Located along Llandaff’s bustling High Street is Bay Leaf, a popular family-run restaurant offering authentic cuisine from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

We visited on a busy weeknight; the friendly and attentive waiters showed us to our seats and brought us a complimentary selection of poppadoms and accompaniments.

Our waiter guided us through the menu, telling us about the various dishes on offer and explaining that they were happy to change the spiciness and ingredients to suit our tastes. We couldn’t resist the mixed starter of tender shish kebab, samosa, chicken tikka and ragda pattice – delicious deep-fried spicy potato and lentils.

For our main course we took the advice of our waiter and chose two of Bay Leaf’s specialities: captain pathila – a hot and rich dish made with coriander, mint, garlic, yoghurt and chicken tikka – and lamb Manipuri, the chef’s own recipe comprising tender strips of lamb, green peppers and fresh green chillies.

Our dishes were brought fresh to the table, sizzling and releasing a cloud of mouth-watering aromas. Perfect pilau rice, a delicious keema naan and ice-cold Kingfisher beers completed the delicious picture. Both the fresh pistachio and mango flavours of kulfiwere the ideal finish to our meals at this fantastic find.