Market. From Cardiff Central station it is an eleven-minute walk up St Mary Street. From St David's shopping centre, five minutes. From the Principality Stadium, eight. There is no car park of our own; NCP St David's and Westgate Street are both close, and the Castle page has the walking directions in more detail.
What kind of Indian food this is
Not a curry house, and not fine dining. The menu is built from dishes with a place of origin. Chettinad from Tamil Nadu: duck with black pepper, fennel and star anise. Kerala: sea bass on curry-leaf mash, fish moilee, chilli squid. Hyderabad: biryani sealed in a clay handi and cooked for forty minutes in its own steam. Mumbai and Kolkata street food: vada pav, kathi rolls, pani puri, chole bhature. Kashmir and Rajasthan: rogan josh built on fennel and dried ginger, laal maas that is honestly hot. Indo-Chinese from Calcutta's Tangra district: chilli chicken, hakka noodles, gobi manchurian.
Roughly half the menu is vegetarian, with vegan dishes in every section. There is a thali at every price point, from the £12.90 weekday lunch thali to the £48 Maharaja Thali for two. The regional traditions page explains where each dish comes from, if you want the long version.
What to order the first time
If you have one visit, order a thali. It is the honest way to taste the kitchen: one plate, five or six small bowls, bread, rice, a sweet. The Lamb Thali (£19.90) carries the rogan josh and a lamb seekh; the Vegetarian Feast (£15.90) is the most ordered plate in the room and can be made vegan. If you want a single dish instead, the Lamb Shank (£22) with smoked aubergine and parotta, or the Duck Chettinad (£17), are the two the kitchen is quietly proudest of. Start with chole bhature or the Chai St samosa chaat; guests mention both more than anything else.
From the bar: a Maharaja Old Fashioned before, a cold Kingfisher or a Welsh lager with the food, and karak chai after. The chai is not an afterthought here; there is a whole section of the menu for it.
When to come
Weekday lunch, twelve to three: the lunch thali is £12.90, and the express two-course lunch (£14.90) is out in forty minutes. Mid-afternoon is the quietest time to see the room; chaat and a cocktail, or a chai flight. Dinner runs until 9pm on Sundays, 9.30pm on Mondays, 10pm Tuesday and Wednesday, 10.30pm on Thursday and 11pm on Friday and Saturday. Thursday is Bombay Jazz: two sets of live jazz from 7pm, no ticket, no cover charge. Friday to Sunday from 10am there is Indian brunch with bottomless masala chai.
Before a show or a match, see the pre-theatre and pre-match page; the kitchen will pace a meal to your curtain-up or kick-off if you tell us when it is.
Booking, walking in, and groups
Walk-ins are welcome, and most of the week you can walk straight in. Book for Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. Tables are held fifteen minutes past the booking time and there is no deposit for ordinary tables. Groups of eight or more, office parties and private hire go through the manager: call 029 2039 9399 or email highstreet@chaistreet.com. Christmas tables are open now, and we are open on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
The short history
15 High Street was Mint & Mustard from 2005 to 2023, the restaurant recognised by the Michelin Guide as the best Indian in Wales. Chai St is run by the same family and the same kitchen. The idea was to take what that kitchen knew and put it in a room that works at three in the afternoon as well as at eight at night: a bungalow verandah, transplanted. The full story is here.