Raman Bijalwan, Manager at Mint and Mustard

In just three years, Maitre D’ Raman Bijalwan has helped establish the Mint and Mustard as Cardiff’s premier Indian restaurant, with a string of awards for its imaginative contemporary cuisine.

Like most of the chefs and waiters at the Mint & Mustard, Raman is five star trained. He started his career at the Hyatt Regency in Delhi and progressed upwards in rank at the Park Royal Intercontinental in New Delhi. After that, he made a move to the UK working at an Italian restaurant chain in Hamilton & Glasgow and later on at a hotel in Oxford before joining Mint and Mustard in Cardiff.

Q: What is your view of Cardiff now that you have been here for a few years?

A: I didn’t know what to expect, but I quickly found that people here are so friendly and accepted us as newcomers with warmth. I moved here with my wife Rashmi and together and now with our young son, we really love Cardiff – it’s a great place for families.

Q: How do you find working with the team at Mint & Mustard?
A: It has been great working with a wonderful team. We are all focused on our job and keeping things right, always moving in a positive direction. Success comes with team effort and that is what we have created at Mint and Mustard.

Q: What is your attitude to running a successful restaurant?

What I think we have achieved is a great relationship between the waiting and kitchen staff. As a fine dining establishment we are creating many complex dishes and so the pressure is high in order to maintain the best levels of service.

When things get busy, if you cannot all work well together then it can all quickly collapse, so I like the way myself and my team have created a good working atmosphere.

The result is that people enjoy their experience with us. We believe in being friendly and professional and always explaining the dishes we serve to our customers. It is rewarding to have so many loyal clients who have become our friends.  In return I gain so much from them, talking with people inspires and lifts me up.

Q: So what are your favourite dishes at Mint & Mustard?
I enjoy most of them, but can eat these all the time:
Sea Bass Polichathu
A classic dish of sea bass, wrapped in banana leaf after coating with a Kerala style masala of shallots, garlic and curry leaves, cooked in its own juices, and served with seafood pilau rice.

Lamb Coconut Fry
Slow braised lamb, stir-fried with coconut chips, shallots and curry leaves

Q: What are you most looking forward to next?
A: I don’t like being idle, I am the kind of person who needs a challenge, otherwise I get bored.  Operationally, we faced many challenges with the success of the restaurant which necessitated extending it to double in size.

Then we pursued our  vision and opened our sister Chai Street, with its Indian city food offering, and this now means we run two establishments with a different food styles and this has been an exciting if busy time for us all.

Next comes our second Mint and Mustard, not sure where but it’s something we are definitely planning to do.

After the success of our extended hours over the festive season, we are pleased to announce we will be continuing our Monday opening into the New Year!

A FINE-DINING Indian restaurant has invested in a major expansion, doubling in size and creating jobs.

Mumbai-trained and former London chef Anand George chose Wales to locate the first Mint & Mustard Indian restaurant in December last year.

The Whitchurch Road establishment has since won two national culinary awards this year which has further increased trade in the second half of the year.

The chef from Kerala, on the coast of south-west India, this year won the House of Commons Tiffin Cup and the South Asian Chef of the Year award.

Mr George said:

“Wales has proven to be a winning location for our first project, we are consistently fully booked, which has necessitated bringing forward plans to extend the restaurant. We have completed a significant investment in doubling our floor space to accommodate 60 seats and enlarging our kitchen to meet increased output. We have also created new jobs with both extra waiting and kitchen staff.”

The refurbishment includes an interior re-design of the restaurant with new seating, tables and flooring, as well as the building of a garden room extension which is also equipped with audio visual facilities for corporate events.

Mr George won the Tiffin Cup, for the UK’s best curry house, with his signature pan-fried sea bass on a bed of curry leaf infused mashed potato and raw mango and ginger sauce.

He is planning a range of business developments for next year.

He added:

“We have found a successful niche for our vision of bringing fine Indian dining to the Welsh capital, but we will not stand still.”

“We have a loyal customer base, many of whom are business people and we will be introducing corporate catering and master- class cooking events which are ideal for hospitality and team building.”

For your perfect Christmas dining experience come and feast in our contemporary, relaxed environment. Our friendly, highly professional staff and award winning chefs will be presenting an innovative range of exotic and mouth watering Indian dishes.

Enjoy a chefs taste menu starting ranging from £15 – £35.

Make your reservations now to avoid disappointment!

As our present to our loyal customers, we will be opening the restaurant 7 days a week from December 1^st, giving you an extra day to come and celebrate at your favourite eatery.