Chilli Basil

With just four tables and sixteen covers, the newly opened Chilli Basil on City Road must surely be Cardiff’s smallest restaurant. (Answers on the back of a postcard please or the comment section below if you can think of anywhere tinier.) Whilst this Thai restaurant’s Lilliputian proportions mean there may often be a wait for a table, you can always pass the time with a pre-dinner cocktail across the road in Milgi’s or take advantage of Chilli Basil’s home delivery service instead. Neither are exactly hardships. quarter of the restaurant As Chilli Basil don’t have an alcohol license we ordered a clutch of interesting soft drinks. For me, a tamarind juice with a familiar sweetness and tang. For a friend, a snowglobe like coconut juice with floating bits of white pulp. Mrs G ordered a pot of Jasmine tea. Chilli Basil’s menu is packed with all the usual Thai restaurant classics. Salads, curries, soups and stir-fries are all present and correct. A bowl of crisp and ultra-prawny prawn crackers (£1) kicked off the meal. In case you're wondering, the ultra-prawniness is a good thing in my book. A bowl of chicken Tom Yum (£3) was a great example of one Thai cuisine's most famous dishes. Tender chicken, mild spring onions and mushrooms bobbed in the fragrant and sour broth - heady with lemongrass, coriander and lime. A pretty looking dish of chicken and prawn dumplings was very tasty but didn’t have a huge depth of flavour. The thin dumpling cases (£3.50) contained a finely minced filling topped with toasted peanuts. In contrast, a green papaya salad was loaded with flavour (£6). Shreds of fruit and carrot, al dente green beans and sweet cherry tomatoes were bathed in a wildly hot and sour citrusy dressing. Crunchy peanuts added textural contrast whilst some overly chewy dried baby shrimps were the only negative.  Onto the mains…. A delicious duck yellow curry (£6.49) was laden with soft meat and a vibrant vegetables (carrot, courgette, aubergine, peppers and bamboo shoots)

Honestly my favourite Thai place in Cardiff!! I always crave thai food and this is my place to go. The staff are very friendly and the food tastes AMAZING!! We never wait for too long for our food to be ready and if we ever were to wait it would be worth it. My favourite dish is the Pad Thai and Green Curry. The place is very small which is the only downside.

One of my favourite Thai food places in Cardiff. Took a few friends there they loved it 🥰 foods always been amazing, so fresh been coming here for years. Absolutely love the Tom yum soup. Prices are so reasonable and the customer services is so nice and welcoming lovely family business

Just had a delicious meal at this small and casual Thai restaurant for £50 for 3 people! For starters we had prawn tempura, chicken satay and chicken & prawn dumplings; then for mains we had Tom yum noodle duck soup, spicy chicken fried rice with an egg, and beef massaman curry. All really tasty and cooked up in minutes. If I lived locally, I would eat here regularly. Note that it is cash only.

HALAL ✅ *cash only* 5/5 brilliant food and couldn’t fault. I love the simplicity of the place and food, genuine authenticity and tastes great. Much better than all those over excessively decorated food places.

I loved this place food was so tasty