Wales v Australia kicks off at 20:10 at the Principality on Saturday 21 November 2026 — the latest kick-off of the three autumn home internationals, and a proper evening by any measure. A later kick-off is a different kind of day. It's not lunch-into-a-walk. It's dinner, properly — with time.
An evening kick-off — the proper dinner slot
Twenty past eight means stadium gates close at eight. Ten-minute walk from the restaurant. Which means out by 19:40. Which means a comfortable arrival at five, an unhurried dinner from quarter past, settling the bill at half-seven. A long cocktail at the start. Starters while you talk through the team news. Kari and biryani in the middle. The Nihari Lamb Shank if you've booked the right amount of time. Chai, then down Westgate.
The sort of evening where the food is a thing in itself, not a rushed station on the way to the thing. Which is what the winter menu at Chai St is built for — a long Indian afternoon transplanted to Cardiff High Street.
The curry trail to Sydney
Here's a number worth knowing. Indians are now Australia's largest immigrant group, having overtaken the Chinese in the 2021 census. There are more than 700,000 India-born Australians, and roughly one in a hundred residents of Melbourne is Punjabi-Australian. Which means Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are now serious Indian-food cities — not British-Empire outposts of mild curry houses, but proper, regional, bright, hot cooking from every Indian state.
That trail didn't appear overnight. The first Indian restaurants in Australia opened in the 1920s, the first Indian-run spice importers followed in the 1960s, and the migration wave of the 2000s created a market big enough to support cooking from every corner of the subcontinent. Walk down Dandenong Road in Melbourne or Harris Park in Sydney and you'll find Punjabi dhabas next to Keralan toddy shops next to Hyderabadi biryani houses. The food culture that most looks like India outside India is, probably, in Australia.
Two countries that love a long dinner, a cold beer with it, and a curry on the way home.
So when the Wallabies are in Cardiff, we feel like we're playing to a room that gets it. Cold beer with the food. Share plates on the table. Spice not watered down. Stay for one more. This is cooking that lands exactly the same way in Melbourne as it does at 15 High Street — because, in a sense, both are versions of the same room.
What to order — and when
An 8pm kick-off is a cocktail-at-the-start kind of evening. The Chai Bistro Special — whisky, amaretto, vodka, pineapple, orange — is built for a crowd. From there, three or four small plates: Keralan Chilli Squid for the salt, Chicken 65 for the fire, Lamb Seekh for the smoke, Chilli Paneer for the vegetarian at the table.
For the main event: the Nihari Lamb Shank at £22 is the right dish for this kick-off. It's slow, rich, generous, built for a long table and a cold night. If you want one plate each instead, a round of kari — Butter Chicken, Rogan Josh, Daal Makhani, Paneer Makhani — with naan, rice and a Kerala Prawn Curry in the middle will do the job. Biryani for anyone who wants a complete plate.
Settle the bill by half-past seven. Short cocktails to see out the evening if people want them. Chai at the door. Down Westgate at twenty to eight.
The walk back — and a late biryani
20:10 kick-off is roughly 22:00 full-time. Eight minutes back puts you at our door by ten past ten. The kitchen is on. Saturday nights after an international, especially a win, the restaurant tends to fill up again — biryanis to the table, cold Kingfishers at the bar, last cocktails, chai. We don't mind a late finish. This is one of the nights the all-day format is built for.
If this is the end of your Autumn Nations series, the hub post has the series overview. If it's your first — well, we'll see you back in the Six Nations. The match-day page is here.
Chai St Indian Bistro is at 15 High Street, Cardiff, next to Cardiff Castle. Three minutes from the Castle, eight from the Principality. Kitchen open from twelve, every day. Pob lwc.
Edited by Mel D'Souza, Director, Inspiring Restaurants Ltd.