Poppupadom
Cardiff favourite, Chef Anand George, may have parted company with the restaurant he made his name at but there seems no sign of him giving up his passion for Keralan cuisine any time soon. Following on from his success with the award-winning Mint & Mustard, he's now taking a new approach with his current venture, Poppupadom, cited as the first pop-up restaurant in Wales by his PR team (quite a statement!).
As if to prove a point, the PR team invited me along for the first tasting and so I dutifully went to review (well, someone has to, right?). After having possibly the best Indian meal of my life at his other establishment, Chai Street, I was understandably apprehensive that any meal could live up to it.
We started with an amuse bouche of warm tomato consomme, served in a little shot glass. It was warm and spicy but the promised coriander flavour was absent, replaced only by an occasional grittiness of a rogue leaf. The heat woke up my taste buds but not much else.
This was followed by a trio of starters. The Aloo Tikki was billed as "Delhi-style crisp potato cakes on spiced chickpeas" but the little patty in front of me certainly wasn't crisp. It was delicate and creamy but could have benefited from a little longer in the frier. The chickpeas were well flavoured and nicely spiced without being hot, but sadly the potato cake didn't stand a chance against them and was lost amongst the bite of the chickpeas.
The Beetroot Pattice fared better - crisp, panko-style breadcrumbs surrounding a hot, creamy beetroot and vegetable patty was the right balance of heat without losing the sweetness of the primary ingredient.
The bright green Chicken Tikka was also a hit, having been well seared it was still moist inside and worked well with the accompanying yoghurt and mint dressing.
Following on from this was the Sea-bass Pollichatu, a classic Keralan dish of fish, shallots, garlic and curry leaves, all wrapped up in banana leaves. The fish was perfectly cooked and flaked obligingly at the merest sight of a fork. Moist, meaty and with the same heady punch of heat that was delivered by the amuse bouche. Accompanying it was a creamy pilau, lightly flavoured with fish stock and red onions, it was almost risotto-like and worked perfectly against the heat of the fish.
This was the mid-point of the meal and our waitress dutifully brought us a palate-cleanser of Passion Fruit and Coconut sorbet in another shot glass which, for reasons best known to chef, was served slightly off centre of the plate. It wasn't obviously asymmetrical but just enough to look... well... odd. Had this been a pudding I would have been crying out for more - sharp, honeyed fruit against the velvety coconut was very pleasant but sadly as an interlude it was just too sweet and cloying.
Then followed the curries. Prawn Alleppy saw large, meaty prawns enrobed by a fruity mango sauce that managed to be both rich and light all at the same time. The tender meat of the Lamb Ulathiyathu melted in the mouth, leaving just the taste of cinnamon from the thick sauce that coated it. Kadai Murg Borg was a simple chicken tikka in a thick tomato sauce, heavy with ghee and just a tad underwhelming. The last dish, Chana Dal Palak was described by my partner as "the sensible one at the party" and I knew exactly what he meant. It didn't scream loudly with showy heat and flavours but it did cool our palates down and gave us something to mop up with the excellent malaba parotta.
Finally we got to the pudding course. The puddings at Chai Street had been some of my favourites, with no deep-fried fruit in sight. Sadly for Poppupadom I can't say the same thing here as it was the weakest course (things in shot glasses aside). The Caramelised Banana was underwhelming, the sweet sticky fruit clearly not being enough meant someone had given it a "brulee" hat in the shape of a crisp sugar disc. Perhaps it was the one they'd taken from the Creme Brulee as the sugar here was definitely missing that requisite crackle and the custard below wasn't set properly, leaving the whole thing a little soup-like. Also vanilla seemed an odd choice and I wonder why chef hadn't explored a cardamom-scented custard instead. The Chocomosa was exactly what it sounds like, a chocolate samosa - crisp pastry and dark chocolate. That's it. It was nice enough but didn't exactly set my world on fire.
Next stop for chef seems to be taking this "on-tour" and tickets to Poppupadom when it takes on Abergavenny Food Festival are already on sale. The problem with pop-ups is that they lose something in translation as chefs contest with inconsistent kitchens, and this certainly seems to have been the case here. If Anand can iron-out the few flaws in the savoury dishes, ditch the amuse-bouche and pointless interlude altogether and perhaps regain the magic of the puds of Chai Street, he may just pull it off.
As if to prove a point, the PR team invited me along for the first tasting and so I dutifully went to review (well, someone has to, right?). After having possibly the best Indian meal of my life at his other establishment, Chai Street, I was understandably apprehensive that any meal could live up to it.
We started with an amuse bouche of warm tomato consomme, served in a little shot glass. It was warm and spicy but the promised coriander flavour was absent, replaced only by an occasional grittiness of a rogue leaf. The heat woke up my taste buds but not much else.
This was followed by a trio of starters. The Aloo Tikki was billed as "Delhi-style crisp potato cakes on spiced chickpeas" but the little patty in front of me certainly wasn't crisp. It was delicate and creamy but could have benefited from a little longer in the frier. The chickpeas were well flavoured and nicely spiced without being hot, but sadly the potato cake didn't stand a chance against them and was lost amongst the bite of the chickpeas.
The Beetroot Pattice fared better - crisp, panko-style breadcrumbs surrounding a hot, creamy beetroot and vegetable patty was the right balance of heat without losing the sweetness of the primary ingredient.
The bright green Chicken Tikka was also a hit, having been well seared it was still moist inside and worked well with the accompanying yoghurt and mint dressing.
Following on from this was the Sea-bass Pollichatu, a classic Keralan dish of fish, shallots, garlic and curry leaves, all wrapped up in banana leaves. The fish was perfectly cooked and flaked obligingly at the merest sight of a fork. Moist, meaty and with the same heady punch of heat that was delivered by the amuse bouche. Accompanying it was a creamy pilau, lightly flavoured with fish stock and red onions, it was almost risotto-like and worked perfectly against the heat of the fish.
This was the mid-point of the meal and our waitress dutifully brought us a palate-cleanser of Passion Fruit and Coconut sorbet in another shot glass which, for reasons best known to chef, was served slightly off centre of the plate. It wasn't obviously asymmetrical but just enough to look... well... odd. Had this been a pudding I would have been crying out for more - sharp, honeyed fruit against the velvety coconut was very pleasant but sadly as an interlude it was just too sweet and cloying.
Then followed the curries. Prawn Alleppy saw large, meaty prawns enrobed by a fruity mango sauce that managed to be both rich and light all at the same time. The tender meat of the Lamb Ulathiyathu melted in the mouth, leaving just the taste of cinnamon from the thick sauce that coated it. Kadai Murg Borg was a simple chicken tikka in a thick tomato sauce, heavy with ghee and just a tad underwhelming. The last dish, Chana Dal Palak was described by my partner as "the sensible one at the party" and I knew exactly what he meant. It didn't scream loudly with showy heat and flavours but it did cool our palates down and gave us something to mop up with the excellent malaba parotta.
Finally we got to the pudding course. The puddings at Chai Street had been some of my favourites, with no deep-fried fruit in sight. Sadly for Poppupadom I can't say the same thing here as it was the weakest course (things in shot glasses aside). The Caramelised Banana was underwhelming, the sweet sticky fruit clearly not being enough meant someone had given it a "brulee" hat in the shape of a crisp sugar disc. Perhaps it was the one they'd taken from the Creme Brulee as the sugar here was definitely missing that requisite crackle and the custard below wasn't set properly, leaving the whole thing a little soup-like. Also vanilla seemed an odd choice and I wonder why chef hadn't explored a cardamom-scented custard instead. The Chocomosa was exactly what it sounds like, a chocolate samosa - crisp pastry and dark chocolate. That's it. It was nice enough but didn't exactly set my world on fire.
Next stop for chef seems to be taking this "on-tour" and tickets to Poppupadom when it takes on Abergavenny Food Festival are already on sale. The problem with pop-ups is that they lose something in translation as chefs contest with inconsistent kitchens, and this certainly seems to have been the case here. If Anand can iron-out the few flaws in the savoury dishes, ditch the amuse-bouche and pointless interlude altogether and perhaps regain the magic of the puds of Chai Street, he may just pull it off.
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