Thursday night in Cardiff has two kinds of live music: the kind you buy a ticket for, and the kind that is simply there when you sit down.
Bombay Jazz is the second kind. Every Thursday from 7pm, a small group of jazz musicians from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama plays two sets in the room at 15 High Street, at a level that sits under the conversation and lifts between courses. There is no ticket, no cover charge and no minimum spend. You book a table for dinner, or you walk in and take a stool at the bar, and the music is part of the evening.
How a Thursday runs
The kitchen and the bar open at twelve as usual. The musicians set up around half past six. First set from 7pm, a break, second set finishing around 9pm; the kitchen runs until 10.30pm, so you can come for the first set and eat through it, or eat early and stay for the second with a chai or something from the bar. Tables in the main room are closest to the music; the bar is a good place to hear it on your own or as a pair.
Who plays
The players change week to week; they are students and recent graduates of the College's jazz department, which is one of the stronger ones in Britain. Chai St pays each group a guaranteed fee. On the table there is a QR code; anything you add through it goes to the musicians in full. We post that week's line-up on Instagram on Thursday morning.
What to order on a jazz night
Things that are good at a slower pace. A Maharaja Old Fashioned or a Bombay Bloody Mary to start. Small plates to share through the first set: prawn koliwada, lamb seekh with burnt onion, Darjeeling momos, samosa chaat. Then a thali, or the Lamb Shank with parotta, or the biryani in its handi if you ordered it early. Karak chai in the second set. The full menu runs all evening; the menu page has every price.
Why jazz, and why Bombay
In the 1930s and 40s, Goan musicians filled Bombay's hotel ballrooms and the Taj with swing and bebop; the city was the jazz capital of Asia before most of Asia had heard the word. The room at Chai St is modelled on a bungalow verandah from that era, so the music belongs in it. The Journal piece on jazz in India tells that story properly, with the names.
Groups, birthdays, the office on a Thursday
Tables of six or more book through the Bombay Jazz experience page, which holds the better tables for the music. For a party of twelve or more, or for a group that wants a set menu, call 029 2039 9399 or email highstreet@chaistreet.com; the private hire page explains the options. In December the Thursday tables are the first to go; the Christmas menus run on jazz nights too.
Dates
Every Thursday from 8 October 2026, currently confirmed through 17 December 2026, then resuming in the new year. If a Thursday is ever cancelled, it will say so on What's On and on Instagram by the Wednesday.