The best Indian food in Cardiff before the rugby is a short walk, not a car ride. Chai St Indian Bistro is at 15 High Street, next to Cardiff Castle, on the straight line to the Principality Stadium. Three minutes from the Castle gate. Eight minutes to kick-off.
Match days move fast. So does the menu we run on them. On home internationals, a tighter match-day card runs alongside the full winter menu — the match-day menu is here, and the switch is quiet and automatic. Fewer plates, the same kitchen, everything cooked the way it always is. Thali, biryani, the Nihari Lamb Shank. Cold pints on tap. Chai after.
Cardiff High Street to the Principality in eight minutes
Out our door. Right, up High Street. Cardiff Castle is on your left in three minutes. Keep going, cross the junction at the top of St Mary Street, left down Westgate Street, past the Angel. The stadium is ahead of you. Eight minutes if you're not hurrying. Six if you are.
Which matters because, on a match-day, a table at a place near the ground is one thing; a table at a place that is actually a few minutes from it is another. Chai St is the latter. An Indian restaurant in Cardiff city centre that you can genuinely walk from to the Principality in under ten minutes. No taxi. No tram. No panic at twenty past two.
A proper Indian meal, then a short walk to the ground. The way we'd want it done if we were going.
A tighter menu for a faster day
The match-day menu is shorter than the winter card and designed around the clock. The order of the day: small plates while you decide, then a thali or a biryani — the two fastest routes to a full table before the anthems. If you've got more time, a kari with rice and bread on the side. If you've got a long evening ahead of you, the Nihari Lamb Shank at twenty-two pounds — slow-braised till the bone gives up, Nizami spices, served in its own sauce. The way lamb is eaten in Lucknow, on a long day, before and after the real event.
The drinks list is paired to the pace too. Modelo, Camden Pale, and the house pour on tap, by the half, the pint or the pitcher. Kingfisher and Cobra from the fridge, in big bottles for the table. A short, well-made cocktail list with the house Chai Bistro Special at the top. Chai and lassi always.
Wales v Japan · Saturday 7 November · 16:40
The opener. A late afternoon kick-off, which means a long Saturday lunch is the sensible call. Arrive from noon to half-two, eat properly, pay the bill at four, down the hill for the anthems. And if you're coming from the ground, the kitchen is still running when you get back — the Nihari shank or a biryani, chai after, home when you like.
The food match-up: Japanese food and Indian food have a shared vocabulary that doesn't get talked about enough. Umami and masala are different words for the same instinct — build flavour slowly, in layers, from things that have been fermenting, drying or smoking for weeks. The full story is in Where to eat before Wales v Japan in Cardiff.
Wales v New Zealand · Saturday 14 November · 14:10
The earliest kick-off of the three. The 14:10 means lunch at twelve on the dot, bill at half-one, through the door of the Principality with ten minutes to anthem. Thali or biryani; nothing complicated. Chai after the game if the weather holds.
The food match-up: three lamb countries. New Zealand hogget, Welsh salt-marsh lamb, and Kashmiri Rogan Josh — three traditions that have taken the same animal and made it their own. Our Lamb Rogan Josh, Laal Maas and Railway Lamb Curry put all of that on one menu. The full story is in Where to eat before Wales v New Zealand in Cardiff.
Wales v Australia · Saturday 21 November · 20:10
The latest kick-off, which changes everything. This is a proper evening — a 5pm arrival, a long dinner, down the hill for the second anthem. On this one the Nihari shank is the natural call: it deserves the time. Walk back after the final whistle for a biryani or a late chai. The kitchen runs till late.
The food match-up: Indians are now Australia's largest immigrant group, and a curry trail runs from Melbourne to Sydney to Brisbane that feels a lot like one of ours. The full story is in Where to eat before Wales v Australia in Cardiff.
Chai St Indian Bistro is at 15 High Street, Cardiff, next to Cardiff Castle. The kitchen opens at twelve, every day. Pob lwc — good luck.
Edited by Mel D'Souza, Director, Inspiring Restaurants Ltd.